Appademy Awards Recognize Best Campus Mobile Apps of 2023

Now in its sixth year, the Appademy Awards recognizes the innovativeness and creativity of campuses using the Modo Campus platform to meet the needs of their students with a mobile app and/or web portal. This year’s finalists reflect that schools are discovering more ways to make their mobile apps and web portals more useful and appealing to their students. Common themes across the various categories were expanded use of out-of-the-box integrations with popular systems and apps and user personas for greater personalization of content and messaging.

The 2023 Appademy Awards included ten categories, with all category winners eligible for the Best Overall Campus App award. 2023 categories were:

• Best Traditional Event
• Best Monthly Observance or Celebration
• Best Recruiting, Admissions, or New Student Experience
• Best Alumni Experience
• Best Dining Experience
• Best Use of App Communications
• Best Multi-Channel User Experience
• Best Integration
• Best App Redesign
• Most Creative App Marketing Campaign
• Best Overall Campus App

Winners were revealed during a live virtual ceremony on October 4, 2023 [catch the replay here]. Read on to discover the finalists and who took home top honors.

Best Traditional Event

Recognizing apps that used modules, communications, personas, and/or other features to promote a traditional school event, such as Commencement, Alumni Reunion Week, Family Week, Visiting Days, Homecoming, Game Day, etc.

Finalists:

• California State University, San Bernardino – Graduation
• Frostburg State University – Commencement
• Northern Arizona University – Welcome Week
• Santa Monica College – Commencement
• University of California Merced – Staff Appreciation Week
• Vassar College – Commencement

Winner: Santa Monica College – Commencement

SMC’s entry was especially exciting because it was launched last year to support its first fully in-person Commencement since the pandemic. In addition to many standard elements, such as an event schedule and ceremony details, the graduation module included:

• Day of ceremony live broadcast with real-time captions. Captions were unavailable on the jumbotron due to budget constraints, so the app made it possible for those hard of hearing to follow along.
• Cool GRAD-titude feature that allowed messages to be posted by faculty, friends and family and seen almost instantly in the app.
• Directory of all graduates, their names, degrees and certificates, and any honors status they earned, represented with a “grad” badge.
• Photo and Video modules, social media integrations, and the use of emojis and animated gifs throughout to bring a fun and playful feel to the module.

From the day the module launched on May 31 to the day after the June 13 ceremony, there were close to 7,000 unique screen views. Day of graduation, there were over 1,000 live streams for their largest graduation attendance ever.

Best Monthly Observance or Celebration

Recognizing apps that used modules, communications, and/or other features to promote a monthly observance or celebration, such as Black History, Women’s History, Pride, Hispanic Heritage, Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention, etc.

Finalists:

• Northern Arizona University – Native American Heritage Month
• University of California Merced – National Cyber Security Month

Winner: UC Merced – National Cyber Security Month

UC Merced chose National Cyber Security Awareness Month as its first month-long event module on the UC Merced Connect app. To promote cybersecurity awareness and hygiene, the event module included:

• Themed weekly content, including in-app polls, longer quizzes, infographics, best practices, and short videos.
• In-app messages and event schedules to drive attendance to live events and weekly tabling at popular student events.

They had a weekly and grand prize drawing to drive participation, which students could enter by completing a quiz on the app or attending a live event.

The app was hugely successful, with 11,744 views and 1,233 unique visitors.  And by using the app, they cut down on printed materials and avoided creating a website.

Best Recruiting, Admissions, or New Student Experience

Recognizing apps that used modules, personas, tours, communication, and/or other features to engage prospective or newly admitted students.

Finalists:

• Colgate University – New Student Orientation
• Connecticut College – Prospective Student Experience
• Florida Atlantic University – New Student Orientation
• Fresno State – Prospective Student Experience
• Northern Arizona University – New Student Experience
• University of North Carolina Greensboro – New Student Experience
• University of Texas El Paso – New Student Orientation
• Vassar College – New Student Orientation

Winner: University of Texas at El Paso – New Student Orientation

UTEP’s New Student Experience is feature-packed and thoughtfully organized into three paths.

• Prior to Orientation: Provides details about what to expect, required documents, and a checklist to help new students prepare for the upcoming orientation.
• Day of Orientation: Includes an activity schedule, interactive campus maps, check-in procedures, logistics info, and informative videos and infographics.
• After Orientation: Students are shown details on academic support services, extracurricular opportunities, and guidance on navigating campus facilities.

The app also used Push Notifications to keep students informed and engaged before, during, and after each NSO session.

