Indra creates an APP for Smartphones to personalize access to its University services
"Universitas Alumnos" is adapted to the characteristics of each center, providing students with comprehensive management of courses and exams, access to their dossier and didactic materials, as well as configuration of alarms for tests and papers
App development has included a previous study of systems used in universities, the creation of a platform to interconnect with the App and a selection of mobility technologies
The work team included experts in university teaching, computer experts and ex-alumni, who have contributed their perception as potential users
A group of Software Lab experts from Indra in Salamanca has completed the development of "Universitas Alumnos", an application for smartphones (iOS) and tablets (Android) that facilitates comprehensive and personalized student access to the most important academic services of their universities from anywhere and at any time. Its most significant contribution is the capacity to integrate with user account management systems (LDAP), social networks and any academic management system or virtual university campus, such as Moodle - which is the most popular educational content management software in universities and education centers.
Once the student's login is entered, he or she can use the smartphone or tablet App for easy access to key university services such as its virtual campus, courses, classrooms, dossiers, calendars, maps, events or news. The App also offers a configuration service that allows students to define how they want to receive notifications of future exams and papers (on screen or by e-mail) and how much time in advance.
Among other purposes, the App can be used as a management support for the courses that students have signed up in. It shows specific information for each course (corresponding department, year, credits, professor or tutoring schedule) and helps manage associated items such as exams, papers and documents required by the professor. It also provides information on classrooms, calendar date timetables and occupation throughout the day, a function that is especially useful in computer rooms or for groups. Another option is exam management; the App can provide information on upcoming exam dates or alerts for a specific test by simply pushing the "add alarm" button in Android or the exam box in iOS.
Other important contributions for students include locating services in the buildings (Departments, Administration, Sports Installation) and classroom maps, automated management of university news with four different RSS fonts and management of the student's dossier. The latter service allows students to access their personal and complete dossier with all the courses taken or being taken the final grades of each one and the year they were passed.
New services
The possibility of adding new functions with ease is another of the Apps attractive features. The project development team is currently working to include new services so that professors and researchers can obtain personalized access to academic and investigational content, such as exam and paper scoring, generation of meeting minutes or management of research projects. On the other hand, the development of functions that enhance collaboration between students and professors are also being considered: social networks, chats, group work spaces or professor consultation (cell-phone tutoring)
Lastly, Indra is contemplating the development of Apps so that university governing bodies and intermediate management teams can analyze information relevant to the university and thus improve current situation analysis and decision-making. This will include scorecard tools to obtain reports, statistics and indicators for enrollment and economic information, or to manage all the information from calls or announcements, budgets or project statuses.
Indra has plenty of experience in the development of educational solutions and provision of services, which translates into the implementation of academic management services for more than 5,200 educational centers, involving nearly 12,000 professors and two million students. Indra's offer is oriented to obtain a more didactic, participative educational model, with more contents and, all in all, more effective and efficient: Educational model 2.0.
Indra is the leading Spanish multinational consulting and technology firm and one of the main players in Europe and Latin America. Innovation is the cornerstone of its business and sustainability, having allocated €550 million to R&D in the last three years, making it one of the leading companies in Europe in its sector in terms of investment. With sales approaching €3 billion, nearly 60% of its income is from the international market. The company employs 42,000 professionals and has customers in 128 countries.
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