Mobilizing Erie Community College

We prepare our students for life after graduation by giving them the

education and experience they need to be productive, successful

employees within Western New York. We accomplish this by

combining the latest technology with our student’s education while

making the most use of our electronic communications and social

media outlets. ECC students are connected to their phones at all

times. We need to take advantage of the widespread and frequent

use of mobile devices to connect and interact with our students. If we want to be effective

communicators and managers, we need to develop and implement some type of mobile communication

strategy.

Smartphone and tablet use is only going to increase, and ECC should take

advantage of our students growing usage of mobile applications. While some

colleges have realized the importance of this trend and have started creating apps

for their students and faculty, many have yet to recognize the importance of these

technological conveniences. Some of the larger local colleges and universities (UB,

RIT, and Buffalo State) have started to go beyond the basic student and faculty

apps and have started to build workflows, access and functionality for parents,

alumni, and prospective students. Applications set up for these aforementioned

groups will soon become the accepted norm. We here at ECC should work to join

this march toward effective mobile communication.

Some ideas of what we would want from our mobile applications:

• Our students have grown up using technology to learn and communicate. With this upbringing

understood, they expect (and depend on) a lot from mobile applications. Students could use an

ECC-generated app to check their class schedule, see their grades, and access class rosters and

office hour information. Students could also gain access to campus maps, find the closest buses and

campus shuttles, and check out student activities/events and athletic schedules. To take advantage

of our student’s social media habits, ECC should consider integrating Twitter and Facebook feeds

into our apps to help students connect with the college and each other. We could also use

notifications to let students know of class cancellations, weather alerts and campus emergencies.

• ECC staff and faculty could utilize mobile applications that connect with their schedules to keep

them up-to-date on departmental information, classroom content, and on-campus information that

students might want information on.

• Parents of our students can access an app that they can use to check on their student’s tuition fees

and grades, as well as campus news and student account balances. We could even mobilize parents

through a portal so they can communicate with other ECC parents from their smartphone.

• The Foundation/Alumni could utilize an application to stay connected with graduates and relay

information about campus events, job opportunities, and developments within the Foundation.

Such developments would include ways for them to submit monetary donations to the college.

This would be a tremendous opportunity to increase Foundation revenue without expending the

time or costs associated with cold-calling alumni or sending out direct mail.

• For our prospective students who have not yet decided which school they are going to attend, our

mobile applications could create a virtual sense of community and identity for ECC. Apps could also

complement a campus tour or help guide a prospective student through the college’s admissions

process. We could include GPS to allow for a virtual tour, include a photo gallery of campus hot

spots or events, and keep a calendar with alerts to make sure that applicants have all of the

information and important dates they need.

There are many colleges that understand the importance of

launching mobile applications—and are running them now.

Most college students now expect interesting, college-

generated apps that connect to all of the data they need.

If they cannot access the information they need through these

channels, such unavailability will reflect poorly on the college’s

modernity or technological viability. If students can’t access

such accommodations here, they’ll find a college where they can. Creating these necessary mobile

applications for our current and prospective students—as well as for parents and alumni—will help ECC

keep up with the communication and technological advancements that students depend on.

And by maximizing our ability to access and execute digital communication, we will cultivate a more

informed and unified Erie Community College.

Public Relations Department 9/15