The Kent State mobile app KSUmobile has made several changes to improve student usability this school year.

The app’s largest change is a newly designed “Me@KSU” feature. This new design offers a more accessible look into a student’s Kent State account, showing his personal school ID number, Flash Cash balance and university career information among other things. Sameer Jaleel, director of platform & integration solutions, makes decisions on what new features are released for the app and when.

“We did a complete redo of the Me@KSU module, making it customizable and changing it from the previously tabbed interface to a sliding interface that users are more accustomed to on mobile devices,” Jaleel said.

The app has also added a dining plan matrix feature, allowing students to keep track of their meal plan spending. A Student Center parking module was also added, allowing students to view how many parking spots are available in the Student Center lot and have quick access to Parking Services.

“Our student lot is filled every day, so it’s frustrating for the customers,” Office Systems Coordinator Meredith Garrett said. “We thought it’d be an easy addition to the app.”

Though changes were made, Jaleel and his team know the improvements do not stop here.

“We have been working hard to release a new version every four months,” he said. “KSUmobile is in perpetual development, so we don’t ever consider it done.”

In the future, app users can expect expanded features including a GPA calculator, an academic calendar and access to their school email account.

The app’s developers turn to user reviews when designing new features.

“We value user feedback and rely on it for user input,” Jaleel said. “In one of our upcoming releases, we plan to offer users incentive to post a review.”

Student users of the app have taken note of the changes.

“It’s definitely easier to access and read,” said Emilia Sneed, a freshman fashion merchandising major. “I think adding more events to the academic calendar would be helpful, but other than that it’s pretty straightforward.”

KSUmobile was first released for free in 2012. Since its release, it has had 41,000 iOS downloads and 18,500 Android downloads.

Download KSUmobile and other Kent State apps at   http://www.kent.edu/mobile.

Contact Tess Cottom at [email protected].