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iPhone app offers easy access to schools
Software architect Matt Gerde, whose wife Deanna is an assistant principal at The Colony High School, designed a new iPhone application specifically for The Colony school feeder system./File photo
By BLAINE CRIMMINS, bcrimmins@acnpapers.com
Ever eager to stay on the cutting edge of technology, staff at The Colony High School have spearheaded the design and implementation of a new iPhone application for The Colony's feeder system.
The application is called "TCSchools" and features a variety of useful tools for parents of children in the school system. It's broken down by school, and includes all the elementary and middle schools in the city, as well as TCHS.
Each school's section contains the school's contact information, an interactive calendar, an email listing of faculty, and links to other online features such as Cougar Buzz, Grade Book, and SchoolWeb.
"From discussions with Deanna and the renewed focus on technology in schools, [Hill] was very interested in being the first school in LISD that had a mobile application," said Matt, who is a software architect at Intuit and says he had done some "tinkering" with iPhone development previously. "Deanna asked if I would be interested in creating the app for them and I thought it would be a great learning experience."
Matt said the application started out as a means to provide links to all of The Colony schools' website functions.
"This version was finished quickly but didn't meet Apple's standards for acceptance into the iTunes app store. Specifically, it didn't meet Apple's standard of not being just a content aggregator," he said.
Hill and the Gerdes remained resolute about getting the app into the store, so Matt went back to the drawing board.
"We all still felt there was value in providing the app but needed to provide a more native iPhone experience instead of a bunch of links to websites," he said.
The next step involved reassessing what the application was offering while working to expand access to raw data from other sources on the Internet in order to make the application as self-contained as possible.
"Once I had that, it was merely a matter of creating native iPhone experiences that provided access to this data," Matt said. "Along the way, it became apparent that other features, such as emailing teachers, adding them to your personal contact list, and adding school events to your personal calendar became key and useful capabilities the app could provide."
Once approved by Apple, the application was launched in January. It is currently in version 1.1 and fully functionally, Matt said. The application pulls data from the schools' websites so as those sites update their calendars, news, and faculty listings, the application will get the updates automatically.
Since its release, Matt said he's received requests for an Android version.
"While I'll admit one is in the works, I have no firm commitments on when it will be completed. As with the iPhone version, this is the first time I've developed an Android app," he said. "This is a learning experience for me."
The application's developers hope it provides useful functionality to students, parents and teachers of The Colony school system. Matt said he and Deanna found other school or district applications in the iTunes app store but many appeared to only provide access to school content and did not offer much "interactive capabilities such as adding contacts or events," he said.
For its part, the school district leadership is pleased to see the staff at TCHS taking the initiative to provide parents with another tool for staying involved in the school system.
"This app that The Colony spearheaded is indicative of the excellent leadership and commitment to communication evident all across LISD," Superintendent Dr. Stephen Waddell said.
East Zone Communications Coordinator Laura Madison said a student at Marcus High School also has designed an application for his school but that TCSchools is the only one in the district for an entire feeder pattern.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
kittyperry wrote on Jan 27, 2013 12:35 AM:
" This app will definitely help people to sought all the schools in the area. Matt ofcourse has done a very good thing by creating such app. Getting all the access at one place is the best thing. I have also got created such a similar app from http://www.iprogrammer.com.au and has always yielded me more benefits. "
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