Mobile Apps for Education | News

Student Creates Unsanctioned iPhone App for Cal Poly Pomona

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/09/10

A student at California State Polytechnic University Pomona has developed an iPhone app to provide news and information about his school after teaching himself iPhone programming from a book. Cal Poly Pomona Central, developed by Shawn Irvin, a computer information systems major, is available free in the iTunes store.

Irvin learned iPhone programming from Apress' Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK. The campus app took him about two weeks to develop.

Version 2.0 of the app includes the ability to browse articles from campus publications; pull up campus departments with location, phone, and fax; find athletic events and add them to the calendar; sign up for campus notifications; track homework, meetings, and reminders in a "My Notes" section; and get campus maps. But the feature that gets "the best reaction," he said, is one that allows users to find out what food is available on campus and whether or not the given restaurant is open at the time it's being viewed.

Although a number of campuses have released similar apps, Irvin said he only knows of two, "and I didn't need them to get inspiration." The program hasn't been officially sanctioned by the school, he added. "I've talked to many people [at Cal Poly Pomona], but nobody wants to take it on. It's always because of money."