Postechians’ Thoughts on POSTECH-Related Mobile Apps
Postechians’ Thoughts on POSTECH-Related Mobile Apps
  • Reporter Song Geun-seok
  • 승인 2022.11.13 01:08
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▲Statistics showing student responses to Attendance Management app and mobile POVIS
▲Statistics showing student responses to Attendance Management app and mobile POVIS

 Since the return of face-to-face classes in the second semester of 2022, certain POSTECH-related mobile applications have been used more widely among students. The attendance management app and mobile POVIS are two particularly popular mobile applications that students often use. To find out how Postechians assess these apps, The Postech Times conducted a survey targeting undergraduate Postechians from Oct. 18 to Oct. 27. A total of 89 responses have been collected.
 The survey consisted of three main questions: "Have you ever used the app?", "How satisfied are you with the app on a scale of 1 to 5, and why?", and "What would be some ways to improve the app?" For the POVIS app, there was an additional question: "What is your main purpose of using this app?"

 Responses to Attendance Management App
 According to the survey, 97.8% of respondents replied that they have used the Attendance Management app. However, most of the respondents provided negative reviews of the app. Among the respondents who have used the app, 29.2% were very unsatisfied (1 from the scale) and 47.2% were unsatisfied (2 from the scale) while only 12.4% of the students were satisfied (4 from the scale) or very satisfied (5 from the scale). 
 The two major reasons for negative evaluations were frequent errors regarding attendance (76.0%) and problems with app access (86.7%). While some students mentioned that the app interface was not pleasant (8.0%), this was not a significant factor compared to the previous two. Many respondents said that the long loading time to open the app prevented them from checking in on time and that some of their attendances were marked as tardy or absent. Some also pointed out that these errors are not yet fixed despite the app updates. Thus, appropriate measures that solve these situations are necessary.
 On the contrary, some respondents said that there are some advantages to using the app. They replied that the app is convenient and easy to use (57.1%), attendance status can be readily checked (42.9%), and the time needed for attendance checks can be shortened (28.6%).

 Responses to Mobile POVIS
 According to the survey, 87.6% of respondents replied that they have used mobile POVIS. Among them, the majority said that the main purpose of the use is checking information related to academic affairs such as grades or course schedules (73.1%). The use of community posts such as announcements, student notice boards, or the POSTECH Lounge was also commonplace (53.1%), and some said that they use the app to check the daily restaurant menu (51.3%). 
 Although the use of mobile POVIS was less frequent than the use of the Attendance Management app, respondents made positive assessments of mobile POVIS. While 45% of the respondents were either satisfied (4 from the scale) or very satisfied (5 from the scale), only 27% expressed dissatisfaction (1 and 2 from the scale). For those who replied with dissatisfaction, many said that there is a critical login error that prevents access to the app. Feedback on the user interface (UI) was ambivalent; while some said that this was the first priority to be fixed, others said that the UI is very intuitive and efficient. The major reason for positive evaluation was convenience and various functions, and a few mentioned that the app has improved significantly since its renewal in Sept. 2021.