The StudieNet university-wide partnership purchased two apps for a few thousand students, which will provide those students with direct access to all sorts of useful information. This is a pilot programme, which the first students will start using in the coming weeks.

For RAC and three Bachelor programmes

The two applications are intended for two different target audiences. The RAC app is intended for the two thousand students working towards a two-year associate degree at Rotterdam Academy (RAC), whereas the Rotterdam UAS app is intended for specific groups of Rotterdam UAS students in three Bachelor programmes (all facility management students, a number of second-year English international business and languages students, and all first-year occupational therapy students).

The RAC app was downloaded by a thousand students last Tuesday, and their reactions are positive so far. None of the students have been informed of any grades or schedule changes via the app just yet, but they say that it looks good and is easy to use.

Two apps will teach us more

As of 2013, a team consisting of Rotterdam UAS’s IT experts and communications specialists, among others, has been investigating how to provide students with important information in a truly student-oriented way. Their code name is StudieNet.

In March, Rotterdam UAS entered into talks with two companies that specialise in providing student information: CACI, creators of the commonly used platform Osiris, and a relatively new company based in Utrecht, StuComm. They each created an app, with many of the same features.

Rotterdam UAS will be running both of the applications at the same time to be able to collect a great deal of information about the apps themselves and about the two providers, says Najang Klootwijk, the StudieNet programme manager.

Schedule, grades, progress

The students participating in the pilot programme can download the app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Once they are logged in, using their student ID number and password, they will be able to review their schedules and see if any new grades have been posted with a single press of a button. A menu allows students to zoom in on their schedules, their grades, or their study progress. The RAC app also shows how many credits have already been obtained and how many still need to be obtained.

As the HR app was made by the creators of Osiris, it can also be used to register for courses or exams. Moreover, students are sent an alert when a course opens up for registration. (This feature may be added to the RAC app later on.)

Breakthrough: schedule changes as well…

These are useful features to begin with, but for many students, the true breakthrough will be the ability to turn on push notifications for important schedule changes. This can help prevent them coming to school needlessly by letting them know of any teacher absences in time.

One RAC first-year cross-media communications student says that he would install the app even if it consisted of these push notifications alone. Other students also list this as one of the most important features.

…but just for RAC

Unfortunately, the RAC app is the only one with this feature. The Rotterdam UAS app does feature a schedule, but has no messaging feature in the event of changes or teacher absences. ‘We know that the students really want such a feature,’ says Marcelle Zeddeman, project leader for the Rotterdam UAS app. ‘However, the Osiris creators created a standard app for us that does not allow such messaging as of yet.’

So far, almost all of the 130 students who have been given access to download the Rotterdam UAS app have done so. (Next week, the 350 facility management students will also be given access.) Around 1,300 RAC students have downloaded the app so far, says Corina Zomervrucht, project leader for the RAC app.

Rotterdam UAS will have to put in some work of its own

Starting to use a new app is more than just a technical matter. Rotterdam UAS will also have to re-examine old methods and routines, according to programme manager Najang Klootwijk. ‘We will have to put in some work together, on the technical as well as the organisational front.’

For example, a different scheduling method will have to be used if Rotterdam UAS decides to start using the apps for real (the current exam period schedules have been amended slightly for this pilot programme). Rotterdam UAS will also need to find a different way to inform students, in 110 characters max so that the information fits in a push message.

Difficult: personal schedules

Another example is students’ personal schedules, says Corina Zomervrucht. The app will show each student their personal schedule, featuring not only their mandatory subjects, but also their minor subjects and electives. ‘When it comes down to it, we still have not managed to create personal schedules using the Untis scheduling programme. To solve this, we did not link the app to the scheduling programme, but to the Rotterdam UAS scheduling widget instead.’

The new apps do not actually contain any information themselves. The information is always drawn from a different source, such as indirectly from the Untis scheduling programme, or from Osiris in the case of grades. This way, teachers can still enter grades the way they used to; the app simply presents them in a new way.

The fact that students’ personal schedules are not drawn directly from the original scheduling software creates a disadvantage; the app cannot automatically send personal schedule changes to students. To inform students of the necessary teacher absences and schedule changes, the RAC administration office staff has to manually create alerts. ‘This requires a great deal of accuracy, as the process is very error-prone,’ says Zomervrucht. She feels that this feature should be automated as soon as possible, and emphasises that students should be able to trust that they will always receive any and all urgent information that is relevant to them.

Bugs and suggestions

The RAC students are positive about the clear design of the app, but also have some suggestions. ‘For example, access to student email accounts, or a planning feature that would allow you to add your assigned homework to the courses already listed on your schedule’, says Jesse, who is studying towards a maintenance & mechanics associate degree.

Lorenzo, a first-year logistics management student, says the thing he feels is lacking the most is a back button to take him back to the dashboard, and also, he does not understand why the RAC app uses English and Dutch interchangeably. ‘Here, it says ‘study progress’, and then in the very same menu, it says ‘handige info’, ‘useful information’, in Dutch. That’s weird.’ (‘That is a common bug that a lot of people are experiencing,’ Zomervrucht explains. ‘For many other students, the app does pick up on their smartphone’s language settings.’)

Available for one year

The applications are part of this pilot programme that will be carefully monitored in the coming months, according to StudieNet communications advisor Anneke Olde Munnikhof. ‘In the coming months, we will be organising workshops with students, teachers, and experts, to obtain feedback.’ In any case, the selected students will be able to use the apps during this entire academic year.

Text: Olmo Linthorst
Images: Demian Janssen