University of Melbourne remains at forefront of education technology with new iPhone app

The University of Melbourne has responded to the rise in mobile traffic to its suite of websites with the development of the ’Unimelb’ iPhone application for staff and students.

Providing maps of each University of Melbourne campus, an integrated staff contact directory, a web portal and an RSS news feed, the free application has been downloaded more than 1200 times in its first month of availability.

The app, developed by long-time telecommunications partner, Optus Business, and mobile applications specialist, Philology, aims to provide productivity gains and greater efficiency to the full time University community as well as casual visitors on campus for lectures and special events.

Whilst the initial release is used primarily to assist staff, the University of Melbourne intends to continue its work with Optus and Philology to extend its use for students and visitors alike.

Mr Michael Carolan, the Director of Application Services at the University of Melbourne, says the University has been very encouraged ‘by how quickly mobile extensions to existing office based applications could be developed and released to the wider university community’.

’We’ve been in discussions for a while about a tailored iPhone application as our analysis has been highlighting a need for it for a while: we‘ve got more than 650 staff with iPhones and a recent snapshot of web hits on our University homepage found that of more than 4500 visitors, nearly 4000 of those were from iPhones,’ Mr Carolan said.

‘Whether it be searching for contact details, points of interest or other specific University information, staff now have the ability to do it all on the go at the touch of a button,’ Mr Carolan said.

‘This has been a great example of a collaboration between our in-house IT teams and Optus that has allowed us to deliver technology innovation at a low cost and help realise very positive business outcomes’ Mr Carolan said.

Hugh Humphrey, Director of Mobility and Convergence, Optus Business, says the University of Melbourne iPhone application demonstrates how mobility solutions can be customised to drive greater productivity and efficiency within an organisation.

‘Organisations are looking for more dynamic ways to use mobile devices to engage their staff and customers and better support business needs,’ Mr Humphrey said. ’This is especially true in the education sector where staff and students can leverage mobile applications to share resources and information more effectively.

‘This iPhone application is a great example of how Optus collaborates with customers to think outside of the square and deliver a tailored solution that enables them to get a greater return on their mobile fleet investment.’

The app is currently available on the iTunes store.