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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
A. Description of the Problem
B. Overview of the Solution
C. Outline of the Report
2. Design Implementation
A. Final Design
3. Technical Section
A. Home Page
B. D2L
C. WebAdvisor
D. Mobile Print
E. WICKit
F. Course Offering
G. Library
H. Directory
I. Computer Lab
J. IT Services
K. HC Commons
L. Café Schedule(s)
M. Gym Schedule
N. Bus Schedule
O. Taxi Service(s)
P. Events
Q. Hilltops
R. Emergency Numbers
S. Information
4. Conclusion
5. References
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1. Introduction
This project entails a mobile application for both android, and IOS that will help
Hartwick students have better access to all information needed all located in one simple
application. After three years of being on this campus I have seen, and heard from various
students about the difficulty of finding simple information on the Hartwick website such as
course offerings as well as student account information. As far as information is concerned
students are each other’s best resource at Hartwick, and if you are not friends with someone
who is in “The Know” it is hard to figure these things out. This application will allow all
students campus wide to have all the information about the campus, and campus activities at
their fingertips. For example, a student may be registering for classes and sees that they have
been locked out of a class they need and they want to contact that professor to get written in,
but when they try to find that professors office hours they aren’t sure where to find it.
The application's interface and scripts will be set up in Visual Studios in tandem with
Xamarin Studio using C# as the main language. The application will consist of a main menu
page which allows the user to choose from the thirteen different buttons which will provide
information from dinning menu, to faculty directory. For this project, all images for the
interface will be made through Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop. This is an application for
current Hartwick student who will be able to access their Wick-it and student accounts, as
well as their Web advisor, and D2L account, etc.
A. Description of the Problem
During my time as a student at Hartwick College, I noticed a lack of effective way for
students to find out about campus activities, and academic when they are on the go. The only
way that a student can find out about their campus activities, or class assignments on D2L
was to constantly have to lug their laptops around, and to navigate to various websites, and
applications to find the information they need. Or going through the loops on their mobile
devices to find what they needed. This caused many issues because there was not a simple
way for any student to find these sorts of information and important updates.
The application that I have created for my senior project will help create a mobile application
that is geared towards the current student body, and allow students to get the information they
want at the tip of their fingertips. The issues I mentioned earlier, as well as the creation of the
Hartwick College App for prospective students, motivated me to try and create an app to for
current students. This was when I decided that this would be a good senior project.
B. Overview of the Solution
The solution to the problem above includes the creation of a mobile application. I
decided to start with creating a Cross Platform application that will be able to be used on
Android, IOS, and Windows phones. I did so by using a piece of software called Xamarin
Studios that will enable me to use C# coding language to create this app, as I had a better
background using that technology. After talking with my advisor as well as some student
body, a list of features was born. I decided to go for a simplistic looking application similar to
any other college such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their student body.
Where it is a flat interface with minimal icons for the important information one might want
while they are walking around on campus such as dining menu, as well as course schedule.
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C. Outline of the Report
The remaining sections in this report include the important aspects of my project. It
starts off with an overview of the Hartwick College App user interface, which then leads into
an overview of how the important features work. I then go over the design process that I took
with my graphic designer and then talk about how the app works by going into detail on each
page and what happens when a user taps on that given icon. I end the report up with what
testing I did and what the future of the app will be.
2. User Interface Design
After getting a rough feature list, I started working to create mockups of what the app
would look like. Since I had been thinking about this app for a while before I had already had
a couple of layouts created. As the UI mockups evolved I started transferring them into C# so
that I could start creating the basic button flow and page transitions. After I had transferred
all of the UI to C#, I took screenshots and sent out a survey to all of the members of the club.
Below, you will see the first UI screenshots for the app.
Figure 1: Home Page from Initial Design
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Figure 2: Information Pages from Initial Design
Figure 3: Safety Page from Initial Design
A. Final Design
After receiving feedback from my advisor, Dr. Gann I went back to the drawing board
and did a complete overhaul of the design including colors, layouts, and logos. The below
images are the final designs that we came up with.
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Figure 4: Home Page from the Final Design
Figure 5: Information Pages from the Final Design
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Figure 6: Emergency Numbers Page from the Final Design
3. Technical Details
The following sub-sections explain how the backend for each of the pages works what
design decisions were made to make them look the way that they do. As a whole, the app is
built upon a tab bar view. As noted earlier, this makes it easy for the user to switch between
pages.
A. Home
The Home Page is what users see after the splash page has dissipated and is accessible
by any page by tapping on the directory icon in the top left corner of any page. The Home
page features a series of icons from library to D2L, and Courses list. Once the user presses an
icon they will be taken to the appropriate page
B. Desire 2 Learn (D2L)
The D2L page takes the user to the D2L mobile page where the user may login using
their given username they use to sign onto the Hartwick network as the username, and given
password they use to sign onto the Hartwick network as the password. From there they may
search any book, video, or document they are looking for.
