Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest universities in the United States. With over 60,000 students across multiple campuses, Ohio State utilizes various apps and online platforms to help organize academic and campus life information for its students, faculty, staff, and visitors.
Learning Management Systems
For distributing course materials, administering quizzes, accepting assignments, and facilitating online discussions, Ohio State uses the Canvas learning management system. Canvas is used for both online and in-person classes at Ohio State. All students and faculty are provided Canvas accounts upon affiliation with the university. Through Canvas, instructors can post syllabuses, assignments, readings, videos, and more. Students can access course materials, submit assignments, take quizzes, collaborate with peers, check grades, and communicate with their instructors. Canvas also has iOS and Android apps that allow users to access course materials on mobile devices.
In addition to Canvas, some classes and programs may use supplemental learning systems like Piazza for focused question-and-answer discussion boards related to coursework. Piazza facilitates communication between students and instructors with features like anonymity options, file sharing, and focused threads.
Administrative and Campus Apps
For administrative services, Ohio State has official mobile apps for current students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The Ohio State app, available on iOS and Android, enables students to view course schedules, grades, campus maps, athletics tickets, parking, dining hall menus, laundry availability, and more. Students can also manage financial aid, access the library catalog, and find contact information through the app. Faculty and staff can view campus announcements, access employee resources, and find directory information. The Ohio State Visitor app provides maps, directions, and event listings to help visitors navigate campus.
In addition to the main university app, Ohio State has several other administrative apps and platforms like Acclaim for scheduling academic advising appointments, Carmen for campus scheduling software, and Lynda.com for employee training videos.
For student life and extracurricular activities, Ohio State has adopted the Presence application, provided by Dynamit. Presence has iOS and Android apps that aggregate information on student organizations, campus events, volunteer opportunities, and more. Students can also network with peers, manage RSVPs, create personal schedules, and access news and announcements through the app.
Library Apps
To help students and faculty effectively search and access resources, the Ohio State library system offers several apps. The Ohio State Library app allows users to search the catalog, access research guides, check library hours, find computer availability, reserve study rooms, request books, and more. The Library Guides app provides subject and course-specific research guides with tailored recommendations from librarians. The BrowZine app lets users browse and read scholarly journals.
Specific library locations at Ohio State, like Thompson Library and the Health and Sciences Library, also have their own apps to help visitors access floor maps, computer availability, reservable study rooms, and other location-specific resources.
Health and Wellness Apps
To support student health and wellbeing, Ohio State has adopted several apps focused on health, counseling, medical services, and recreation.
For telehealth and online medical services, students have access to the Wexner Medical Center app. Through this app, they can schedule appointments, view test results, message providers, request prescription refills, and more. The Ohio State MyCounseling app lets students schedule counseling sessions, access therapist contact information, complete assessments, and more.
For nutrition and dining, Ohio State partners with the GET app, which aggregates menus, nutritional information, and allergen data for all campus dining halls and restaurants. Students can browse dining options and filter for specific dietary needs.
The Department of Recreational Sports also has its own RecSports app where students can view group fitness schedules, sign up for classes and programs, reserve facilities like basketball courts, and manage memberships for recreation centers. This helps students take advantage of athletic and wellness opportunities on campus.
Academic Department Apps
In addition to university-wide platforms, specific colleges and academic departments at Ohio State utilize their own apps tailored to their student and faculty needs.
The Fisher College of Business has a dedicated app where students can access curriculum requirements, register for courses, and manage undergraduate and graduate business program details. The College of Engineering has an app focused on its student professional community, providing mentoring resources, professional development event listings, industry networking tools, and more.
Various academic programs also have apps, like the Aviation program’s flight scheduling and weather app, the Athletics Department’s training and team management app, and the Veterinary School’s animal anatomy and diagnostics app. These apps cater to the unique needs of students and faculty within those disciplines.
Housing, Transit, and Payment Apps
To help students with basic services and tasks around campus and Columbus, Ohio State partners with some popular external apps and platforms.
