The University of Akron is unveiling a free mobile app for smartphones that will keep students in touch with their campus from any location at any time of day.
With UA Mobile, students will be able to:
- plan class schedules,
- search the library catalog,
- find the offices and phone numbers of professors,
- view the campus map and the Roo Express shuttle schedule, and
- get news about all of the happenings on campus.
The app is available on iPhone/iPad, Android, Blackberry and Nokia. A version optimized for iPad is in development.
This initiative is about bringing useful information to students in a format they like, says Jim Sage, vice president for information technology services and chief information officer at UA.
“Offering this latest technology to our students, faculty and staff says we are on the move as a university and entrepreneurial in our thinking about the future,” Sage said. “This is a great new tool for our students especially to be able to use because it’s university-related information they can get at their fingertips anytime from anywhere. This is just another example of the innovative thinking and doing under way at The University of Akron.”
App based on student preferences
The features of the app are based on what UA students said in focus groups they wanted, says Eric Kreider, director of web services, who led the project along with UA’s marketing team. “I believe we’re offering a tool that will be helpful and make it easier and more enjoyable to be a student at the University.”
One feature of the app allows users to provide feedback to developers. “We want to hear from users,” said Bob Kropff, director of internal communications and a member of the University’s marketing team. “Tell us what you like and how we can make it better. This won’t be a static app – it will be evolving continuously based on user suggestions and how it is used.”
University committed to mobile
Many at UA foresee a day – coming perhaps sooner rather than later – in which the use of UA’s mobile apps eclipse the use of the University’s website. “Everything is moving to mobile,” Kreider says. “We committed to being where our students are, and increasingly that means being mobile.”
Barbara O’Malley, former associate vice president of communications and chief communications officer at UA, added it’s all about student success.
“As we see communications continue to merge with technology, mobile apps are the tip of the mobile communications iceberg,” O’Malley said. “It’s an exciting time to be able to offer this type of communication to the students. It’s providing the kind of information they’re looking for – the way they want to receive it.”
Downloaded the app for free at http://uakron.boopsie.com.
Media contact: Laura M. Massie, 330-972-6476 or massie1@uakron.edu