The objective of this project is to provide the University of Wyoming Study Abroad Office with a mobile application to help students with participation in education abroad. We hope to deliver an application that can be a central source of resources for those considering applying, currently abroad, and incoming foreign students. A single application that can offer support to students will benefit the students so that they are able to find information they need and stay connected to both UW and their abroad location with ease. Participating in the University of Wyoming’s education abroad can be a fulfilling experience, but also intimidating so we hope to produce an application which will help guide the student through all stages of the process.
User interface
The application will have resources for students through all stages of going abroad. We want to ensure the application is well organized so it can be easily navigated, and the student can find the information that is most pertinent and helpful to them. We will have different tabs in the application, one for those deciding whether to go abroad, one for those who are preparing to go abroad, one for those who are currently abroad, another for who are returning from being abroad, and lastly, a tab for those who are coming to UW for their abroad experience.
- Deciding
- A list of all available programs and universities
- Virtual Information
- Preparing
- A list of what is needed to be completed for the chosen school
- Information on what to expect
- Incoming
- Information on Laramie
- UWYO information
- Possible Future Additions
- Sorting/possible filtering by type (study abroad or exchange), location, classes offered, term, etc.
- Posts from those who have studied abroad and what they recommend
- Notifications for upcoming deadlines
- Notifications for UW deadlines, such as, advising or course registration Database
Synchronizing data and offline features will be essential to the success of the application. Because there will be updates and edits to the application, the database will need to flexible. The application is supported by Android, as well as, a website that will administer any changes which will need to be considered.
Editing and updating
As more information comes to the study abroad office, we want to allow the advisors and other administrators to continue to edit the information so that the students are given the most up to date information. Updating will likely take place at the end of each term so that posts can be made about the most recent student experiences. Editing the application will be done from a website that can connect to the database to add to it and upload the information to the application. This website will require its own user interface and secure administrator sign in.
Security
Protecting the information of the students and administrative rights will be fundamental. To access the application, the user will be required to log in. Ideally, the sign in would be the same UW credentials used by all students and faculty, however, for the scope of this project coordinating with the UW IT department may be too difficult. Instead, we will ask the students to sign in with another account to access the application and create individual administer accounts for those within the study abroad office who will be editing.
- Azure Web App Service
- Utilize Uwyo for login and authentication
- Google or Facebook Can be used for signing into app with an existing account such as OAuth 2.0 Integration