Author Hannah Whaley is a fourth-year English and Theatre Studies student from Mississauga, Ontario. This article was originally published on the Dal Student Life blog.
Now more than ever, we’re relying on technology to help shape our university experience. So, there’s no better time for the new Dal Mobile app to be released! You can find it on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. It’s your one-stop shop for all things university — from academics to social life. Whether you’re a new student or more advanced in your university career (like me!), there are plenty of benefits to the app.
Join Orientation
If you’re a new student, you can use Dal Mobile to easily access all the events that Dal is putting on for Orientation. This includes the main Orientation, as well as specialized offerings like those from the International Centre and the Black Student Advising Centre. You’ll be glad to have your events and deadlines all in one place!
Connect with your Faculty
Every Faculty has its own Group Channel within the app. Once you join yours, you can make posts, comment on posts made by others, and see who else is in your area of study! You’ll also be able to see when Faculty events are added.
Get involved outside of school
Societies and clubs get their own Group Channels. If a group catches your eye, you can join the channel and learn more about it. The channels are also a great way to keep up with society events, even if you’re not a member.
Talk to friends
Maybe you had a friend in class but forgot to grab their number, and now you don’t know how to get in touch with them. Maybe you’ve found someone who makes cool posts on the Student Feed and want to get to know them better. The app is perfect for this! You can search people through the home page or add them from a post and message them directly in the app.
Get your questions answered
Online learning brings a lot of changes, which means a lot of questions. During the week of August 24, the app acted virtual “Ask Me” booth (look for the Ask Me channel in the "hamburger menu" at the top left of the Community wall). Dalhousie staff and students spent time online to help answer any questions students had about the semester. And if you missed that window? You can always post on the Student Feed or in your Faculty channel and see if anyone else knows the answers.
Sort out all your student needs
The Community wall has its own channels for Buy & Sell, Lost & Found, Housing, News, Ride Sharing, and Ask Me. Whether you want to look for used textbooks, a place to live, or a carpool to the airport, it’s all there. No longer will you have to join a million Facebook groups to organize your university life! Just click on the “hamburger menu” in the top left corner of the wall to get the list of channels.
Explore events
Clicking on the Events tile leads you to a list of on-campus and virtual programming. Get the deets on each event’s host, date and time, and description. And don’t worry about losing track of time and missing a fun opportunity — you can add events to your calendar and schedule a custom reminder.
Keep track of everything
Speaking of calendars, the app’s built-in calendar has a number of useful features. Along with adding pre-made events, you can also schedule your own events, add your courses, and input due dates! Plus, you can sync it with your personal calendar platform (like Google or Apple), so you don’t forget your friend’s birthday Zoom call while you’re planning for when to write your essay.
Find every campus resource
If you’ve ever had trouble finding a resource on the Dalhousie website, you’ll love Dal Mobile. It has its own “Campus Services” tile that links to everything from Academic Advising to the Writing Centre. From there, you’ll find each service’s phone number (direct dial from the app), email (direct send), and direct link to the website. Who knows, you may even discover something you didn’t know existed!
Stay in the loop
You should still be checking your Dalhousie email for all official communications, but sometimes it’s easy for messages to get lost in your inbox. Luckily, Dal Mobile offers notifications to share important information! There are lots of customization options to make sure that you’re not bombarded with messages that clog up your feed, but you’ll still get the important info from the university.
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