New Zealand college uses the Azure-based solution to improve communication and resource access
Elly Yates-Roberts |
The Ara Institute of Canterbury has implemented Collabco’s myday to create a digital campus. The New Zealand-based college is using the Azure solution to improve communication and access to resources.
The technology institute was formed in 2016 from the merger of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and Aoraki Polytechnic and went live in January 2019 with myday for its 20,000 students.
“Implementing myday means there are some really quick wins for the college in terms of student communication and access to everything they need in the way of college resources and services from a smartphone around the clock,” said Tony Gray, chief executive of Ara Institute of Canterbury. “Students can log into myday and gain access to Office 365 for email and documents, Tribal for timetables, assessments and results…Moodle 3.2, the library system, campus maps and our student orientation app. It’s all conveniently located in one place.”
The college included its students in the construction of the digital campus to ensure they would use it and could access what they needed. Ara did a survey on the look and feel of myday, asking students about customisable features and functionalities.
“We involved students on many levels, but we also had two of our own IT undergraduates who worked with us to implement the system and to build the student orientation app – their work was marked as part of their overall degree and both received distinctions for the work they did,” said Gray.
“Putting students at the heart of the project means that we are now confident that we’ve gone live with a system that doesn’t just look attractive but is simple and easy to navigate and can be customised via ‘tiles’ on the dashboard. myday will be fundamental to student engagement.”