K-Staters,
We’ve made it to March! The weather might not be much warmer yet, but Spring Break is right around the corner and Summer is in sight!
From the start of our time in office, Jake and I have had the goal of moving K-State toward a more holistic mobile application for smart phones and tablets — one that would allow students to check grades, class notes, pay bills, and receive K-State news updates and other alerts. We knew coordinating the myriad of departments and entities on campus who deserve a say in the creation of such an app would be a big task, and that has proved to be true; however, we believe it will be more than worth it in the long run.
Here’s a summary of our work: the folks in charge of iSIS have been hard at work for months on the potential for a mobile version of the system — or a similar version of the system that would allow mobility to be an option. The same goes for the K-State Online leadership team — they too are working on a potential transition, one to Canvas, a system used at a number of other universities around the nation and currently being tested by a handful of K-State students. Canvas would provide options for mobility on smart phones and tablets as well. Finally, there’s the K-State App released by the Division of Communications and Marketing in 2013, which has received an impressive number of downloads in the six or so months since its release.
After work with all three of these relevant entities over the past months, we’re thrilled to say they’re now working in coordination on the concept of a full-service app for K-Staters. What’s the next step? Student input! In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sending a survey out to the entirety of the student body asking students what they’d like to see — specifically — in a mobile app. Class schedules? Grades? Financial information? Questions like these and more will be included in the survey. We need your help encouraging fellow students to take the time (5 minutes) to complete it. Its importance for the future of mobility at K-State cannot be understated! Watch for an email and social media campaign in the near future.
Thanks for reading; more updates on this to come. Only two weeks until Spring Break — make them good ones!
Eli Schooley
Student Body President