U Saskatchewan in the lead? Check your iPhone
With new iUSASK app, students will have access to marks, maps and campus webcams
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Programmers at the University of Saskatchewan have designed a new iPhone application that could revolutionize how some students get their school-related information.
The iUSASK app is set to launch in August, and will allow students to check their marks, feedback from professors, campus news, maps and even search the library catalogue.
Although the program, a first at a Canadian university, still needs to be approved by smart phone manufacturer Apple, the university is aiming to have it available — for free — by the time school starts in September.
USask’s computer science department will also be the first Canadian university to offer an iPhone programming course within the year. The class will be open to students and members of the public, who will learn how to build applications for the popular smart phone.
The iUSASK application, which can also be accessed on the iPod Touch, can currently be used to check class schedules, assignment due dates, marks and other academic notifications. The university’s athletics department has a feed, as does the students’ union and the school’s learning centre. The program even has access to a real-time campus webcam.
As they continue to develop the software, the app’s programmers plan on including a real-time map, made with Google Maps, that can track a user’s location at the university.
A spokesperson for the school recently told The StarPhoenix that the programming code used in the software could ostensibly be sold to other universities. “Yes, we could make money off of the application.”