Opinion: Do we really need an app for that?

Student Affairs Bureau Chief, Chris Yee, examines the need for the KSA to put out a student life app.

By Chris Yee [student affairs bureau chief]

Mobile applications, or “apps,” for iPhones, iPod Touches, Android phones, and other mobile devices, are now offered by a handful of Canadian universities.

Starting with the University of Saskatchewan’s offering, which was the first in Canada, at least four other institutions followed suit: the University of Alberta, the University of Toronto, and Ryerson University.

Naturally, the question arises: what about Kwantlen?

While we could talk about everything an app could do for Kwantlen students, like providing services and information such as schedules, email, and campus announcements, we’ll focus on a single area where such services and information could be useful: student life.

To make things even more specific, let’s focus on what a KSA app may look like.

Right now, the KSA website serves this purpose of providing information about it to Kwantlen students. It has a prominently placed schedule for various events and meetings, slightly less prominent promotional links to a selection of services and initiatives (like SHIP and the forthcoming U-Pass), contact info for its various student staff members and representatives, and various other things.

It’s navigable enough, and it doesn’t go too long between updates (at least where the schedule is concerned). It could be better, but it’s pretty good at what it does.

Of course, the KSA website is designed for regular web browsers, not for ones on mobile devices. Perhaps the primary purpose of a KSA app would be to provide the services of the KSA website in a more convenient form, in a form that is adapted for mobile devices like iPhones, various other smartphones and iPod Touches.

But if this is so, then the best bet for a KSA app would to be a browser-based app, perhaps of the type offered by the University of Toronto and Ryerson for campus use, as opposed to the stand-alone apps like the ones offered by the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta.

Then again, perhaps all that is needed is a facelift to the KSA website, one that includes some tweaks for mobile devices.