Before adding this feature to their app, the NSO department primarily relied on printed schedules, email notifications, and numerous websites to share information with incoming students. Bringing all the information together within the campus app has greatly enhanced the New Student Orientation experience, improved communication between the University and the students, and boosted early app adoption. Throughout the NSO period (from June to August 2023), the app had about 500,000 screen views.

Best Alumni Experience

Recognizing apps that integrate modules, personas, events, communications, and/or other features to engage alumni.

Finalists:

• University of Notre Dame – Alumni Reunion 2023
• Vassar College – Alumni App

Winner: University of Notre Dame – Alumni Reunion

The ND mobile’s Alumni Reunion module was built to support the annual on-campus reunion event. The 2023 module is packed with helpful features such as:

• Reunion event schedules and use of the maps module to show locations and directions.
• Attendee List with the ability to search by name or class year.
• Housing and transportation information and FAQs.
• Scavenger Hunt prompted users to complete an online form while walking the campus and then submit it for a chance to win prizes.
• In-app notifications to send real-time updates, such as weather alerts or time changes, to users in the reunion persona.

For the 2023 reunion, Notre Dame had over 70% of attendees using the app. The agenda page was the most popular page, with over 35,000 views.

Best Dining Experience

Finalists:

• Northern Arizona University – NAUgo Dining
• Penn State University – Penn State Dining
• University of Houston – UH Go Dine on Campus

Winner: Northern Arizona University – NAUgo

NAU’s dining app is truly a best-in-class example that includes:

• Real-time availability for the 27 dining locations.
• Location details, including a map and directions, specials, menus and prices, and nutrition information.
• Occupancy information to help students avoid dining halls when they are overcrowded.
• Meal Plan Balances screen shows users their accrued meals and cash amounts in their JDE and Dining Dollars accounts. Data is pulled from the TouchNet system using an API.
• Links to the Starship delivery system to order takeout using the popular delivery robots.
• Links to services for those needing food assistance, such as NAU’s Louie’s Leftovers program and Louie’s Cupboard.

Thanks to new features in the app, module use increased by over 300% from spring 2022 to 2023.

Best Use of App Communications

Recognizing apps that used modules, communications, and/or other features to promote on-campus dining.

Finalists:

• California Lutheran University – Community Cupboard
• Santa Monica College – SMC Go App Engagement Campaign
• University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College – UAPTC Mobile Polls
• University of Houston – Emergency Push Notifications
• University of Houston – Opt-in/Opt-out Messaging Channels
• University of North Dakota – Student Engagement – FREE Channel
• Vassar College – Alumni Fundraiser

Winner: Santa Monica College – SMC GO

To improve overall app engagement, the Communications Team at SMC overhauled their opt-in messaging channels and created a communication calendar to ensure messages to students were more balanced and consistent. The new communications approach included:

• Colorful graphics and relaxed, playful language to make students feel welcome and supported so they will use the information they receive.
• Fun themes and recurring imagery help students build an association with icons like “Pearl,” SMC’s resident mascot!
• A new, weekly messaging campaign for all students called “Pearl’s Picks,” which highlights events of the week and nudges to tackle important to-dos.

Their efforts have paid off. In the past five years, SMC GO’s highest monthly screen views EVER were just over 170,000. In August 2023, they reached 433,000 views and nearly 11,000 unique visitors, meaning more than half of the entire campus, including new students, engaged with SMC GO at some point during the month.

Best Multi-Channel User Experience

Recognizing institutions offering users a fluid, personalized experience across desktop and mobile.

Finalists:

• California State University, San Bernardino – Graduation Portal
• Florida Atlantic University – Student Portal
• Northern Arizona University – Student Portal

Winner: California State University, San Bernardino – Graduation Portal

Hearing from graduating students that the commencement registration process was long and challenging and caused many to not participate in the ceremony, the team at CSUSB built the Graduation One Stop.

Individual student data is pulled from the PeopleSoft SIS and transformed into a clean, compact, and easily digestible interface for desktop and mobile users. Through the module, students can:

• Verify their preferred name for their diploma and mailing address.
• Resolve any ongoing holds and outstanding balances that would prevent them from receiving their diploma.
• See a countdown to due dates and milestones.
• Generate their unique Commencement Tickets.
• Purchase Regalia and other commencement accessories.
• See information on their commencement ceremony.
• Access additional resources after their ceremony.

The module has received lots of positive feedback from students, and the new experience was a major driving force in growing the school’s 2023 commencement registration numbers 37% above previous years.

Best Integration

Recognizing apps that used a custom integration with an external system or web service to deliver a unique or improved experience.

