There’s an App for That

Does your college have an app for student cell phone use? If not you may want to read this article in Community College Daily by Eric Neutuch. From the piece:

• Dan Cecchini, chief information officer at Central Oregon Community College (COCC), observes students’ heads buried in their smartphones all the time.
• “Students expect that their campuses will have an app,” he says. “If you go to Facebook as an app rather than as a mobile site, why wouldn’t you expect to do the same when seeking information from your college?”
• This past September, COCC introduced its COCC mobile app in the iTunes and Google Play Android stores, joining the growing cohort of community colleges with smartphone apps. Though there’s no count of the total number of community colleges with smartphone apps, the iTunes and Google Play stores include numerous community college apps.

Another school profiled is Houston Community College. In 2014, with the support of HighPoint Technology Solutions, HCC launched MyEagle, a web-based front-end to HCC’s PeopleSoft student information system. In 2016, a smartphone app was released. Today, the HCC MyEagle online portal and app include more than 30 colorful clickable tile squares that have established the platform as a one-stop shop for HCC’s 115,000 students. Tiles that are titled “My Grades,” “My Financial Aid” and “My Schedule” link to HCC’s PeopleSoft student information system while other tiles connect to the library website, news and social media feeds, the learning management system, HCC’s Microsoft 365 software suite, campus maps, event calendars, faculty resources and more, the article reports.

If you read the entire piece you will discover that there is expense involved and it can get complicated. An outside vendor is recommended so you don’t overburden your tech staff. Small colleges may not have the resources for such a project.

Also, those with experience in the field say that it’s crucial to include student input in a systematic fashion. As we all know, young people especially have different habits and preferences from the professionals on campus. Apps are part of the daily life of most young folks today, so a college app would seem ideal for increasing student engagement and meeting students where they are. Emails won’t do, since many students don’t log on to the college portal to get information.