During this phase university apps based on the same standard will be developed and deployed, to leverage synergies and save development costs. Modules that support more sophisticated features will be added and existing modules adapted for the specific requirements of Swiss higher education institutes.

See also Phase 1 and Phase 1.5.

Project website on GitHub
Project website at the department for infomation management UNISG

Objectives

Focus will be on modules with functionality that is on the one hand strongly demanded by students (survey results on the demand for mobile services at the University of St. Gallen are included in the result documents of Phase 1) and on the other hand functionalities that many institutes need respectively can use.
The following modules will be developed:

1. E-Learning Functionality: Integration of the Moodle LMS
2. Native Apps: Kurogo modules that use HTML5 can be used to generate native Android and iOS apps using Phone Gap. Kurogo modules using HTML5 will be developed and offered also as native apps.
3. Library-Interface: Mobile access for different library-services including the library catalogue (ALEPH and Swiss Bib).
4. AAI-Interface: Will allow user authentication and access to protected content / services.
5. Personal timetable: Access to a personal timetable that will show the next lectures of a student / lecturer.

Another important target is to establish a network of Swiss universities where each university shares their new modules and developments with other universities. This network and the open source policy used for developments are a big step towards the sustainability of the project and any other project of a Swiss higher education institute that is concerned with a mobile solution. For that purpose the Swiss community should be integrated into the existing iMobileU community and the source will be published using GitHub.

Benefits

The modules will use existing standards used by Swiss universities and thus be very easily applicable for other Swiss educational institutes. They can be easily customized to the requirements of other universities and will be available for free as open source modules that include extensive documentation.

Steps

1. CSS design for Università della Svizzera italiana
2. Set-Up and Introduction Workshop at University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
3. Development of a User Authentication (AAI-Interface)
4. Development of a Mobile Library-Access (ALEPH-Interface)
5. First prototype of the LMS-module and native apps
6. Development of a Mobile Personal Timetable
7. Migration of Mobile Uni-App to Android and iOS native apps
8. Development of a Mobile LMS / Moodle-Interface
9. Deployment of the Mobile Uni-App at the University of St. Gallen
10. Deployment of the Mobile Uni-App at the Università della Svizzera italiana
11. Presentation of the project outcomes
12. Introducing the iMobileU community

Detailed developer documentation about the implementation of iOS and Android native apps will be provided and an online user manual explaining the main functionalities of the developed native apps will be created. This should be a valid support to all people using the native Mobile-Uni Apps.