In a modern society, we are attached to our cell phones. Some of us are more productive on our smartphones than others, but one cannot deny that an abundance of our time is spent on our devices. Between games and entertainment, to productivity and news, there is a mobile application for almost everything.
So Suffolk, where is yours?
Technology is an integral part of our lives, especially the younger generations. College students seem to use applications and the internet for a multitude of different areas, so universities should jump at the chance to increase the productivity of their students.
Suffolk holds numerous platforms for its students to be active online such as Blackboard, which is used to stay up-to-date with classwork. One can get lost between Blackboard, WorkDay, MySuffolk, SUConnect and many more sites that Suffolk offers its students to become more organized and are easily accessible. And just like every university, Suffolk has a website that can direct any student, or prospective student, to what they are searching for and where they need to be.
But wouldn’t it be convenient if everything was in one place and at our fingertips?
Northeastern University is launching a mobile application in the fall for its incoming class of 2021, as noted at a recent accepted students day event. It seems that they are aware of how much use smartphones receive from students and are implementing ways to enhance the overall productivity of them.
In most cases, students have to search for various aspects of college information and are directed to a multitude of different sites. But what if it was all in one place?
That seems to be the thought process of the creators of the mobile application for Northeastern. This university and others want to make life for their students easier and to have them be more involved and aware.
Other universities within the greater Boston area have created mobile apps for their students such as Boston College, Emerson College, Simmons College and UMASS Boston. Not every application is the same, but the same idea is behind the invention of these apps: to increase the productivity of the universities’ students.
Suffolk should think about creating a similar database application for its students because as of right now, it is easy to confuse the many sites that are among different platforms. If all this information was in once place, it could benefit not only the students but the university as a whole, with less confusion from the people searching for information.
There could even be two versions of the mobile app: one for students and one for faculty and staff. Students are not the only ones who have various sites to travel to and work to do.
Instead of becoming lost among the web, students and faculty could easily navigate an app connected to their phone, or even their computer, that obtained all the information they would need from the university.
The app would include a conglomerate of information; from loans, to registering for classes, to even finding a club a student is interested in. The app for faculty could incorporate the system used for entering grades and many other structural sites that faculty use on a daily basis.
Faculty and staff would benefit from a mobile application because they are just as busy as students at a university. The app could influence the way professors reach their students and make it easier for professors to send out notifications and updates. Overall, the app could create an easier environment for professors and students to be more effective and rewarding.
If Suffolk wants to stay modernized and up to date, the idea for a mobile application incorporating diverse systems that students and faculty routinely use is a grand invention that could influence change at Suffolk. Let’s enhance our innovation and move forward.
