From The Peak, SFU’s Student Newspaper: Vol. 138, Issue 13

August 01, 2011

By Jennifer Bednard

SFU’s Beedie School of Business is jumping headfirst into the twenty-first century with its own iPhone app, created, and desgined by SFU students. The project, prepared for CUS 338: Foundations of Innovation, was developed by a group of students from the Beedie School and the computer science department, including Charlene Adomako, Randy Tarampi, Justin Horacsek, Kyle Krystalowich, and Justin Lee.

“Our task was to create an app for the Beedie School of Business,” explained Justin Lee. “Through brainstorming sessions and talking with people, we formulated the structure of the app.”

The app allows users to access business department news and Twitter feeds, as well as allowing mobile access to SFU applications such as WebCT.

“The app is like a one-stop shop,” Lee said. “It’s an information hub where they can grab news about the Beedie School. News and events feed, twitter feed, Facebook feed — we have all the buttons on the bottom, so people can navigate to the different means of communication.”

The app also includes links to announcements about current research performed by the school’s faculty and graduate students.

Lee feels that the application is an important tool. “It’s a good way to differentiate the business school not only from the different faculties in SFU, but also to help SFU to differentiate itself from different universities, to show that we are taking the next step in following the trend. With smartphone usage so high now, especially in universities, it helps business students [keep] in touch with what’s going on in the school.”

Lee added, “social networking is important, especially in the business school. Because there’s so much that goes on within the school, students have to stay ahead of the curve.”

The project involved heavy collaboration between business students and computer science students; the BUS 338 class was paired up with CMPT 275 in order to create the app.

“It was definitely a good project, definitely something different,” Lee said. “It was a good idea to collaborate with different classes. The computing science students could be tough to work with at times, but it was a good experience because you could work with someone with a different perspective. It does help students with skills for the future, in terms of working outside your comfort zone.”

Currently, there are no plans to develop the app for other tablets or smartphones.

The Beedie School of Business app can be previewed at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sfu-beedie-school-of-business/id434700597?mt=8.

View the article at the Peak at: http://www.the-peak.ca/article/22895