Penn State’s new app aims to streamline student resources
A new app called Penn State Go aims to streamline the student experience at all the university’s campuses.
Penn State Go launched last week at an event hosted by Teaching and Learning with Technology, which coordinated the development and launch of the app.
“Students, faculty and staff are using their mobile devices for just about everything,” said Donald Welch, interim vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “That’s the way they want to interact with the digital content of the university. We’re interested at aiming where students want to access this information.”
Penn State Go allows users to access educational management tools like student information system LionPATH, learning system Canvas, email and the academic calendar. The app also contains a wayfinding campus map, live shuttle schedules, a news tab, a directory, a link to athletics, financial planning tool Starfish, a tab for the library, dining hall menus and hours, and a safety tab for reporting incidents or opting in for emergency communications.
Eventually, IT leadership wants to allow the app interface — which is
made by Modo Labs — to extend to many different groups, including each Commonwealth campus, alumni and other university subgroups. Right now, users may switch their location between University Park, Commonwealth Campuses (as one persona) and World Campus.
Anybody with access to a smartphone and the Apple App or Google Play stores can download the app for free, making it also appealing to Penn State visitors in need of navigational help.
“I genuinely believe this will revolutionize the student experience here at Penn State, as convenience will be the utmost priority,” said Laura McKinney, the University Park Undergraduate Assembly president.
Ms. McKinney said her group has been working with TLT and IT to bring an “allin-one” student app to Penn State for almost four years.
“I think for the past few years there’s just been a lot of question as to why something like this hasn’t been in place because some of our peers at other institutions have something similar,” she said. “I think this will kind of ... streamline all the resources into something cohesive for students to understand.”
Tony Anderson, learning tools manager for TLT, said the university has been working with students all year to develop the best app experience.
IT leadership sent out a survey last spring about developing an app to students that received 3,000 responses. Two thousand students also said they would help with usability testing, or determining the look, the feel and even the name of the app.
Jonah Warner, a sophomore studying physics, was one of those students. He said he was “genuinely interested” in the potential the app could have for elevating the student experience.
“It was really easy; the functionality is just impeccable,” he said of the app he helped develop through beta testing. “It really compacts everything into one package.”
His favorite part of the app, he said, would have to be the ease at which he can check his grades or email, schedule classes, find assignments and — best of all — know what’s on the dining hall menus.