Smartphone users will soon have the option of downloading an official Trinity app for everyday use.
The app, currently being referred to as TU Life, will combine several websites commonly visited by Trinity students as well as routine tasks such as viewing grades and courses, loading Tiger Bucks and checking TLEARN.
“It’s an app designed for the entire Trinity community””students, faculty, staff and even alumni, to a certain extent,” said Michelle Bartonico, director of marketing communications. “We felt like we needed to try to centralize a resource for the whole Trinity community by giving everybody one source to try to get a lot of different needs fulfilled.”
Bartonico has played a large role in the project management of the app content.
“Users will also be able to access the university’s social media networks and live stream KRTU. We’re even working on streaming news from the Trinitonian,” Bartonico said.
TU Life will not require students to login, but they will have the ability to create their own account in order to access grades and courses.
“On my end, I’ve done a lot of testing, because this is the first Trinity app that’s actually tied into the system where grades are stored,” said Ender Ergun, programmer analyst for IT Services and lead developer for TU Life.
Another feature of the app includes a map with all the major buildings on campus and their hours of operation.
“That’s helpful, especially during the beginning of the semester,” said first year Isaiah Mora, who has seen the beta version of the app. “As a first year, I haven’t visited certain parts of campus because I don’t have classes there.”
TU Life is only in phase one, but as phases two and three develop, new features will be added such as a directory listing with faculty members’s names, the ability to register for classes directly on the app and a form of beacon technology that would send alerts of discounts and deals occurring around campus.
“We’re just starting at the base building blocks right now and taking it one step at a time. We don’t want to put out something that’s incomplete. We want solid, functional, incremental releases,” Ergun said.
The app will be in beta for a couple more weeks, with the Apple version scheduled to be released in early February. The release for Android devices will follow shortly after.
“We’re going to have a soft launch in the next few weeks or so. Once Apple approves it, we’ll start showing the app to students, faculty and staff and ask if and how they would use it,” Bartonico said.
“I would definitely start using it right away,” Mora said. “I think it’s very convenient and helpful because it has a lot of things I would look for separately in one place. I would probably use it multiple times a day, especially for accessing TLEARN.”
The TU Life app is expected to be available for download on both the App and Google Play stores by mid-February.
