Malaysia's educational environment nowadays has changed since people have become more aware of the limits

of the traditional school system. Many students believe that traditional education alone is insufficient to meet

their academic demands. (K, Koon, and Annamalai, 2019). As a result, students tend to rely on private tutoring

to improve their academic performance and achieve academic success. This trend is common nowadays,

especially among student parents who strive to improve their children's academic performance by paying a lot

The phenomenon of “shadow tutoring” is the practice of students receiving private tutoring outside of school.

attention impede successful learning. Therefore, student parents frequently seek out private tutors who can

provide specialised assistance to their children with specific academic requirements, and finding skilled tutors

who meet these qualifications can be difficult, which takes longer and can cause irritation for both students and

parents. Personalised education solutions have highlighted issues associated with tutor expertise mismatches,

the difficulty of finding local tutors for physical or face-to-face sessions, and the need for personalisation choices

One of the main factors contributing to this difficulty is the lack of trained tutors or educators in each

geographical location. Studies have found that students tend to struggle to find a qualified or skilled tutor who

meets their individual needs and preferences, which may hinder their academic progress (Abu-Shawish, 2023).

These variables lead to a subpar tutoring experience, which can negatively impact academic success and student

especially in rural areas. This feature is crucial in eliminating geographical barriers, allowing students to access

With this app, students have easy access to quality tutors. They can choose their preferred tutoring format: face-

to-face, which is interactive, or online, which is more convenient for remote learning. The app's impact is

particularly beneficial for students from diverse backgrounds, including those in disadvantaged areas, as it

Tutoring has grown significantly in recent years, especially as the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic, which

has been used as a response or as an easy alternative to this challenge. COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2

Therefore, to meet students' diverse needs, adapting tutoring practices to hybrid and online learning

environments is required. According to a study by Corzo-Zavalet et al., (2023), it is important to address students'

academic orientation needs through individual tutoring, especially during the pandemic, when hybrid learning

models are implemented to facilitate educational continuity. This transition emphasises the importance of tutors

The most effective way to improve academic achievement is through peer mentoring. Peer mentoring can

improve tutors' academic skills. It is structured not only to benefit students but also to create a mutually beneficial

learning environment (Verdun et al., 2022). The positive impact of peer mentoring on student learning outcomes

is especially evident in complex subjects such as science and mathematics. The reciprocal nature of peer

mentoring fosters a collaborative learning atmosphere that can significantly increase student engagement and

mathematics (Abdulkarim et al, 2022). Such findings highlight the need for educators to adopt flexible

Nowadays, online tutoring services, which mainly use web-based interfaces and mobile applications, have

entirely changed how students seek academic assistance. These platforms, however, frequently have

certified tutors, and the ability to select by subject, location, and tutor gender. These systems have certain

limitations, such as limited coverage in rural areas, non-optimised tutor-student matching, user-unfriendly

providing their services. The lack of locally relevant information and context might impede learning in a

multicultural nation like Malaysia, where regional educational discrepancies are common. While specific studies

In personalised recommendation systems, the K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) algorithm is one of the methods

that have been repeatedly tested and shown to work well for selecting student-tutor pairs. This algorithm

performs well in scenarios where user preferences, such as subject interest, tutor gender, mode of study (online

or physical), and geographical proximity, are essential for providing appropriate, accurate recommendations.

KNN, as compared to other algorithms, has the merit of being stronger in predictive accuracy, which makes it a

Content-based filtering can be combined with KNN to improve the recommendation process further. This

approach considers patterns mined from user-item interactions and suggests recommendations based on the

preferences of others whose profiles resemble the user's. Combined with KNN, the algorithm can consider not

only each student's explicit likes, but also the likes of other students with comparable features who are proximate

In the context of location-based systems, selecting an appropriate distance measure is critical for accurately

In developing the mobile application, the project will use the agile model due to its superior features. According

to (Popoola et al., 2024), the Agile model is a flexible, evolving method for software development that

emphasises iterative progress, close collaboration with customers, and adaptable planning. Agile software

development derives its origin from the principles set forth by the Agile Manifesto that values highly the

individuals and interactions over processes or tools, the functionality of the software over extensive

documentation, the frequent involvement with the customer over formal contracts, and the ability to respond to

to fast-paced domains like mobile or web application development. The following sections provide in-depth

descriptions of each phase of the cycle. The agile methodology phases are shown in Figure 1 below. Even though

there are six phases, only the requirements phase—design, development, and testing—has been applied in this

The term "software architecture" refers to the high-level structure of a software system, defining its components,

interactions, and overall design. Its goal is to provide a framework for both system development and

maintenance, providing scalability, performance, and maintainability while satisfying the project's functional

and non-functional criteria. Effective software architecture helps manage complexity, facilitate collaboration,

radius, and the student will only get tutors who are in the neighbourhood or provide services relevant to the

As shown in Figure 4, the flowchart illustrates the KNN-based tutor recommendation process in the iTeachU

mobile application. First, the dataset of tutors is imported, cleaned, and gathered on TutorKami. Then, the data

is preprocessed to account for missing values and normalise fields. Geocoding uses tutor location points to create

the latitude and longitude of a tutor location, after which geofencing uses the latitude and longitude of a 10-

first time, at which point they will either create an account or sign in with their email. After a successful login,

the student then enters his or her preferences for what he or she would like to search for, such as a location, the

preferred sex of the tutor, the level of the subjects, a specific subject, and the preferred mode of tutoring (online

or physical). After such preferences are posted, they are sent to the backend system, where the two most