Presented by: Deborah Ludford

North Orange County Community College District

March 24, 2012

Mobile Applications: Meeting Students

Where They Are

2

Introduction to Mobile Apps at NOCCCD

Why Mobile Applications?

What Mobile Devices?

What Tools to Use to Develop Mobile Applications?

Development Environment

Lessons Learned & Best Practices

Marketing Strategies

Future Plans

Demo

Agenda

Introduction to Mobile Apps at

NOCCCD

4

Intro to Mobile Applications at NOCCCD

Student Created Mobile Apps Video

Why Mobile Applications?

Meeting Students Where They Live

6

Why Mobile Applications?

Source: K.C. Green, Campus Computing 2010

Student Monitor’s Spring 2010

survey of undergraduates reveals

that 90 percent of full-time

undergraduates in four-year colleges

and universities own mobile phones,

and almost half of these students

already own a smart phone, a

number certain to increase In coming

years. Student Monitor, 2010

7

Why Mobile Applications?

8

What Mobile Devices?

Types of Smartphones

iPhone 40%

Blackberry 36%

Android 22%

Other 2%

Source: University Colorado Boulder

Source: Google Analytics

9

What Tools to Use to Develop Mobile Applications?

10

Develop In-house

Create exactly what you want

Use existing resources (i.e. people)

Commercial Options

SunGard Mobile Connection – the best fit for NOCCCD

Support multiple mobile platforms

Built on Open Source Software

Integrates with LDAP and Banner Data

Quick Start

m-Apps (Feeds, Grades, Schedule, Restaurant)

Solutions

Development

Create an easy to use environment

12

Mobile Connection 1.0.1

Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.6.21+

Grails 1.3.6 - http://www.grails.org

Spring

Hibernate

Groovy

Rhodes Framework 2.2.5 - http://rhomobile.com/projects/rhodes

Ruby/Rails

Android SDK and NDK

Blackberry JDE

iOS SDK/Xcode

Technical Environment

13

Mobile Computing Architecture

API

request

Luminis LDAP

response

Banner

Mobile Connect Server

NOCCCD Basic Configuration

14

Development Team

District/School of

Continuing Education

Cypress

Fullerton

TEST

15

Development: Collaborating across the District

Lessons Learned & Best Practices

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

17

Don’t bite off more than you can chew

Use a syntax aware editor (STS or RhoStudio)

Develop a realistic timeline

Plan for App Store membership (Blackberry, Apple, Android)

Get the community involved

Developers

Students

Contribute to the Commons

Monitor comments and downloads

Lessons Learned

18

Monitor Usage

Have an assigned Project Manager

Collaborate across your organization

Develop and use the Commons resources as much as possible

Create a convenient jump page

Develop a solid marketing plan

Best Practices

Marketing Strategies

Get the Word Out

20

Promote yourself:

Facebook

Twitter

App Stores

Campus Web Sites

Marketing Strategy

21

• App Store = 4820

• Google Play (Android Market) = 3315

• Blackberry = 62

Total = 8197

Downloads to Date

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

App Store Google Play Blackberry

4820

3315

62

Do

wn

load

s

Device Store

Downloads to Date

Future Plans

Where Do We Go From Here?

23

Move to a newer version of the software for

development

Add search feature and filtering to the Class Schedule

Increase collaboration

Add Analytics to the server

Improve User Interface design

Develop new applications including:

Financial Aid Status

Student Holds

Account Balances

Classes Cancelled

Order Transcripts

Future Plans

Demo or Screenshots

Mobile App @ NOCCCD

25

News Feeds

26

Grades

27

Student Schedule

28

Courses (Class Schedule)

29

Campus Map

30

Staff Directory across the district

31

Transit

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Questions & Answers

Thank You

Deborah Ludford - dludford@nocccd.edu