Northern Michigan University’s mobile app has developed and gone through changes to help benefit students and others involved on campus. Since Aug. 27, the app has been available to download from the App Store for iOS devices as well as Android devices through Google Play.
According to NMU’s website, all that is required to get set up is to download the app, select the correct category and sign in to NMU. An instruction guide to the app can be found on NMU’s IT services site.
“Helping to redevelop the mobile app was truly an amazing opportunity. Being able to see the behind-the-scenes work of a project like this is super exciting,” Chairman of Assembly for ASNMU Simon Moesch, said in an email. “It felt great knowing that the redevelopment was happening and that the app would be able to be utilized to bring members of the NMU community together.”
The new app features dining and library information, EduCat and more all on one screen which will help students find the information they need without needing to do extra searching, Moesch said.
“We also connected some of NMU’s social media that shows snippets of what is being posted using #ShareNMU,” Moesch said.
Last fall, IT and ASNMU began collaborating on a project to replace the original university mobile app, Assistant Vice President of Information Systems Felecia Flack said in an email. A survey was conducted to gather student feedback about the services students wanted to see in the app. Students who completed the survey were eligible to win a longboard, Flack said. Development platforms were investigated during the winter semester and creation of the app started in June, Flack said.
“Because the university has an excellent IT team, development of the new app took approximately two months,” Flack said.
Plans to add more features and functionality to the app are being worked on but will require more time because they themselves are projects, Flack said. Notification of course cancellation was at the top of the list on a survey and are already being worked on in hopes of being finished as soon as possible, she added.
“We really want to finish adding the top suggestions from last semester’s poll that was emailed out,” Moesch said. “We are of course always open to new ideas.”
From the IT perspective, they were pleased with the way the app turned out and with how separate personas could be incorporated so that different services could be created for each audience, Flack said.
“On behalf of everyone who has worked on this project, I feel like I can say that the app turned out exactly how we wanted it to,” Moesch said. “Stay tuned because we’re not finished with it yet.”