C. WebAdvisor
The WebAdvisor page takes the user to the Webadvisor webpage where the user may
login using their given username they use to sign onto the Hartwick network as the username,
and given password they use to sign onto the Hartwick network as the password. From there
they may search any courses, grades, Program Evaluation, or any other document they are
looking for.
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D. Mobile Print
The Mobile Print page shows the user all documents in their personal print queue that
they have sent previously in an email. From there they will be prompted to select a specific
printer and quantity of documents so any of the printer on campus as long as they are
connected to the HC Hawks Wi-Fi.
E. WICKit
The WICKit page takes the user to the WICKit Account mobile page where the user
may login using their given username they use to sign onto the Hartwick network as the
username, and given password they use to sign onto the Hartwick network as the password.
From there they may review the balance on their meal plan, WICKit account, and print
money allowance. They are also able to add money to their WICKit account if needed.
F. Course Offering
The Course Offering page takes the user to the Course Offering mobile page where
the user may select courses to view wither being Spring, Fall J-Term, or Summer semesters.
Once they have selected from these options they will be shown a list of courses offered
during that semester. The will also be shown how many spots are going to be available in that
course as well as the professor that is prospected to teach that course.
G. Library
The Library page takes the user to the Stevens German Library mobile page where the
user may login using their given Wick – It card number as the username, and the last four
digits of their Wick – It card number as the password. From there they may search any book,
video, or document they are looking for.
H. Directory
The Directory page takes the user to the mobile page for the Student, faculty, and
Staff directory. From there the user may search for anyone in the Hartwick community using
a person’s first or last name as well as a keyword.
I. Computer Lab
The Computer Labs shows the locations of various computer labs around campus.
They will also be shown the times of which those computer labs and printer will be available.
J. IT Services
The IT Services page gives the user detailed information about the services provided
at the IT help desk. Also gives the user options to either call or email them about any troubles
they might be having with their personal computer, campus network, or various campus
accounts such as WebAdvisor or their WICKit account.
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K. HC Commons
The HC Commons page takes the user to the Hartwick College Commons website
launched within the application. The user may then look at hours for both the dining hall.
Along with the menu for meals that will be served in the dining hall for breakfast, lunch and
dinner hours.
L. Café Schedule(s)
The Café Schedule(s) page shows the user the hours of which Table Rock Café, and
John Christopher café will be open during the academic year.
M. Gym Schedule
The Gym Schedule page shows the user the hours of which Campbell Fitness center
will be open be open during the academic year.
N. Bus Schedule
The Bus Schedule page shows the user a time table of when the OPT Bus will be
arriving and departing certain areas on campus. Along with various locations in the Southside
area of Oneonta during the academic year.
O. Taxi Service(s)
The Taxi Services page gives the user a small list of the most used Taxi services for
getting around town. By clicking on any of the numbers provided the user will then be
prompted to call that particular Taxi service.
P. Events
The Events takes the user to the mobile webpage for Wire@Hartwick. This provides
the user with current information on upcoming events around campus. From sport events to
lectures, and even campus parties during the academic year.
Q. Hilltops
The Hilltops will present the user with a list of articles and stories from events that
have past or are upcoming on campus. The user may also get local news that is pulled from
The Daily Star mobile website.
R. Emergency Numbers
The Emergency Numbers page shows the user information about various contacts, if
one feels uncomfortable on campus or if there is an occurring emergency on campus. By
pressing any of the contacts, this will launch the native phone application where the user may
then call the number which they have selected for their current predicament.
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S. Information
The Information page gives the user overall information about everything that is
available through this application.
4. Related Work
After doing many Google searches to find projects similar to mine. I realized that
most colleges, and universities have similar apps for their student body that provide general
information on events and items of interest to students. Examples of these are mobile apps
from the University of Kentucky [4], Massachusetts Institute of Technology [5], and
University of Michigan [6]. So it was only fair that I chose this application for my senior
project for Hartwick College student body may have similar experiences that students at
larger universities have.
5. Conclusion
From the beginning of last year, I knew this was what I wanted to do for my senior
project. After taking Dr. Gann’s mobile development course during J-Term (2013) I acquired
a strong interest in mobile development, more specifically mobile application development.
Without the help of Dr. Gann and others who helped me test and refine the app, the app
would not be as good as it is today.
My future plan for this app is to be released officially by Hartwick this summer for the
fall semester. I would love to see current and future students using this application in their
daily student life as a tool to stay on top of various task during their stay here at Hartwick
College. I also hope some students in the computer science department will expand and
further perfect my application so that it will be suitable to pass on it the student body.
Overall, I had a lot of fun working on this app, and I am very happy with what I have
developed.
