New college app provides convenient means of communication for 4Cs.

by Naia Fermino

Nowadays, the quickest way to get a hold of or interact with an individual is through mobile devices and social media. Taking advantage of this, Cape Cod Community College (4Cs) has recently launched its very own app. It was launched in late January, but has been long in the works since last Summer. The 4Cs app is a great way for students, staff and the college community as a whole to be able to communicate with one another.

“We wanted students to have quick, easy, mobile access to their daily schedules and College services, and we wanted to have a tool that allowed us to communicate more directly with students,” said Patrick Stone, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing at 4Cs. “Our thought process while we were building it was to develop it so that it had every day, practical use for students.”

The Strategic Communications department teamed up with the Student Engagement office as well as IT to develop the app. Not only did developers have a say with what went into the app, but students also had some input. Members of Phi Theta Kappa during the Fall of 2019 provided these departments with feedback after using the app for two weeks.

“It’s supported by ReadyEducation, a company that specializes in mobile applications for higher education,” said Stone. “Tracy Morin, Director of Student Engagement, and I worked together on developing the content inside the app.”

As for the actual content within the app, there are many different functions it can perform. For example, it provides a daily planner which lists your classes and their meeting times as well as your grades and assignments for a certain class. There is also a social networking aspect where individuals can post on different channels such as “student feed” or “buy & sell”. Posts may range from club announcements to selling a textbook. The app also makes it much easier to take advantage of services such as tutoring or getting in touch with coaches and mentors.

“It also allows the college to share important enrollment and financial information via push notifications,” said Stone. “So, we’re not relying on just email, it’s very versatile.”

So far, the app has already had an amazing outcome with almost 800 downloads. The app is available for anyone to download who has access to the Apple Store or Google Play Store and can be found by searching “Cape Cod Community College”. It was made sure that the 4Cs app would be (and is) doing the job of making everyday tasks easier for students at 4Cs.

“Making sure the technology worked, and then making sure that it met expectations, was a challenge,” said Stone. “But we are very happy with the early results.”

There are currently no plans to update the app, though it is still in the early stages. However, developers will be keeping a close eye on the app to see how they can improve it over time.

Categories: Around Campus, People, Student Life