Presently, The Ohio State University (OSU) routinely uses email and websites to communicate with students. These approaches do not provide real-time communication and they also contribute to a student’s current information overload. Under the present system students cannot receive immediate and cost-effective notification of emergencies or upcoming campus events.
One instance of the above problem occurs while new and prospective students are presented with a great deal of information during orientation programs on campus. This is burdensome for tour guides, who must remember all this information, and is also prone to error. For instance, they might lead a group of students past the recently renovated library but might forget to mention the renovations.
Connected Campus (CC) provides a new platform that enables free, instantaneous communication. CC sends push notifications via OSU Wireless to students’ mobile devices, each of which is uniquely tied to an OSU username (name.n), and is free for use by any OSU affiliate. CC comprises of a mobile device application, which receives the notifications, and a web application, which transmits them.
CC thus overcomes the limitations of existing university communication systems and also satisfies the need for a cost-effective, real-time communication platform. From a student perspective, it is desirable to simply receive pushed information on a mobile device than having to reach out and pull the information from email or the web. The pushed information will be transmitted as short notifications to quickly capture student’s attention and deliver content.
Orientation leaders can distribute CC-equipped mobile devices to new and prospective students. As they pass a particular location on campus with OSU Wireless access, the CC server can send push notifications to student’s devices informing them about that building’s purposes, policies, and upcoming events, based on the location details sent from the device. This reduces the burden on guides and possible errors. For example, when students walk by the main library, it can transmit notifications about the recent renovations, which guides might have forgotten to mention.
This thesis deals with designing an iPod-based application prototype for the orientation problem mentioned above. The reason for selecting the iPod touch device is because of the popularity of these devices among students.