App features include:
- Student checklist
- FAQ
- Video stream (on commencement day)
- Time and location of commencement
The Digital Corps has created an app to answer questions and provide information about commencement, such as the schedule, a student checklist and parking information.
Commencement coordinator Angie Cravens came up with the idea for the app because it was clear to her that students didn’t have a good understanding of how to get through both the graduation process and the ceremonies.
Her office kept receiving emails and phone calls with the same types of questions, and although a commencement webpage existed and emails were sent out, it wasn’t helping much and the email information was not being relayed to parents.
“In a conversation with Brandon Smith from Academic Project Support, I mentioned the challenge of getting information to students in a way that works for them, and that I'd love an app they could go to that would count down to their graduation date and provide the details they and their families needed,” Cravens said. “I knew students were banking and ordering pizza and getting their news from apps, and hoped they would use an app for this important time of their life.”
Smith, who is also the director of the Digital Corps, contacted Cravens during the Fall 2015 semester and said he found app development software he’d like the Corps to test by developing a commencement app.
“I was so excited that we were going to build an app, but also that it was being developed by Ball State students — the actual audience that would be using it,” Cravens said. “Digital Corps asked for additional functionalities from the developer, all in an effort to get important details to graduating students in the most efficient way.”
The app was soft launched for the December 2015 commencement. Not a lot of students found it, but faculty members and the students who did gave positive feedback.
Cravens said spring commencement is more complicated because there are multiple ceremonies, so graduates and families need even more information.
“My long-term dream for the app is that students will download it as soon as they begin their senior year,” she said. “I want to continue to develop it and add important topics, like career prep and job fair information, financial aid action steps and, of course, every detail they'll need to get ready for and to enjoy their graduation and ensure they receive their diploma, even if they don't plan to attend the ceremony.”
Cravens said her goal is for the app to provide a full senior experience by working with departments like the Career Center to provide a comprehensive senior checklist to make sure students apply to graduate and know about things like the completion scholarship and senior celebration.
"Having one place to see this list and get more information would be helpful for them," she said. "We want their final year experience to be as rewarding as their freshman year."
Specific lineup information and locations for each college ceremony will be added before the end of April. The app also tells users how many days are remaining until commencement, which Cravens said can either be exciting or terrifying, depending on how prepared a student is.
Rachel Regan, a senior visual communication major who worked on the app, said they decided the app’s features based on what she and the other seniors in the group would want to see in the app.
“We kept it pretty simple and very user-friendly. You’re thinking about how the user will use it on their phone," Regan said. "I think my parents will probably use it cause they are still a little unfamiliar with the campus, … but I’ll probably use it to figure out where I need to be after the main ceremony.”
The app is available on both the App Store and Google Play.
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