Finalists:

• A.T. Still University – Class/Event Attendance Check-In
• California State University, San Bernardino – Commencement Checklist
• Florida Atlantic University – Events Module
• Fresno State – Forms Module
• Fresno State – Event Check-In
• Northern Arizona University – LOUIEgo Student Portal
• Nova Southeastern University – iShark Student Portal
• Ohio University – Go OHIO Dining Student Dashboard
• Universal Technical Institute – “Before You Start” Checklist
• University of Houston – Bikeep Smart Bike Parking
• University of Houston – UH Go Emergency Calls
• Vassar College – Emergency Alerts

Winner: University of Houston – Bikeep Smart Bike Parking

The Bikeep Pilot was launched in January 2023 to bring ‘smart’ bike parking to UH and reduce bike thefts. This is a fantastic example of how schools can expand campus apps with physical machine and device integrations.

The module required integrating the school’s AccessUH system for bike registration lookups and the Bikeep vendor’s API to manage locking, unlocking, locations, and bike docks.

Using the app, students select their location, pick an available terminal, and activate the lock. Users can unlock the bike through the app or use a custom dashboard tool to unlock their bike remotely.

Since January, usage has grown by 300%. The service is now actively promoted for the 2023-24 academic year, so further growth is expected.

Best App Redesign

Recognizing redesigned apps that improved their visual design and usability. Open to new clients moving from a prior platform and existing clients who redesigned their Modo Campus App.

Finalists:

• California Lutheran University – MyCLU
• Florida Atlantic University – MYFAU
• Frostburg State University – Frostburg State Mobile
• Northern Arizona University – NAUgo
• St Louis University– SLU Mobile

Winner: Frostburg State University – Frostburg State Mobile

The team at Frostburg did a fantastic job transforming their app to be more visually appealing and better tied to the school’s brand. They reorganized content to be more intuitive and user-friendly and added new personas and content for faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.

In addition to the positive feedback from users, they saw screen views jump from 12k to 65k after the redesign.

Most Creative App Marketing Campaign

Recognizing institutions for using multi-channel marketing and promotional activities to drive app awareness and usage.

Finalists:

• Bismarck State College – myBSC Campaign
• California State University, San Bernardino – Graduation Portal Campaign
• Northern Arizona University – NAUgo Campaign
• Ohio University – Go OHIO Campaign

Winner: Ohio University – Go OHIO Campaign

The team designed an extensive, multi-channel marketing campaign to introduce their new student app, Go OHIO. Designs were playful and lighthearted, and using a QR code made it fast and easy to download the app.

They leveraged many key campaign components: tabling events, digital signage, standup banners, flyers and posters, promotional swag, sandwich boards in high-traffic areas, and a social media hype video featuring student actors and music by the Ohio marching band.

Playful headlines like “What’s my class schedule?” and “What’s for dinner?” were a creative way to push a call to action to find out on the app.

Their campaign was a resounding success. There was no marketing during the soft launch (July 12-Aug 8), and the school had less than 1,000 downloads. Marketing began on Aug 9 with an announcement on social media and digital displays across campuses. In less than 30 days, they had over 10,000 downloads.

Best Overall Campus Mobile App

Recognizing the campus whose app uses innovative integrations, promoting events, leveraging communications, using personas to personalize the user experience, and driving engagement. All finalists were considered for this category.

Finalists:

• California State University, San Bernardino
• Frostburg State University
• Northern Arizona University
• Ohio University
• Santa Monica College
• University of California, Merced
• University of Houston
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Texas at El Paso

Winner: Northern Arizona University – NAUgo

NAU continues to enhance its NAUgo app yearly to elevate users’ experience. Some of the standout components of their app include:

• A well-thought-out architecture and strong design.
• Use multiple personas to tailor content and create unique app experiences.
• Numerous integrations, including PeopleSoft, Touchnet, HID, Apple, and NAU systems, to make their app more useful to their users. This includes providing students the ability to see their class schedule, grades, and advisors through LOUIEgo; use their phone as their digital ID; track campus shuttles in real-time; use the dining module to see menus, order food, and check dining balance; access maps to find parking, printers, restrooms, etc.; reserve study rooms and much more.
• Regular use of the app to promote campus events and engage with students.
• Ongoing student feedback and a mobile steering committee inform changes and new features.

It is no surprise that the app is extremely popular with NAU students and continues to generate high engagement rates.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations to all finalists and winners. We are always amazed by what our higher-ed customers create on the Modo platform. We applaud the creativity and focus to improve students’ lives, help them navigate campus life, and ensure they are successful. We can’t wait to see what you build in 2024!

Want to see what a unified campus app would look like for your school? Request a demo.