Elgin Community College’s Office of Student Life launched a new student interface mobile app called MyECC on July 1, 2023.

The app offers students instant access to their student ID, student email, class schedule, and information about campus events and resources, all in one place.

For example, if a student forgot the room number for their class, they had to go online, log into AccessECC, and sift through multiple links before finding their schedule, but now they can open the MyECC app and click on their schedule straight from the homepage.

A key feature of the app is that students only need to sign in the first time they use it. Once they do, all of the app’s interface is instantly accessible each time they open it.

“I would [recommend the MyECC app],” said first-year ECC student Fabrizzio R. “I like that I don’t have to sign in separately each time I use it. All the links I’m looking for are right in front of me.”

The app makes convenience for ECC students a top priority by being easy to navigate and finding what is most important to them.

“Everything is just a click away,” Director of Student Life Amybeth Maurer said. “The most important thing we want for the app is usability,”

On the home page, fifteen different tiles link directly to the app’s functions. The size of a tile varies based on the amount of useful information it contains. The ‘Events & Activities’ and ‘Involvement Opportunities’ tiles are the two largest ones.

A button at the bottom of the page labeled ‘arrange’ gives students the ability to rearrange the order of the tiles, allowing them to have the ones they see as most important at the top.

“Everything about the design of the app was intentional,” Maurer said.

Maurer’s role was setting a vision for the app and helping direct team members in its development. For years, Student Life has wanted to create an app like this, but it took some time for it to materialize.

The development process took around eight months, beginning in December 2022. Student Life played a role in the app design and content.

“It was a collaborative effort between Student Life, Student Academic Systems, Web Services, Marketing, Information Technology and the vendor (CampusM provided by ExLibris), and everyone [in development] appreciated each other’s strengths,” Maurer said.

Maurer was most proud of the app’s ability to have QR codes for campus events, which students can have scanned to check in to events they attend.

The development and maintenance of the app are still happening every day, and there are already some plans for its future.

“We want it to become an individual experience for students,” Maurer said. “For example, we want [the app] to be intuitive to students’ needs. Highlighting events and activities that may interest students.”

Geofencing may also be coming eventually, which would allow the app to automatically check students into events using their location.

The student ID card section includes a barcode that allows the ID to be scanned, but because it lacks the student’s photo that a traditional ID has, the ID cannot be scanned at places like the library. This is one of several features to be developed in the near future.

According to Maurer, the top priority right now is making students aware of the app. There are MyECC App popup events on September 27 and October 24, which will show students how to use the app. Students who download the app at a popup event will receive a phone wallet and other treats. They can also receive a quick tutorial on how to navigate the app.

Student Life is also offering other incentives for downloading the app. If a professor can get 100% of their class to download the app, Student Life will bring a gourmet popcorn party to that class.

As of September 7, a total of 2,170 users had signed into the app. In terms of page hits, which is each time someone has used the app, there were a total of 2,307 hits by guest users and 108,612 hits by students who had signed in.

Maurer is confident that these numbers will increase significantly as people become more aware of the app via marketing and word-of-mouth.

Maurer has only heard positive feedback about the app so far, aside from some complaints about minor bugs.

“The most common feedback I have heard is students liking that they can access their student emails and class schedules instantly,” Maurer said. “It can help new students find everything on campus.”

The app includes almost everything that was in the printed ECC student planners, which have now stopped being produced in favor of the app.

The MyECC mobile app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play Store.