DCU Mobile App

DWynter · 30-11-2010 09:27PM

vinnyb wrote: »

A what is on now feature which could combine Club and Socs activites with such stuff as Careers events to give realtime whats on calendar.

Also the option to avail of the app in Irish would be great.

Thanks for your suggestions. First suggestion of an Irish app - I'm sure our friends in Fiontar particularly would really like this

wonderfulname · 30-11-2010 09:36PM

Dwynter, you can quote everyone in one post, click the button labelled "multi-quote this message" beside every post you want to respond to then click "post reply" on the bottom left of the page.

Back on topic a campus map, timetable and some form of update stream from staff and socs would be great.
Also, assuming this would be pushed for next years orientation, a DCU A to Z with a search function, would be handy for everyone at some time or another really - to check out doctors times and such.

DWynter · 01-12-2010 12:11PM

wonderfulname wrote: »

Dwynter, you can quote everyone in one post, click the button labelled "multi-quote this message" beside every post you want to respond to then click "post reply" on the bottom left of the page.

Back on topic a campus map, timetable and some form of update stream from staff and socs would be great.
Also, assuming this would be pushed for next years orientation, a DCU A to Z with a search function, would be handy for everyone at some time or another really - to check out doctors times and such.

Thanks for the tip - helpful for a newbie

Thanks also for your suggestions!

redout · 02-12-2010 12:55PM

I would second the iPhone app.

Should also consider that iPad is really beginning to take off and with iPad 2 sometime in 2011 people are really going to take to it I would imagine.

Apparently the iPad has already put a small dent into laptop sales.

Cy_Revenant · 02-12-2010 04:28PM

What about an Android app, webOS app, Symbian app, Blackberry app or WinPhone app?

Not all smartphone users are carrying iPhones.

markpb · 02-12-2010 04:59PM

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

What about an Android app, webOS app, Symbian app, Blackberry app or WinPhone app? Not all smartphone users are carrying iPhones.

I would imagine between Android and Apple, the vast majority of smartphones would be covered. Diminishing returns sets in very quickly and it's not like those apps are easily ported between platforms.

DWynter · 03-12-2010 04:32PM

redout wrote: »

I would second the iPhone app.

Should also consider that iPad is really beginning to take off and with iPad 2 sometime in 2011 people are really going to take to it I would imagine.

Apparently the iPad has already put a small dent into laptop sales.

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

What about an Android app, webOS app, Symbian app, Blackberry app or WinPhone app?

Not all smartphone users are carrying iPhones.

markpb wrote: »

I would imagine between Android and Apple, the vast majority of smartphones would be covered. Diminishing returns sets in very quickly and it's not like those apps are easily ported between platforms.

Hi Guys. Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. Having looked at various research out there, it would appear that for the Irish market Android and Apple, really are the main players. Symbian, for example is very important in Italy, but only of very limited importance here. Maybe that is set to change in the future though?

amen · 03-12-2010 09:23PM

How about catering for Alumni ?

asking DCU's own students exactly what they want from a DCU mobile app, because they are ultimately the end users

How do you know those posting here are DCU students? Could be anybody.

An app seems crazy. Locked into plaform/phone.

A mobile rendered site is a much better idea.

DWynter · 03-12-2010 09:46PM

amen wrote: »

How about catering for Alumni ?

How do you know those posting here are DCU students? Could be anybody.

An app seems crazy. Locked into plaform/phone.

A mobile rendered site is a much better idea.

Thanks Amen for your thoughts - I will discuss the "mobile rendered site" with the "techies" - you're not the first person to suggest this, so obviously it bears consideration.

You're right - I don't know that all those posting here are DCU students, but many of the posts that I have viewed would indicate that they are!

Please rest assured that Alumni will be taken into account, along with other external audiences also.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply

dave oc · 05-12-2010 08:52PM

The suggestions so pretty much cover what I would want:

-access to Portal page
-Moodle optimized for mobile device if possible
-campus map with GPS location
-DCU mail intergration
-DCU news / events on and off campus
-clubs and society interaction / info
-twitter feed of student tweets (by location or similar)
-timetables (maybe show where should I be now & next etc)

Also to help the research im using an iPhone.

johnmcdnl · 06-12-2010 05:06AM

all i'd want in an "app" is check my email.. maybe timetables as well...
and possibly a way to get moodle notes if I was stuck but tbh I can't ever see myself being so stuck for my notes that I'd go to get my phone to check them..

