The Office of Communications and Marketing and the Department of Information Systems and Technology launched the official Harding University campus app today. The app, HardingU, was released on iOS and Android, and it is designed to give students, faculty and staff quick access to university information and services. The app will allow users to navigate many functions available on Pipeline, Canvas and the Harding website.
“We wanted the app to be functional (and) we wanted it to be resourceful,” Hannah Owens, director of digital media said. “The website is resourceful; Pipeline is functional. So we kind of wanted to combine those two concepts into one place that encompasses everything.”
The app has separate personas for students, faculty and staff to ensure that users see content specific to their relationship to the university.
Users can access dorm sign-out forms, grades and degree evaluations, chapel absence and dining information, course schedules, important university dates and a people search, among other features. Dr. Frank McCown, associate professor of computer science, said the people search will be one of the greatest assets within the app for faculty and staff,He was asked to be a part of the beta testing team for the app, and said that the people search was one of his biggest priorities when considering mobile functionality.
“I’m really bad with names, and I want to remember my students names, especially when I see them out and about,” McCown said. “ So I’ve got my phone with me, so I wanted to be able to quickly look up students.”
In addition to allowing users to look up colleagues and peers, the app will also allow faculty to view class rosters and information on grades and assignments.
Junior Kaleb Turner worked as a student representative with the app team and referred to the app as a “central campus resource” when it comes to all of the essential functionality and information.
“For all of that to be in one place, so I don’t have to have three different places that I’m pulling it from, that’s gonna be really useful, and I’m excited about knowing where to go and exactly where to find it all in one spot,” Turner said.
According to Owens, the future of the app will include personas customized to alumni and prospective students, as well as special features tailored for Spring Sing, Lectureship, Homecoming and Bison Days participants.Although the app is designed to be comprehensive, Owens noted that the app team encourages feedback and critique.
“As with any giant digital project, there are going to be things at the start that can definitely be better, and so we hope that when it launches that it’s exactly what students need,” Owens said. “But also, if it’s not meeting a need, we want to know about it because we want to make it to where it meets the most needs that it can.”
More information on the app’s features and functionality as well as the download link can be found at harding.edu/app.
