Jeff Young and Warren Arbogast host guest Cindy Bixler, the chief information officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to discuss the topic of mobile application services on campus on their January 4 Tech Therapy podcast.
Everyone is turning to their mobile devices for everyday processes and so are students, according to Bixler. From paying bills to checking grades to seeing if classes are available, she says students want to use mobile applications on their phones and iPads. Beyond that, Bixler suggests the possibility of using phones for classroom learning—from providing instant responses to questions in lecture to being able to receive learning assignments—to providing social learning functions allowing students to interact with each other through mobile devices.
At Embry-Riddle, Bixler said they’re looking to build their mobile application platform in stages to provide “low-hanging fruit” services first and add things as they go, rather than planning and building an all-encompassing platform that is everything to everyone right away.
As for the biggest challenge to producing such a product, Bixler says it’s the fear of making the right decision quickly enough. She argues that it’s okay to make a mistake in creating the mobile application because it can be assessed and monitored then changed accordingly. Ultimately, Bixler says given the speed at which technology is changing, if too much time is spent analyzing the ways mobile devices are used, the technology will change by the time a product is finally agreed on and created.
