Dr. MK Tyler, the Director of Student Leadership & Involvement at the University of Memphis, has been an Anthology Engage user for over six years. During this time, she's heard a repeating desire from students and organization leaders for a mobile app for TigerZone, their Anthology Engage platform.
So when the news of Navengage’s partnership with Anthology was shared in the spring, bringing our comprehensive mobile experience to Anthology Engage, MK signed up for an app demo. A few months later, TigerZone Mobile launched at the University of Memphis, and within the first five weeks of the semester, the app surpassed MK’s yearly goal of 5,000 users.
We sat down with MK to discuss her experience working with Navengage, what it was like to launch TigerZone Mobile, and how the app has impacted campus life so far.
Here are 10 highlights from our conversation:
1. Initial Demo: “I think I finally figured out a solution to a lot of our problems.”
2. Listening to Students: “It was a need that had been told to us a thousand times, ‘We wish we had an app for TigerZone,’ which is what we call our Anthology Engage…and being able to say, ‘Hey, we actually listened to you, and there’s an app now.’ ”
3. Student Reactions: “The guy said, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m so thankful I don’t have to pull up my web browser anymore.’ ”
4. Staff Reactions: “You really turned the student quad into something that’s digital.”
5. Destigmatizing Campus Resources: “What I am seeing is that the stigma around wanting information around those [resources] is going down.”
6. Sharing Student Data: “Now we can tell the offices like Career Services, or the Food Pantry, or Multicultural Affairs, ‘Hey this is a group of students that say they’re interested but they might not know how to show up.’ ”
7. Allocation of Resources: “On this other side of campus, where students are downloading an app seemingly for engagement, for ‘fun,’...they’re also saying they need these resources. I think [the app] can only help show the full picture of what a student needs while they are at a university.”
8. Finding Connection and Belonging: “I was excited to see that [students] trusted the app enough that they thought it was a place where they could create connection.”
9. A Space for Vulnerability: “[The app] allows [students] to say, ‘I’m not as alone anymore,” … ‘this place doesn’t feel so big at the University, that I might be able to find my people or find people that think like me or have similar situations.’ “
10. Supporting Adult, Parenting, and Transfer Students: “I think those students have found at least a little bit of support that they might not have been able to find, specifically if they’re only in one class in person and a few online or all online, with people that have similar situations.”
Final Thoughts
From connecting students to resources and experiences, fostering belonging on campus, and generating valuable student data, TigerZone Mobile has made a significant impact at the University of Memphis. It has evolved into a cornerstone of interaction that is reshaping the student-university relationship. We cannot wait to see how the app continues to transform the UofM's student engagement experience!
Interested in seeing how Navengage’s app can impact student engagement at your institution? Click here to fill out our 3 question interest form.
📱 About Navengage
Navengage Inc. delivers leading-edge, mobile-first student engagement software that helps higher ed institutions increase student engagement and boost retention. We aim to advance student engagement technology so that colleges and universities have comprehensive, accurate, and readily available data for decision making. We are committed to engaging today's students with tomorrow's cutting-edge education technology and envision a world where every student has the opportunity to safely and successfully pursue their education. Learn more by visiting www.navengage.com