MySaxion Students App: “We need to be where our students are”
February this year marked the long expected launch of the MySaxion Students App, to the delight of the students at Saxion University of Applied Sciences. The first step was to provide students with the right way to view their timetable on their smartphone, but it does not stop there. Susanne Harpering, Internal Communications Advisor at Saxion, has big plans with the app. “We want to be where our students are and make all the information they need available to our students there.”
During a large-scale project regarding education logistics, the choice was made to work with StuComm. Susanne was still working on implementing and improving the new intranet MySaxion.nl, when she was asked to join the project. “At first I was sceptical and I thought: “please, not another system for our students, they won’t be able to find anything!” But right away I saw that the MySaxion Students App is a great fit for our students and it helps us to provide the information from our intranet via smartphone.”
Searching is over
About two years ago Susanne started with the implementation of the new intranet. The goal? “We realised that we had a lot of different systems and platforms students have to use to make their assignments, to study and to find information they need. We wanted to create one central location where students could find all that information and be redirected to other systems and platforms if necessary”, says Susanne. “We did not want our students to have to figure out where they could find what they need, but make everything accessible through one application. The only problem was that the intranet does not have a smartphone application. With the students app, that problem is now solved.”
“To reach our students we have to communicate with them via smartphone”
“Naturally, students are very active on their smartphone. That means that we have to be there as well if we really want to reach them. That is where the MySaxion Students App comes in”, states Susanne. “It is more than just an app for your time table and study results, which was the focus of the project on education logistics. The app offers a lot of possibilities regarding communications and has to serve as the central location for all information. From there, students can navigate to wherever it is they need to be.”
Kick-off and development
Over 10,000 students have downloaded the app, which is more than 30% of all students. That was only with a soft launch. In the coming months new features will be added to the app. Susanne: “We wanted to provide our students with a mobile friendly time table, but more features are coming soon. Every time we add a new functionality to the app, we promote it to our students. At the start of the new academic year, there will be a big campaign to promote the app and have as many students as possible use the app.”
“There are a lot of possibilities and we have to evaluate what we want to use to help our students the best we can”
The involvement of a communications professional during the implementation and further development of a students app is of great importance, as Susanne experienced with the MySaxion Students App. “The app has a lot of possibilities and we will evaluate what our students need and want. Soon we will add the exam schedule, study results and study progress to the app. After that, we will add a news overview and useful information to provide students with everything they need and help them navigate to other systems and platforms if needed. We are going to do everything to maximise the advantage we get by implementing the app”, concludes Susanne.
