Project update:


Since 2011, Chapman University has considered a mobile app,
but we have not posted an update for quite some time
. Chapman has, however, been working in the background on this exciting project. Thanks to support from Chapman’s Alumni Board and the hard work of Chapman Administrators, the mobile app project is underway.

Akin Ceylan ‘90, James Blalock ’09, and other alumni provided thoughts, ideas, and opinions to Chapman administrators including V.P. of Marketing, Mark Woodland and Director of Web and Interactive Marketing, David May. Woodland and May then connected with Information Systems & Technology (IS&T) leadership. IS&T and Strategic Marketing and Communications (SMC) are currently collaborating on a project that will improve user’s experience on mobile devices for students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Helen Norris, Chapman University CIO, successfully applied for a budget enhancement, and those resources will fund the project. Data collected by SMC over the past few years will inform the project’s direction. This data is available here:

2013 Survey Results - (Microsoft PowerPoint download)
2015 Survey Results - (Microsoft PowerPoint download)


Helen Norris and Zubin Khambatta have formed a committee including SMC, faculty, student, and staff representation. In the first meeting, this committee identified feature requests and discussed Chapman’s mobile strategy.

Since 2011, Chapman SMC’s strategy has been to focus on responsive web design (RWD). SMC’s Web Design and Technology Manager brought this idea to SMC as a solution that allows a positive user experience on all mobile operating systems, is less expensive than a native app, and does not require duplicate entry of information.

The 2013 and 2015 surveys address the mobile, and desktop experience of Chapman’s website. In 2013, less than 25% of the respondents said that Chapman’s mobile web experience was of poor quality, and by 2015 only 10% described Chapman’s mobile web experience as poor quality. In 2015, only 6% of respondents said that Chapman’s website was of poor quality on a laptop or desktop.

Graph showing the overall quality of experience with Chapman University site as accessed through a mobile device


2013 Results: Chapman’s site on mobile



 

Graphs showing the overall quality of your experience with the Chapman website accessed through a mobile device


2015 Results: Chapman’s site on mobile



 

 

 

Bar graph of parent, current students, staff members, and overall rank the quality of their Chapman experience


2013 Results: Chapman’s site on laptop or desktop



 

Graphs showing overall quality of experience with Chapman website through laptop or desktop


2015 Results: Chapman’s site on laptop or desktop



 

While the RWD strategy has served the Marketing department well since 2011, SMC agrees with the Alumni Board and IS&T: a native mobile app would improve the mobile experience for our Chapman Family. An application that can be downloaded to iOS and Android devices could provide easier navigation, faster performance, and a more enjoyable experience for our community.

Project Goals:


Based on the accumulated data, Alumni Board meetings, user surveys, and review of the analytics, the project goals include the following:

  • Easy access to campus news
    • Include ‘class notes‘ which will allow alumni to keep up with one another more easily

  • Easy access to campus events (perhaps including sports scores)

  • Easy access to a list of academic programs

  • Easy access to a Chapman-specific social media feed

  • Easy access to a campus map

  • (IS&T has more specific goals that relate to PeopleSoft, and we will link to their blog post here)


If you are a member of the Chapman Family and you have ideas, questions, or concerns regarding Chapman University’s mobile experiences, please contact David May (
dmay@chapman.edu
).