University of Maryland (Proposal) (Essay Sample)

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Abstract
University of Maryland (UMD) has been noted as a city because it is one of the largest campus in the country. A person can navigate his way from one building to another but following the efficient route is difficult. This is because the Google map in the iPhone is unable to provide shortcuts or the shorter route that connects to the UMD STEM buildings. The available app to the students is able to show when the UMD shuttle is arriving but not able to show the routes. This is a project proposal of developing a UMD cartographer which is an app that in addition to showing bus arrival time in specific stages, will help students to connect the shortest routes in the University. My goal is not only to develop this app to help only the students, but also to help faculty members, students with physical disabilities and visitors coming to the campus.
Context
University of Maryland has an iPhone application viewed via iTunes to give viewers access to the latest information about the University from wherever they are. The application was aimed at providing a digital platform where users can access and download numerous information. This mobile application was developed by computer experts from the University in collaboration with iCampus (UMD, 2014). However, the current application in the app store is very disappointing in terms of navigation (https://terpnav.umd.edu/). The challenge with the current application is to manage information in the mobile app. The available information is also limited and retrieval of information is slow. The university uses an app that is tedious and slow. There have been numerous concerns on the inaccuracy of the maps in the mobile application. The aim of my project will be to develop an efficient system that provides accurate and efficient navigation through the campus.
Target Audience
The target audience will be people familiar with the campus, new people to the campus trying to find their way through the campus, those who are just visiting, and those who are handicapped. People familiar with the campus include continuing students, faculty tutors who have worked in the University for a longer time. Those who are new includes freshmen and new teachers of the faculty. Those visiting to the campus includes potential students coming to do enquires, visiting students from other schools coming for events such as sports, parents or friends visiting students etc.
All users will be able to utilize the app new routing feature. This would be most helpful to visitors who are new to the campus because they would be unfamiliar with the location of the buildings or the route to those buildings. Current students and new staff not familiar with certain part of the campus would also benefit. For example during exam times, exams are done on buildings different from where classes are held and often times in buildings that are located in different departments. This app will be able to provide efficient routes to the unfamiliar buildings.
The new routes and shortcut routes provided by the app will be most helpful to users familiar with the campus. This is because experienced students and staff users would be in a position to know the shorter routes from one building to another than is being provided by the current app. These users will be able to share their extensive familiarity of the campus and all users will be able to understand and vote for those routes. In this way, students would be able to assist their fellow students to navigate through the campus when for example it is raining or when they are late for classes.
In addition to the mentioned features, users who have disabilities will be able to search and select those routes that are handicap accessible; those that evade stairs. The app will enable users mark whether they are handicap when selecting an option or when commenting. The app will then be able to show the best routes with the tag. Entrance and exit paths to and from buildings will be taken into consideration since at UMD there are several buildings with stairs to the main entrance.
Project Description
It is evident that modern technology has altered how organizations or businesses manage and engages with their customer base. Mobile application is one of the fastest growing trends of managing customers. In a University setup, a mobile app would be essential for building relationships, providing tools that make life easier and to generate repeated business with the stakeholders among other benefits (Haseman 15). For this to be achieved the mobile application should possess several app capabilities that users will look at.
The app should be easy to use and contain all-inclusive information that can be searched conveniently by the user looking for such information (Microsoft 5). The problem with the current UMD application is that is tedious and slow. The available information in terms of providing navigation is inaccurate and inadequate.
In addition, there has been numerous concerns on the sluggishness of the app (Mohapatra 48). One observer James Rosenbaum an overseas student from Australia was a little disappointed. He said that he couldn’t find baseball schedule for 2014 season when he looked for it there. He noted that most of the stories were a year old or more. The aim of my project will be to develop an efficient a UMD cartographer (Ken and Roy 77).
Formative User Research
Method 1-Online Survey
The first method that will be administered is online survey. The questions will be generated from a brainstorming session with the group that was involved in building the current application. The goal will be to find how I would be able to best meet the audience needs without asking them directly to be involved in the design of the application. Online survey method has been selected because it will allow me to build a random sample of the UMD student’s population more quickly. I find it helpful to hear the opinion of a wide range of potential intended users.
Participants will be recruited via Facebook and through word of mouth. The participants will be limited to UMD students because the design of the mobile application will focus on the students (primary audience) who are around the campus premises everyday. However, specific group of students will not be selected because all groups will be considered to be potential users of the application. I will also need to receive feedback from as many UMD students as possible.
Fig 1. Showing sample of how the Questionnaire to be used in the online survey
Individual IDHow long have you been at UMDWhat is your Major? If multiple, kindly feel free to list them.GenderAgeAre you an
on-campus or off-campus student123
The online survey will consist of eleven questions that divided in two parts. Part 1 will contain a request for demographic information such as gender, major, age and residence (in-campus or off-campus). The second part will contain questions that will be aimed at establishing how familiar the respondents are to the campus, the campus services they use to move around the campus and technology they are familiar with and that they use. In addition, this section will contain an open ended questions that will seek details concerning how familiar the respondents are with the current mobile travel application. It will ask them to identify one thing they wished they had known in their first day of campus.
The data from this survey will be collected and surveyed. The results will be analyzed and sorted in three high level themes. Theme 1 will seek to determine the type of technology students are using and whether they enjoy the experience or are experiencing problems. Theme 2 will focus on determining familiarity of the students around the campus when either walking, riding a bike or using bus or UMD shuttle. Theme 3 will focus on attempting to find patterns from the suggestions that the respondents have for the new system.
Method 2-Students Interview
This is the other method that will be used that involves a face to face individual interviews with the students. The interviews will be planned for and carried out by advertising a $5 gift cards for those who would complete a “survey.” Fliers will be discharged in various locations while the interview shall be conducted in a focal point within the campus. A qualitative approach will be used to craft the interview questions so as to supplement the quantitative data that will be gathered from the online surveys. Fifteen interviews are scheduled to be made to gauge an overall consensus on how varying students navigates their way through the campus.
Challenge
The target participants of the intervie...