Why did you make an app?
We, the Student Life Department, provide extracurricular activities such as officially recognized student clubs and activities, volunteer activities, welfare programs such as insurance, industry-academia-government collaboration through sports, tuition collection, scholarship consultation / application procedures, health management, etc. I am in charge of a wide range of student support services.
It is our job to convey information that students need and to contribute to the satisfaction of student life. However, I felt that the means of communicating information was becoming more and more unsuitable for times like this where everything is digitized.
Before the introduction of the app, we distributed guidebooks for students called "Raifuin Aoyama", which contained basic information about the university, and student handbook every year.
The booklet contained various procedures regarding student life, but in reality it was rarely read. At times, students would come in with questions and the staff would have to explain to them by referring to the Raifuin booklet. There was also a survey that showed that the usage rate of the student handbook was 10%. As a result, many students came to the Student Affairs Department without knowing anything and it took a considerable amount of time to answer simple questions.
Moreover, 6,000 copies of Raifuin Aoyama and 11,000 copies of the student handbook were printed every year, and the cost was quite high. Since there was significant cost for something that was rarely used, I started searching for ways to address this somehow.
After thinking about the best way to "deliver information to students," I came to a conclusion that a smartphone app that caters to how students live day-to-day would be the best.
Why Yappli?
One of the deciding factors for choosing Yappli was the cost. Compared to developing an app from scratch, the price was significantly low, and the quotation was clear. We only had a few questions regarding the cost, as it was described in great detail what it would cost and how much of freedom in functionality we were getting.
Also, the fact that there was a track record of Yappli in various industries helped. Since we are not specialized in IT, it was hard to understand whether it would be operated properly after the app was introduced.
However, Yappli's track record in various industries including universities, and the fact that there were many cases of non-IT companies managing their apps reassured that this would work for us.
When we released the app, we first posted the app information in the admissions guide for new students and distributed the flyers made by Yappli. So the new students installed it quite a bit.
Very rarely, there are students who do not have smartphones, but so far there have been no inquiries or complaints about not being able to install the app.
Impact
After introducing the app, we completely discontinued the distribution of paper "Raifuin Aoyama" and student handbook.
The impact we are seeing currently is the cost reduction in millions of yen. Considering that booklets were printed every year, it will save us a lot of money in the long run.
In addition, the push notification was more effective than I expected. Before the examination period, I tried sending push notifications containing a warning to prevent cheating. As a result, the number of reported frauds dropped to less than half of what it was before. I clarified in the push notification what kind of penalties there were for cheating, so I'm thinking that must have led to some deterrence. In addition to such alerts that students tend to find annoying, we also deliver valuable information. This is very popular. Until we launched the app, such useful information was posted on bulletin board on campus, so only a small number of students saw it. But now that I'm notifying with the app, I feel that more students are getting useful information. I realized students appreciate it when you share about student discount and benefits.
The app also functions as a place for students to disseminate information. There is a system in which the university buys issued tickets and distributes them to general students when officially recognized student clubs hold events. But even when you bought the tickets and announced them on existing student portal, there was no effect and not even one ticket was claimed. By notifying about the event on the app, it became easier for students to recognize it, and by posting it as useful information, it became easier to distribute tickets. I was surprised when 10 acappella club's show tickets I bought were sold in just 2 days, even though before, I could only distribute 2 or 3 tickets every year.
Surprisingly, it has been well received by some other departments as well. They were very pleased when I was asked to post information and displayed it on the app because it was shown in a visually appealing way.
What's next?
The initial goal was to ensure that students see the information they need and we have already achieved that. From now on, I would like to aim for more. First of all, information distribution as a university. Since we are a student life department, we focus on "information necessary for student life." But other information also critical to students isn't shown on the app and thus not reaching the students. There is also an issue of using it in conjunction with university websites and existing portal sites.
Seeing the introduction of our app, the president said that other departments should also select tools that are familiar to students and disseminate information accordingly. The means of disseminating information is not yet optimized for the university as a whole, and it is unclear at this point whether the app is optimal, but I think it's great that this has created an opportunity to discuss that and consider change.
About Aoyama Gakuin University
Founded in 1949, Aoyama Gakuin University educates and conducts research under the "Aoyama Gakuin Education Policy" based on Christian faith, from kindergarten to university and graduate school. In "AOYAMA VISION", which was set up as a medium to long-term business plan, as one of the ACTIONs, the university links volunteer activities and education, and promotes educational method of "service learning," engaging in activities that foster a spirit of service based on Christian teaching.