Digital technology expert bITjAM was commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent 6th Form College to create a mobile app for students. The app needed to be designed to let students access their weekly timetable on their mobile phones and view a personalised task list, based on work that their tutors set.
Increasing productivity
Historically, the college communicated with students using printed timetables and SMS, a strategy that proved relatively costly and not very efficient, whereas the app, named Logga, now allows the college to connect with students on a personal level, targeting specific classes or individuals.
Logga, which connecting to the college’s internal timetabling system and pulls each student’s timetable from the existing database, aims to help students manage their time more effectively and therefore become more productive. It was launched in September 2015.
Simplification features
Research completed by bITjAM prior to designing the app highlighted a need to have everything in one place. To address this, one of the features that the app employs is a dashboard that shows numerous stats, including attendance rate. Students also now receive a simple visualisation of the week ahead.
By employing the principles of Google Material Design, bITjAM has created both a daily and weekly calendar view that is colour-coded based on subject area. Class times, room numbers and outstanding tasks can be easily accessed from the calendar view.
Additionally, the app also has a task management feature, based on the latest research by David Allen, author of work-life management system, Getting Things Done. Allen’s method is widely recognised as a successful way of getting control and maintaining perspective.
Growing market
Commented Georgie Marlowe, chief operations officer at bITjAM: “From working closely with the college for the past year, bITjAM has gotten to understand some of the challenges that staff face when it comes to communicating with students.
“Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College is a large institution, which makes printing student timetables both expensive and harmful to the environment. Not only will the app assist staff at the college, it will also alleviate pressure on students. We estimate that within a few years’ time every school, college and university will be using a similar app,” Marlowe added.
Because of its ability to work with the data infrastructure of any organisation, bITjAM experts are able to employ the same technology for other schools, colleges and universities to help students manage workloads and timetables.
