College Mobile App
Dean of Students, Director of Student Engagement, Director of Business Services, Director of Applications and Infrastructures, Lead Applications Developer
Project Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of education and how to communicate, engage and connect with students. Students rely heavily on their mobile phones and the addition of a mobile app to M State was seen as a way to maintain and enhance engagement.
Deliverables
A fully functioning mobile app that isn’t simply a replication of the college’s website. The mobile app is for students and the content focused on the student experience.
Project Scope
In Scope
Identifying, selecting and contracting with a mobile app provider per Minnesota State system guidelines. Building mobile app content.
Out of Scope
Hiring new staff.
Effectiveness Measures
Project Goals
- Engage students with the college
- Connect students with each other in a social platform
- Create a space to keep students connected to each other and the college
Performance Indicators
Student usage and engagement in the mobile app.
Metric Review Schedule and Reporting
Performance indicators for the app will be collected and reviewed every fall and spring semester. Data will be shared at college leadership meetings.
Constraints
- Time of staff involved from across various departments.
- Unknowns of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial Impact
- Engaged students will impact student retention which will impact tuition and fee income.
- HERRF funding is being utilized to fund the mobile app as allowed under Federal Government guidelines. The college will need to use general funds when HERRF funding is no longer an option.
Summary of Results
Data from Ready Education shows the top tiles students use by traffic (number of clicks) is SpartanNet (45.8%), followed by Financial Aid (7.73%), Academic Calendar (6.62%), Moorhead (6.27%) and book orders (4.45%).
Next steps for this project include surveying students spring 2023 to determine the return on investment, streamlining content and alignment of financial resources (e.g. explore creating a SpartanNet app and/or tiles in SpartanNet for ordering books, Financial Aid, etc.).
Future Direction
The mobile app was discontinued after FY23 due to low student usage.
