Student Involvement adopts a new smartphone app to appeal to students

The new OOHLALA app features maps and campus events. (Photo courtesy of OOHLALA.)

George Mason University students can now see what events are happening on campus from their smartphones.

The Office of Student Involvement is now using OOHLALA’s campus app, an app which connects students to their campus communities.

 “You no longer have to log into a site to see anything - just tap the [OOHLALA] app to see what's going on,” Dennis Hicks, Associate Director of the Office of Student Involvement, said in an email.

The OOHLALA college campus app displays campus events and allows students to share information about clubs and organizations, according to Hicks. The app also features virtual games, deals for local businesses, and a campus wall where students can post photos and comments, according to the OOHLALA website.

“[OOHLALA Mobile has] been contacting different campuses to participate,” Hicks said. The Office of Student Involvement saw that utilizing the app would be a way to “provide everyone with event information at their fingertips,” according to Hicks.

“It's also a fun way to get students to actively participate in what's happening on campus,” Hicks said in an email. “We're beginning to add check-in badges and other badges for attending events around campus.”

Once the app reaches 200 users the Office of Student Involvement will use OOHLALA’s virtual campus-wide treasure hunt Feb. 4 -8, a week before homecoming.

“The game lasts anywhere from 2 - 3 days and the winner will get a Kindle Fire HD tablet,” Hicks said. The game features a map of campus with a virtual treasure chest. The treasure can be stolen from nearby students with the app. The student who collects the treasure at the end of the hunt wins a prize, according to the app’s press release.

The app currently has 100 Mason users. “[W]e'd love to … gain new users.  Once we hit 200 users we'll start playing the treasure hunt games on campus which will make things a lot more interesting,” Hicks said in an email.

The free app can be downloaded for Androids, iPhones and iTunes.