By Katelyn S. Irons | Echo
Amid a world driven by apps and networks, students are looking to mobilize their college experience. And that is exactly what Taylor Mobile attempts to do.
The app, which launched Aug. 18, was built for students, faculty, staff and alumni. After downloading from Apple's App or Google's Play Stores, a Taylor username and password enables full access to all the app's features. There are three main menus in the app. The first, Academics, has a course schedule and transcript grades. The second menu, Connect, contains news, chapel videos, social networks and feedback areas. Information, the final menu, includes an interactive campus map, a DC menu updated daily, important campus numbers and a directory of all students, faculty and staff.
"We have been hearing from students and employees for quite a few years, 'Why doesn't Taylor have an app?'" said Corey Cooper, enterprise application systems manager. He said the app is the result of a collaboration between many departments over the last year.
"We really wanted this to be a community-driven project and we wanted this to be for the students," Cooper said, who was excited to see the positive response from campus. "That's our primary audience. We wanted to put something in their pockets that was useful."
So far there have been almost 1,400 downloads, approximately 78 percent of which were iPhone downloads. Feedback has been very positive for the app so far. However, Cooper and the developers are continuing to monitor student need. Since the app came out, students have asked for a list of the hours buildings are open. The DC has added its hours, and developers are working on adding hours for other buildings as well.
"I downloaded it to be able to find chapel videos easier, and I was generally curious about the app," sophomore Baleigh Hill said. "I like it, because I can check on the DC menu and who is going to be speaking at chapel. It's convenient."
Possible future updates includes course registration functionality, which could allow students to register for classes on the app. Push notifications to communicate important information to the Taylor community are another upcoming feature.
The next project for Cooper is launching a mobile-responsive design for the Taylor webpage within the next few months.
"We realized that Taylor is turning into a mobile campus," Cooper said. "That's been loud and clear. We are hoping you can find what you need on any device and hopefully find it easily."