For campus and city transportation, Ohio State integrates with the CABS buses app, the CoGo bike share app, and Transit app which has bus routes, driving directions, and parking information around Columbus. The CampusParc app lets students and employees pay for parking and manage parking permits.
For student housing and residential life needs, Ohio State utilizes the LiveOn app provided by Symplicity. LiveOn enables students to explore housing options, apply for rooms, communicate with roommates, submit maintenance requests, access resources from housing staff, and more.
To facilitate payments across campus, OSU has adopted Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay. Students and employees can upload their university IDs to these platforms to pay for items at campus dining halls, restaurants, convenience stores, vending machines, laundry facilities, and more.
Campus Safety Apps
To help keep students safe and provide important emergency resources, Ohio State has adopted several campus security applications.
OSU has partnered with LiveSafe for personal safety and emergency response. Students and employees can use the LiveSafe app to contact campus security, access emergency contacts, create safety profiles, and utilize the SafeWalk map which tracks your movement and shares it with designated friends or safety officials.
For emergency preparedness and mass notification, Ohio State utilizes the OSU AlertMe app. AlertMe shares timely warnings and critical information during emergencies like severe weather, active threats, utility outages, and more. Users can report emergencies and suspicious activities through the app as well.
The Ohio State Security app allows students and staff to look up the university’s security policies and procedures. They can also find safety resources related to active shooter preparedness, workplace violence prevention, general crime prevention, and other campus security programs.
Specialized Apps
Ohio State employs other specialized apps tailored to the specific needs of its large, diverse campus community.
For accessibility services, OSU uses AIRA, an app that employs remotely-located agents who provide visual interpretation services via live video feed to blind or low vision users. This helps students navigate campus, read printed materials, access visual class materials, and more.
For student media and journalism, the campus newspaper The Lantern has its own app where students can read articles written by fellow students reporters and staff. It provides an easy way to access campus news.
For Ohio State athletics fans and supporters, apps like Ohio State Buckeyes provide news, social media integration, live audio streams of sporting events, and more. Sports like football, basketball, hockey, and baseball have their own dedicated Ohio State apps as well.
Within the facilities management department, maintenance staff utilize apps like MaintenanceDirect for digitizing work orders, managing assets and inventory, tracking maintenance history, and optimizing technician scheduling. This improves efficiency of campus operations and maintenance.
App Summary Tables
To summarize, here are some tables categorizing the main apps used across academic, administrative, student life, and facilities domains at Ohio State University:
Academic Apps | Features |
---|---|
Canvas | Learning management system, course communication, assignments, grades |
Piazza | Class Q&A discussion board |
College/Department Apps | Specialized for academic programs, like engineering, business, veterinary |
Library Apps | Catalog, journals, study rooms, research guides |
Administrative Apps | Features |
---|---|
Ohio State App | Campus maps, directories, course schedules, events |
Acclaim | Academic advising appointments |
Carmen | Campus scheduling software |
Lynda.com | Employee training videos |
Student Life Apps | Features |
---|---|
Presence | Student orgs, events, news, volunteer ops |
GET | Campus dining menus and nutrition |
RecSports | Group fitness schedules, facility reservations |
LiveOn | Student housing selection and resources |
Facilities Apps | Features |
---|---|
MaintenanceDirect | Work orders, asset management, technician scheduling |
Transit | Campus buses, bikes, parking maps |
CampusParc | Parking permits and payments |
Health and Safety Apps | Features |
---|---|
Wexner Medical Center | Health services, telehealth appointments |
MyCounseling | Counseling appointments and resources |
LiveSafe | Emergency response, SafeWalk tracking |
AlertMe | Emergency notifications |
Conclusion
Ohio State leverages a wide variety of mobile apps and web platforms across every facet of university operations and student life. Core apps like Canvas, Ohio State Mobile, Presence, LiveOn, and Wexner Medical facilitate academic performance, campus navigation, university administration, student engagement, and health/wellness. Specialized apps for individual colleges, departments, facilities, events, and services help provide targeted resources and information to the diverse 100,000+ people across Ohio State campuses. With technology and mobile adoption growing rapidly, apps have become critical tools enabling large universities like OSU to serve their populations efficiently.