Citrus Mobile is a new mobile phone application providing navigation through college life. The app is designed for students to give, “important college information and news anywhere, anytime,” The Technology and Computer Services department said.
Citrus College’s Executive Director of Communications and External Relations, Melissa Utsuki said that the new Citrus Mobile app is a “one-stop-shop” for students.
Utsuki said Citrus Mobile will help streamline online student services. “You can now check for holds, pay for classes and review your financial aid all through Citrus Mobile,” Utsuki said.
Citrus Mobile features a custom experience for each student by displaying their class schedule, assignment due dates and class notifications right on the app’s homepage. The mobile app provides links to all student services and information about Citrus sports, clubs, student organizations and campus safety.
There is also a “Campus Feeds” section, providing sports news, campus news and the official Citrus College twitter feed.
The app’s homepage allows students to select their favorite links.
One of the most convenient features is the integration of Canvas into Citrus Mobile.
Citrus Mobile allows for a seamless connection to Canvas alerts including class discussions and new assignments. The app features different forums for students to ask questions and sell textbooks and other educational materials.
The forums resemble a system similar to Facebook allowing students to post, like and comment on other students’ posts.
Students have welcomed the new feature and praised the usefulness it provides. Computer Science major Irving Olivia said, “The student feed and how students actually interact and help others is the best.”
Not only can students find new material, but they can also find their lost items as well. The lost and found feed allows for items to be posted and returned to their owners.
Psychology major Hailey Garcia said she believes the new feature adds a new sense of comradery between students, “It’s really bringing us students to talk to each other and interact more.”
Some of the new features were implemented as an improvement upon the last Citrus College app. Previous versions of Citrus Mobile were essentially a carbon copy of the student services available online.
Robert Hughes the Citrus College Chief Information Services Officer said he believes that this new social networking feature will encourage more students to use the app.
“We’ve already seen more students interested in clubs, asking questions and making connections with other students due to the Citrus Mobile app,” Hughes said. “I believe that as more people download, use the app and check it every day, something that I do myself, it will be a more effective way for faculty and staff to communicate to students and provide opportunities to get connected with Citrus College.”
As with most other social media outlets, content moderation is constantly needed to prevent online harassment as well as inappropriate or threatening posts. Citrus College has taken a new approach to moderation of posts made to the forums.
“The interesting thing about the application is that it makes every user a moderator, in that anyone logged in to the app can report a post as being inappropriate by clicking the stack of three dots to the right of the link to comment on a post,” Hughes said. “When four people flag a post as inappropriate the post is automatically removed.”
In addition to this, Citrus Mobile does not give students the ability to post anonymously or with a different name, all posts are made under the name of the student whose account is logged in on the app.
Citrus Mobile began development in November of 2018. The Citrus College Technology and Computer Services (TeCS) collaborated with Ready Education, an educational technology company to develop Citrus Mobile.
TeCS staff also worked heavily in conjunction with Ready Education to assist with the integration of Canvas in Citrus Mobile.
It is unclear if new features will be added to Citrus Mobile in the future as Ready Education manages most of the app’s structure and features. However, when new content needs to be added, such as new organizations or clubs, Citrus TeCS has the full ability to update such information.
