Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


U of South Florida Co-developing App for COVID-19-Safe Campus Returns

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 06/22/20
Appian CampusPass

A Florida university is working with a software company to produce a mobile application to help campuses manage data on the health of their returning communities. The University of South Florida is working with Appian, which specializes in creating tools for automating workflows. CampusPass, as the new program is called, pulls together the functionality for managing COVID-19-related data collection and processing, daily health status validation and isolation protocols. The app, expected for purchase beginning on July 1, 2020, will work on Android and iOS devices.

Functions include:

  • A single interface for viewing the "health and campus status of the entire academic community";
  • A self-reporting check-in survey, which can be customized, to collect information on the COVID-19 status and return-to-campus preferences of everybody;
  • Mobile pass verification, an automated authorization that can be displayed on mobile devices; and
  • Incident tracking and isolation processing, for response to positive COVID-19 cases, particularly for on-campus residents.

The software is available in several languages, including English, Italian, Spanish, German and French.

"The health and safety of students, faculty and staff is our most important concern during this pandemic," said Sidney Fernandes, university CIO, in a statement. "Coordinating and communicating across all departments and tens of thousands of students poses a significant challenge for universities, and Appian is the platform that brings us all together safely and securely."

For more information, visit the Appian site.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Silhouettes of business professionals stand against a blurred futuristic city skyline at night, with a glowing digital network data connection

    It's Time for Higher Ed to Get Serious About AI Strategy

    Without a coordinated strategy that involves multiple academic and administrative units across the entire campus, colleges risk wasting resources, duplicating efforts, and ultimately failing to deliver on the promise of deploying technology to improve learning and operations.

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • silhouette of business person facing wall of data

    Why AI Strategy Belongs in the President's Office

    Institutions that are succeeding with AI share one thing in common, and it is not a better committee, a larger budget, or a more sophisticated technology stack. It is a president who never handed off the steering wheel.

  • Jason Palm

    AI, Identity, and Speed: Cybersecurity Priorities for Higher Ed

    Fortinet Security Operations Specialist Jason Palm explains how AI is raising new security challenges for higher education, requiring stronger governance, identity protection, threat detection, automation, and incident readiness.