Smartphone App Developed By Students to Help Community Members in Crisis

Thomas Rossi

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Community Engagement Division Technical Session 3- Multi- and Inter-disciplinary, Collaboration, and Engagement in Practice
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40611
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40611
Download Count: 258

Paper Authors

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Thomas Rossi Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College

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Thomas Rossi is a lecturer in Computer Science and Software Engineering at Penn State Behrend. His research focuses on improving the post-secondary experience for students through the use of current computing tools and technologies. Thomas graduated with his MS in Computer Science from the University of New Hampshire in 2016.

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Abstract

On campus, faculty and staff are given a document called the “Red Folder”- a paper folder that contains resources to help identify students that may be in crisis and get them connected to mental health resources on campus. This folder, while useful does have its drawbacks. Most importantly is the fact that it can be easily lost or damaged since it is just paper. Additionally, many faculty store this in their office or in a bag which they may not always have on them limiting their access to this information. On top of all this, only faculty and staff were given the Red Folder so students did not have the same level of access to this information. To solve this problem, students under faculty guidance worked to create an app called LionHELP. LionHELP had two main goals; the first was to create a tool that would give students access to the same mental health resources as the faculty. The second was to create a replacement for the Red Folder that could live as a native app on each person’s smartphone to facilitate access at a moment’s notice.

To develop this app, three students were selected to work with a faculty mentor. The students were majoring in either Computer Science or Software Engineering. To assist with the development and help steer the project, two outside experts were also enlisted. The first was a faculty member from the English department at the school who specializes in English composition and in creating inclusive content that can be understood by a variety of levels of English fluency. The second was a member of the campus counseling center and a certified case manager. The students worked as a team with one student leading the charge on iOS development and the other on Android development with the third serving as a go between and aiding both projects as needed. Each week the students met with the faculty mentor as well as the outside experts to review progress and plan next steps.

Prior to the start of the Fall 2021 semester, the app was deployed to both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store as free downloads for students. The app has been welcomed by faculty, staff, and students with other campuses in the school system being interested in adapting this app for their own uses. Students have been interested in the app as well prompting an article from the student run newspaper to be written and published. The successful development of this app opens the door to future development efforts that include adding in resources to help students get connected to resources on campus related to learning disabilities and other situations that can make a difference in student success on campus.

Citation
Format

Rossi, T. (2022, August), Smartphone App Developed By Students to Help Community Members in Crisis Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40611

TY - CPAPER
AB - On campus, faculty and staff are given a document called the “Red Folder”- a paper folder that contains resources to help identify students that may be in crisis and get them connected to mental health resources on campus. This folder, while useful does have its drawbacks. Most importantly is the fact that it can be easily lost or damaged since it is just paper. Additionally, many faculty store this in their office or in a bag which they may not always have on them limiting their access to this information. On top of all this, only faculty and staff were given the Red Folder so students did not have the same level of access to this information. To solve this problem, students under faculty guidance worked to create an app called LionHELP. LionHELP had two main goals; the first was to create a tool that would give students access to the same mental health resources as the faculty. The second was to create a replacement for the Red Folder that could live as a native app on each person’s smartphone to facilitate access at a moment’s notice.

To develop this app, three students were selected to work with a faculty mentor. The students were majoring in either Computer Science or Software Engineering. To assist with the development and help steer the project, two outside experts were also enlisted. The first was a faculty member from the English department at the school who specializes in English composition and in creating inclusive content that can be understood by a variety of levels of English fluency. The second was a member of the campus counseling center and a certified case manager. The students worked as a team with one student leading the charge on iOS development and the other on Android development with the third serving as a go between and aiding both projects as needed. Each week the students met with the faculty mentor as well as the outside experts to review progress and plan next steps.

Prior to the start of the Fall 2021 semester, the app was deployed to both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store as free downloads for students. The app has been welcomed by faculty, staff, and students with other campuses in the school system being interested in adapting this app for their own uses. Students have been interested in the app as well prompting an article from the student run newspaper to be written and published. The successful development of this app opens the door to future development efforts that include adding in resources to help students get connected to resources on campus related to learning disabilities and other situations that can make a difference in student success on campus.
AU - Thomas Rossi
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Smartphone App Developed By Students to Help Community Members in Crisis
UR - https://peer.asee.org/40611
DO - 10.18260/1-2--40611
ER -