don't really see what or why you'd want a dcu app... maybe other people have far better ideas than me but that's all the stuff I ever check up on that's going on in dcu..

slasher_65 · 06-12-2010 12:09PM

Those who are calling for Mail integration on an iPhone: Are you aware that since the mail runs on Google Apps you can simply use the Mail application ON the iPhone? Set the account up as if it were a gmail account, and for the username, put in your DCU email address.

quackisss · 06-12-2010 03:34PM

slasher_65 wrote: »

Those who are calling for Mail integration on an iPhone: Are you aware that since the mail runs on Google Apps you can simply use the Mail application ON the iPhone? Set the account up as if it were a gmail account, and for the username, put in your DCU email address.

Same for the majority of Android users, the stock mail app supports DCU mail no problem.

DWynter · 06-12-2010 05:37PM

quackisss wrote: »

Same for the majority of Android users, the stock mail app supports DCU mail no problem.

Mr.S wrote: »

And if you don't have a smartphone/phone that supports gmail then go into your DCU email settings and have every email forwarded to say, a hotmal account which can be accessed from any phone with internet (mobile.live.com)

slasher_65 wrote: »

Those who are calling for Mail integration on an iPhone: Are you aware that since the mail runs on Google Apps you can simply use the Mail application ON the iPhone? Set the account up as if it were a gmail account, and for the username, put in your DCU email address.

johnmcdnl wrote: »

all i'd want in an "app" is check my email.. maybe timetables as well...
and possibly a way to get moodle notes if I was stuck but tbh I can't ever see myself being so stuck for my notes that I'd go to get my phone to check them..

don't really see what or why you'd want a dcu app... maybe other people have far better ideas than me but that's all the stuff I ever check up on that's going on in dcu..

Dave6195 wrote: »

The suggestions so pretty much cover what I would want:

-access to Portal page
-Moodle optimized for mobile device if possible
-campus map with GPS location
-DCU mail intergration
-DCU news / events on and off campus
-clubs and society interaction / info
-twitter feed of student tweets (by location or similar)
-timetables (maybe show where should I be now & next etc)

Also to help the research im using an iPhone.

Thanks Guys for all of your comments above. I will make sure that all are taken into account.

wonderfulname · 07-12-2010 09:26PM

Mr.S wrote: »

And if you don't have a smartphone/phone that supports gmail then go into your DCU email settings and have every email forwarded to say, a hotmal account which can be accessed from any phone with internet (mobile.live.com)

I'm using a 50e nokia brick, downloaded gmail from the google search page free.

raymon · 07-12-2010 09:33PM

Videos of lectures & tutorials

carlowboy · 08-12-2010 05:44PM

redout wrote: »

I would second the iPhone app.

Should also consider that iPad is really beginning to take off and with iPad 2 sometime in 2011 people are really going to take to it I would imagine.

Apparently the iPad has already put a small dent into laptop sales.

Must be a pretty small dent.

DWynter · 14-12-2010 01:07PM

Hi Raymon

Thanks for your reply. We have thought about putting lectures and tutorials online before alright, but I have wondered how likely our students would be to watch them. Have you seen ones on other sites that you thought were particularly good? Isthere a maximum length that you think they should be to hold a student's attention. Any thoughts you or others have would be much appreciated. :-)

phantom_lord · 14-12-2010 01:13PM

Surely it should be feasible to put a camera in every lecture room and record all the lectures automatically and put them up on moodle?

raymon · 14-12-2010 01:20PM

DWynter wrote: »

Hi Raymon

Thanks for your reply. We have thought about putting lectures and tutorials online before alright, but I have wondered how likely our students would be to watch them. Have you seen ones on other sites that you thought were particularly good? Isthere a maximum length that you think they should be to hold a student's attention. Any thoughts you or others have would be much appreciated. :-)

I have found Serena Chen's Psychology audio lectures from Berkeley very handy for Human Sciences - excellent stuff indeed

http://psychology.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=psychology&cdn=education&tm=255&gps=125_1778_1379_888&f=00&su=p897.10.336.ip_&tt=3&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php%3Fseriesid%3D1906978368

Also oscail at DCU already have many video lectures already in Moodle
Maybe contact Eamonn Costelloe, Liam Meany , or Adrian Redmond for more info

And yes - students will use them - any port in a storm

py2006 · 19-12-2010 11:08AM

I think vital features would definitely be:

