Mott CC App Includes Wayfinding Feature

Mott Mobile App

A Michigan community college has launched a mobile app that includes wayfinding. Mott Community College developed Mott Mobile App for iOS and Android devices using Meridian Mobile Apps. The development platform is produced by Aruba, a company owned by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

The directional help in the app works with Aruba access points that have built-in Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons, individual Aruba BLE beacons and AirWave network management. The app detects the BLE signal from a beacon and estimates the distance to the beacon to calculate a user's specific location and help the user pinpoint where he or she is.

The app also includes some more common functions that tap into the college's student information system (from Ellucian) and learning management system (from Blackboard). Students can:

  • View their current schedules and course plans;
  • Search and register for courses;
  • Check the status of financial aid;
  • View billing information and make payments;
  • Look through current and past schedules;
  • Check on grades;
  • Manage their password resets; and
  • Schedule appointments.
Mott Mobile App

"We didn't want to have multiple, different apps that our users would need to download and that we would need to maintain," said Kirk Yaros, director of enterprise services in the college's Information Technology Services, in a press release. "With the Meridian platform, we were able to create a single app that delivers access to everything they need. For example, from within the app, students can link directly to Ellucian to register for courses and view their billing and financial aid status, as well as use new features that leverage the Aruba infrastructure — such as the 'blue dot' navigation — to find their way around campus."

In the future, Mott intends to use its new app to promote and provide details for college events; host a virtual tour of campus art and photography; and enable notifications for use with registration, food services and financial department functions. In addition, the school would like to integrate a rapid response feature so faculty can use the app in the classroom to push out questions for students to answer in real time to make sure their learning is on track during class.

"Having a full-featured mobile app for our school — as well as the right WiFi infrastructure to support it — is a must, and helps us stay competitive," Yaros noted. With these two components in place, he said, "we can continue to add important features and functionality, ensuring that Mott Community College remains competitive from the technological, as well as educational, perspective."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • university building surrounded by icons for AI, checklists, and data governance

    Improving AI Governance for Stronger University Compliance and Innovation

    AI can generate valuable insights for higher education institutions and it can be used to enhance the teaching process itself. The caveat is that this can only be achieved when universities adopt a strategic and proactive set of data and process management policies for their use of AI.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • futuristic AI interface with glowing data streams and abstract neural network patterns

    OpenAI Launches Its Largest AI Model Yet in Research Preview

    OpenAI has announced the launch of GPT-4.5, its largest AI model to date, code-named Orion. The model, trained with more computing power and data than any previous OpenAI release, is available as a research preview to select users.

  • Microsoft

    Microsoft Introduces Its First Quantum Computing Chip

    Microsoft has unveiled Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip, aimed at deployment in datacenters.