I want to be in the pockets of all of these 20,000 students walking around. — Eric Neufield, department head of computer science at U of S
Eric Neufield, the department head of computer science at the University of Saskatchewan had one clear vision when he conceived iUSask, the free interactive app now available to all iPhone-and iPod Touch-wielding students. “My kid came home with an iPod Touch a year and a half ago, and I thought, I want to be in that machine. I want to be in the pockets of all of these 20,000 students walking around.” Neufield is now one step closer to achieving that dream, after the U of S became the first Canadian university to offer students a free, downloadable iPhone application. Students at U of S will now be able to review their class schedules, view real-time maps of the campus, search the entire library catalogue, read up on the latest campus news, and even check their final grades – all from the convenience of their phone. For over eight months, fifteen computer scientists worked diligently on the project, which was headed by Chad Jones, a former Apple employee.
“It was the 100th anniversary of the department of arts and science at U of S. As a department, we wanted to do something fun, that was an opportunity for us to strut our technological stuff,” Neufield said. However, the creation of the iUSask was a “real, grass-roots kind of movement,” with contributors from various departments on campus offering their support, Neufield said. Project leader Collene Hansen agrees. “It was really a team effort; there were a lot of people putting in effort from all over campus. Although the iUSask has already crossed over 1,000 downloads, there may be a sizable population of students unable to afford the pricey iPhone or iPod Touch required to utilize the application. “We did do some preliminary studies which told us about one quarter of the student population owned either an iPhone or an iPod Touch,” Hansen said. “I have a pretty strong feeling most of the phones are going to evolve to be smart, and as more and more people start buying them, prices will start to go down,”
Neufield said. For now, Hansen and her team are working on making the app available to download on other phones, in particular BlackBerries. Other new features which may be added to the iUSask include: a comprehensive transit schedule, interactive discussion forums, and potentially even the ability to enroll in classes. This fall, Neufield, along with Jones, will be teaching Canada’s first university-level smartphone course which will cover how to write software for the iPhone. While there is no word yet on any Canadian universities planning to design similar applications, Hansen said the computer sciences department has already been contacted by several institutions interested in the specifics of the how-to process. With the iUSask already gaining positive reviews, it seems almost certain the trend of university-related iPhone apps will catch on. “As a computer scientist, I was very aware of students always checking their phones,” explains Neufield. “Students tell me that they feel naked without their phone.”
“In the current student demographic, it is clear that phones, and particularly smart phones, are having a huge transformational effect. And for university students, one of the players should certainly be the university itself.”