Moodle
Mail
Map of Campus
Various opening hours

Sephiroth_vg · 05-01-2011 02:45AM

Hmm... reading through this thread..makes me wonder WHY a techie isint doing this research in the first place (sorry to say you seen to have little clue about all of this) ... If it was me, id go with Android, Iphone, and a Lite Web Based version (to cater for everyone else- or maybe make a java app which is quite close to Android) Another idea i really really liked is having all the lectures recorded and posted online on Moodle (backlog of a week worths of lectures or atleast 3 days) would be a tremendous HELP and would save me the trouble of worrying about being really late or forgetting to note down some helpfull point the lecturer gave us (which is not always in the notes).
Also think about incorporating Timetables directly into moodle or Google Calender (You guys already have Google Apps licensed so get as much use as you can out of it- It is helpfull because Android users have the Calender sync which will give them the timeables RIGHT in their phones..i am not sure but i think google calender has some kindof support for the iphone as well).
Also a big problem right now is that Normal Android users cannot access LAPLAN because of proxy trouble (However rooted users running Cyrogenmod based Roms have the option for Proxy- The libraries for proxy are there for Android but its just laziness on the side of the manufacturers which is making this a big issue). So please work on solving that...
Booking for rooms from the library is also a very nice idea as mentioned by someone else.
It would also be nice to include a shout out box in the app (more like a chat channel for students communicating info or just talking).
Indoor GPS based navigation is impossible - so that idea is kindof useless (Possible through wifi based location but thats in development right now)
If you need help on any thing im always available.. so drop me a notification

hope this helps

JBoyle4eva · 10-01-2011 02:29PM

I know this is very off topic, but if the app is going to be available on Android, would make sense for ISS to disable the proxy on the WiFi as at the minute, you cannot manually change proxy on Android Wifi and thus, cannot use the wifi on campus.

Shiny · 15-01-2011 08:40PM

I suggest looking at what Paddy Power are doing in terms of mobile apps.

They cater for most phones with a web based app.

Even though they advertise iPhone/iPad and Android apps it looks like
they are just a shell holding the web back end. The web backend also
means that any updates done are automatically applied across all
platforms from one source so it greatly reduces the resources required
to maintain it.

It should be possible to buffer all this information so that it would work
off off-line and only download the updated information.

Would also be nice to see the academic calendar presented in a nice
way in the App. Always good to know the major dates in the year.

David900 · 16-01-2011 10:19AM

JBoyle4eva wrote: »

I know this is very off topic, but if the app is going to be available on Android, would make sense for ISS to disable the proxy on the WiFi as at the minute, you cannot manually change proxy on Android Wifi and thus, cannot use the wifi on campus.

It was mentioned a couple of pages back about saying this to the 'techies', as anything ever come of this? I'm not really up on this kind of stuff, all I know is that my phone doesn't connect to the internet which is quite annoying considering most of the lecturers send us class updates as little as an hour before hand through email!

Winters · 17-01-2011 11:22AM

DWynter wrote: »

Hi Raymon

Thanks for your reply. We have thought about putting lectures and tutorials online before alright, but I have wondered how likely our students would be to watch them.

I would assume you'd want students to actually go to lectures as opposed to being lazy and watching them later on in the day...

raymon · 17-01-2011 11:53AM

Winters wrote: »

I would assume you'd want students to actually go to lectures as opposed to being lazy and watching them later on in the day...

I'm sure people who mitch lectures will mitch anyway. For me and other people that went to lectures, I would find that looking at an online lecture after a live lecture would be great. Also good for revision.

There would be a library of lectures online on different subjects. These lectures would
probably not be from an actual classroom, but recorded using desktop sharing.

tinyone · 24-02-2011 10:25PM

hi,

im interested in developing mobile apps.
wondering how can i get in touch with you.

redout · 25-02-2011 01:29AM

Can't see many lecturers agreeing to the recording of lectures and posting on moodle. It will only serve to encourage higher levels of truancy despite the benefits it could potentially bring. More and more modules now giving a percentage of the course marks for attendance - it ain't rocket science to know why.

raymon · 25-02-2011 01:51AM

redout wrote: »

Can't see many lecturers agreeing to the recording of lectures and posting on moodle. It will only serve to encourage higher levels of truancy despite the benefits it could potentially bring. More and more modules now giving a percentage of the course marks for attendance - it ain't rocket science to know why.

there are already lectures in moodle

They are not a video of a lecture that you should have attended. They are a explanatory piece on a particular subject

DCU Mobile App

Comments