Students can access many helpful campus features through the Rhody Connect App. Photo by Siobhan Richards.
The University of Rhode Island’s newest mobile app, Rhody Connect, was introduced this fall as a central hub for all student, faculty and staff member needs.
The university-wide initiative, sponsored by the Departments of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, has been a main priority for the Informational Technology Services (ITS) department over the past year to ensure its accessibility to students by the start of this semester.
According to lead programming analyst Catherine White, a team of 30 students, faculty and staff created Rhody Connect to provide a seamless digital experience for students on campus, with single sign on (SSO) access to its features. These include daily dining hall menus and webcams, virtual ID cards with online ordering, shuttle schedules with real-time locations, personalized course and schedule information, maps, athletics, special event details and more.
Students were involved in the buildout of the app by participating in in-person focus groups and online surveys to help distinguish which features were most desired among the student body.
Through the app, students are able to make appointments with Health Services, add money to their Ram accounts, connect to the on-campus laundry machines, access Brightspace, seek academic counseling and much more. Users can also customize their experience by rearranging the icons on the app’s home screen.
White said that the app was initially going to become available to new students during freshman orientation, but the COVID-19 pandemic put some things into perspective for the team.
“We realized the app would also be the best way to communicate the new procedures that would be required by all students this fall,” said White.
To communicate these new procedures, the ‘Returning to Campus’ section at the top of the home screen holds the links to the daily self-assessment form, available study spaces on campus, COVID-19 tracker data and the #rhodytogether pledge.
Karlis Kaugars, chief information officer of ITS, had a vision for something like Rhody Connect since he first arrived in Kingston two-and-a-half years ago. Although, according to Kaugars, the app was a “back-burned item” for a while, its usefulness and integration into campus life has been called “the greatest thing since sliced bread” by many of his colleagues.
“I noticed fairly early on that we seem to be missing any kind of a unified mobile presence,” Kaugars said.
Last fall, a group of people in leadership at the University began developing a plan for the app. Dean Libutti, vice provost for enrollment management, Kathy Collins, vice president for student affairs and Lori Ciccomascolo, associate vice president for student affairs, were all involved in the conversation.
Kaugars believes the Rhody Connect app’s mobile presence is helpful for students navigating college life in various ways such as looking for weekend plans on campus, finding exactly where your class is utilizing the map feature and checking on the menu for on-campus meals.
Even though the response to the new tool has been uniformly positive, there is one minor downside: people within the URI community are now aware of what’s possible tech wise and naturally, want more.
“The list of requests for new features is no longer than from here to Timbuktu,” said Kaugars.
Among the most popular requests are students wanting to see the exact number of people in one study space, in real time, and available spots in the computer labs.
Likewise, the challenges that presented themselves throughout the process of developing Rhody Connect mostly came down to a waiting game.
To build the app, a process called a request for proposals is required; this entails a lengthy document, the one for Rhody Connect having been approximately 45 pages long according to Kaugars, about all of the features wanted in a mobile app. This document must then be posted publicly for a minimum of 60 days, followed by a 15 day question and answer period, then followed by vendor demos.
Despite this process beginning in November 2019, and a final contract being signed in early March, there is still continuous work being done to ensure the app’s full functionality. Among that being the creation of a self-sustained student team that would be in charge of keeping up to date with the newest features and the overall support of the app. The app, according to Kaugars, is set to remain in a “constant state of evolution.” He hopes that it will eventually become a student digital assistant.
“We are a ways away from that,” said Kaugars, “but that’s kind of the long term vision and how I see this thing evolving over time.”
Future goals of the app include an integrated eCampus interface with registration functionality, adding biometric login capabilities, integrating the faculty/staff directory with the Campus Map module Indoor maps and including inclusive restrooms and accessible entrances, according to White.
Rhody Connect is available for free on the Apple App store and the Google Play store.