GPS Mobile was launched this summer at New Student Orientation after a year and a half of preparation, including reaching out to campus partners and running student focus groups for feedback. Now, the app is being offered to NC State students as an all-encompassing resource for advising, course schedule viewing and even forming study groups.
Nikki Glenos, director of advising technology, said the app is part of the student interface aspect of the Student Success GPS System, a suite of advising tools purchased in 2015 for a progressive rollout across campus.
“It combines real-time data analytics and reporting to help advisers support their students and provide early interventions if necessary,” Glenos said. “From advisers’ perspectives, it gives a lot of different technological tools to be able to reach out to students to provide continuity of care with advising notes and a sharing platform … But from the student’s perspective, they have access to streamlined appointment scheduling.”
Melanie Cruz, transfer student coordinator, has been using the Student Success GPS system as a part of the pilot program since she started at NC State in 2016. Part of Student Success GPS system is an organized note-taking system, which Cruz said encourages note-taking, keeps notes organized and ensures continuity of care for topics discussed during advising.
“We’ve tried really hard to make sure that it’s not a one-size-fits-all tool, because we know that folks have to approach advising from many different ways,” Glenos said. “We’ve worked hard to address that by working individually with colleges and then working with departments to show some of the different ways that the system could be used, especially in light of the wide variety of roles we have on campus that support our students.”
Jason Swarts, coordinator of advising for the Department of English, has just recently started using the Student Success GPS and enjoys the mass communication aspect of the system. He said the system allows him to easily contact large groups of students and advisers and keeps track of who has responded to messages and set up appointments.
“There are some analytics that are built into the GPS system that help alert advisers to things that might be coming up in a student’s record, [like] whether it looks like they might be taking courses outside of the major and they want to switch majors,” Swarts said. “Normally, we try to figure these things out when we meet in person, but the GPS system, the way it’s designed is to try to make some of those potential issues visible to us ahead of time.”
Anne Hubbard, academic adviser for the college of agriculture and life sciences, said student response to advising through the Student Success GPS system has been positive as well.
“[Students] like that they can access my account very easily,” Hubbard said. “They don’t have to necessarily ask my permission to schedule an appointment. As long as they have a link or access, they can just go ahead and do it … Through GPS Mobile, they like having the different resources available at their fingertips as more of a one-stop area.”
Glenos said the goal of GPS mobile is to make campus resources more accessible to users. The “study buddies” feature, for example, gives students the opportunity to connect with other students who are interested in forming study groups in courses that may or may not have formal tutoring options available.
“The app gives [students] access to all of the campus offices, how to connect with them, how to schedule appointments,” Glenos said. “You can also view your class schedule and sync it and download it to your phone. For new students, it’s great because it shows your schedule. You can click on the locations and the building, so it will pop up with walking directions from your native map.”
Glenos said in addition to academic advisers, the University Tutorial Center and TRIO are also using GPS Mobile for scheduling.
“We’re going to take a look at what’s being used in the mobile app, and how can we capitalize on that,” Glenos said. “How can we streamline things more? How can we get some feedback from students, especially after this first year, about their perspectives about the app? … But of course, gaining broad-scale adoption of the GPS platform, from advisers to students, and having everybody in the same system is the biggest step with the GPS platform.”
To learn more about Student Success GPS including how to download GPS Mobile, students can visit the Student Success GPS website.
