MyUoB will deliver a branded student engagement platform which will be the primary gateway for existing and future services available on phones, laptops and other mobile devices. This project is a collaboration between the supplier Collabco, IT Services and Academic Services, with Jo Bryan, Assistant Director (Student Services) as Business Owner.
Content has been defined through stakeholder engagement in the form of a number of workshops that were held with various groups across the University.
For phase 1, a single dashboard will be created for all UG/PGT students. The following integrations will be available on the app, accessed via the dashboard:
- Library services - Alma (get resources) and Primo (search)
- Office 365 - student email, tasks, calendar
- Canvas - enrolled courses (announcements, to do lists, assignments due)
- Campus maps
- PC Availability
- Personal timetables (events held in Scientia with the ability to have a consolidated calendar view with other events detailed in O365 and Canvas)
Key benefits will include
- New, more convenient route to services
- Potential to develop more focused, location based services (personalised to the Dubai experience)
- Ability to personalise and customise your own dashboard
- Cloud provisioned therefore quick to deploy, scalable and secure
- Inbuilt analytics to gain insight on how users interacting with the app and integrated systems
There will be a Mobile App Product team (responsible for setting the strategy, guiding its success and defining the features to improve it) focussing on student content and managing day to day development of the App. It is envisaged that, as the service expands, there will be a product owner for each user group e.g. staff, applicants and alumni.
Work is still progressing on the app whilst working remotely; just before Easter a beta version of the app passed Apple TestFlight review which was a major milestone! In lieu of full UAT which will take place once operations resume on campus, the app is now being shared with a limited number of stakeholders in order to gather feedback. It is anticipated that the service will be released at the start of the next academic year.
A huge thanks to the project team for all their hard work in getting us to this point – it hasn’t been an easy road and there have been numerous challenges along the way! Particular thanks goes to Laura Brown, David Madden, Tim Packwood, Spencer Webb, Chris Withers and Li Zhao.
For more information please contact Jo England, Project Manager j.v.england@bham.ac.uk