Annual competition recognizes universities and colleges for outstanding digital experiences in their campus mobile apps.
Modo Labs, creator of the leading digital engagement platform for higher education and enterprise, published the winning schools of its 6th annual Appademy Awards. The juried event honors colleges and universities that have built exemplary digital experiences in mobile apps built with Modo Campus, Modo’s student engagement platform.
Now in its sixth year, the Appademy Awards recognizes the innovativeness and creativity of campuses using the Modo platform and reveals how higher education institutions are expanding and enhancing their mobile apps and web portals to be more useful and appealing to their students.
“It’s exciting to see so many campuses leverage out-of-the-box integrations to give students seamless access to their LMS and SIS accounts, digital IDs, campus dining, bike parking, and more,” said Andrew Yu, Modo Labs’ President and Founder. “Schools are also creating more user personas within their apps to deliver tailored experiences for smaller audiences, such as prospective, newly admitted, first-year, and graduating students.”
The 2023 Appademy Awards included ten categories, with all category winners eligible for the Best Overall Campus Mobile App award. 2023 winners are:
- Best Traditional Event – Santa Monica College
- Best Monthly Observance or Celebration – University of California, Merced
- Best Recruiting, Admissions, or New Student Experience – The University of Texas at El Paso
- Best Dining Experience – Northern Arizona University
- Best Alumni Experience – University of Notre Dame
- Best App Redesign – Frostburg State University
- Best Use of App Communications – Santa Monica College
- Best Multi-Channel User Experience – California State University, San Bernardino
- Best Integration – University of Houston
- Most Creative App Marketing Campaign – Ohio University
- Best Overall Campus Mobile App – Northern Arizona University
Patricia Allenbaugh, senior user experience analyst at Northern Arizona University, which won for Best Dining Experience and Best Overall Campus App, shared that the success of the NAUgo app is largely due to a constant focus on the student user experience and adding features and content that students really want.
“We’re constantly going out to our student community and asking them what they want or need or desire,” explained Allenbaugh. “I’m very aware of student expectations, and resting on our laurels is not going to meet those expectations year after year. We always have to be improving and taking advantage of the latest technology, and the Modo platform has enabled us to do that with our app. We’re thrilled to be recognized again by the Appademy Awards for our hard work.”
First-time award winner The University of Texas at El Paso, which won for its New Student Orientation (NSO) experience, launched its UTEP Go app in October 2022.
“Since our app is so new, I was really surprised and happy to win,” expressed UTEP Go manager Earlyne Gonzalez. “It was exciting for us to create the NSO module. With the app, we simplified the onboarding process for students and took some of the burdens off our tiny NSO team.”
When asked where she got the inspiration for the NSO experience, Gonzales shared, “We gathered a lot of ideas from our colleagues, past Appademy Award winners, the Modo Monthly User Group calls and presentations. Seeing what other schools are doing really helps us grow as a university.”
Modo’s juried panel of technology, design, and user experience professionals reviewed and scored submissions based on creativity, design, user experience, features/functionality, and performance to determine the winners. This year’s outside judges included:
- Mark Albert, CIO and associate vice president for information technology, DeSales University
- Michael Berman, executive strategic consultant, Vantage Technology Consulting Group
- Edward Walter, president and founder, Strategy Studio
- Tanya Vulfson, digital product designer, Work & Co.
The winners represent the best of the best and serve as leading campus mobile app examples for institutions worldwide, including those using the Modo platform.
A complete list of finalists and winning submission details are available on the Modo website.
About Modo Labs
Modo is the world’s leading platform provider of workplace and campus apps. Trusted by global Fortune 1000 brands and the world’s most prestigious institutions, the Modo digital engagement platform delivers a unified, fully customizable, mobile-first user experience to simplify anytime access to information and the services students and employees need to feel supported, engaged, and inspired. For more information, visit modolabs.com.
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