Background: The University of Huddersfield 

Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and located in Sherman, Texas. About 1,300 students are enrolled at the college. Students are required to live on campus for the first three years of their education in order to foster a close-knit and community oriented campus lifestyle. 

Challenges

Like many colleges and universities, the on-campus experience is an integral part of the Austin College offering, so offering students a way to keep engaging with their higher education experience in-person was a priority for the COVID-19 task force. The technology solution they were looking for needed to accomplish the following:

• Support various student situations (commuter, on-campus, remote) in their hybrid education approach.
  
  
• Create a privacy-first record of locations visited by anyone on-campus to permit rapid response notifications in the event of suspected exposure.
  
  
• Track confirmed cases through quarantine and recovery to support safely returning to campus for students who were infected.

The Ready Education Solution

IEnhancing Campus Safety In 3 Weeks

Austin College collaborated with Ready Education to deploy a custom mobile app for contact tracing. This initiative prioritized privacy while offering a user-friendly interface and versatile features to enhance adoption among students and staff.

To expedite the implementation process, Austin College received dedicated support from Ready's engineers and Customer Success team, ensuring a swift turnaround of just three weeks.

The app includes a live dashboard enabling real-time tracking of suspected cases and overall trends, facilitating prompt responses to potential outbreaks.

Challenges

Streamlining Student Access

Before implementing myHud, the University of Huddersfield encountered several challenges. Foremost among these were obstacles hindering students' access to essential information:

• Students struggled to locate relevant information due to uncertainty about where to find it.
• Information was dispersed across service silos, lacking a user-focused presentation.
• Department-centric information structures led to fragmentation and inconsistency.
• The prior system had evolved organically over time, resulting in unwieldy complexity.
• Duplication of information compounded management difficulties.

Outcomes

Safe Reopening Success

Austin College successfully reopened with a strong focus on safety protocols. Through efficient tracking and immediate quarantine of suspected cases, the college ensured zero in-class transmissions, providing a secure environment for both students and staff.

The implementation of a comprehensive mobile app facilitated seamless communication among students, enabling peer-to-peer interactions and fostering a sense of connectedness both on and off-campus. This innovative tool not only supported safe re-entry to campus but also served as a platform for students to stay engaged with one another amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic.

With the widespread adoption of the app, faculty and staff gained enhanced communication channels, allowing for more effective engagement with students. Additionally, access to on and off-campus resources improved significantly, contributing to a more efficient and supportive learning environment for the entire Austin College community.