A Cuesta College instructor along with the Marketing and Communications Department have teamed up to develop one of the first community college applications for smart phones in the United States — a free app that can guide students and visitors around Cuesta’s three campuses.

"Thanks to the college's support, we've become what is believed to be the first California community college with an iPhone app and possibly the first in the nation with an Android app,” said Randy Scovil, a computer science instructor who worked to develop the app.

“The goal for this iteration of the app is to help students and community members find their way around campus and learn more about Cuesta, especially our extensive career technical programs,” said Scovil. “We've made it very easy for people to learn more about campus resources by providing information they can instantly contact via the web, their phone or e-mail.”

Vocational Education and Training Authority funds from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office funded the project that was completed over the summer and went live on Apple and Android phones in early August.

The apps offers an interactive, way-finding system to campus visitors, provides a comprehensive list of the facilities and services housed in each building on campus and a daily itinerary of events being held in those buildings.

“Smart phone use by college students and the general public is increasing at an exponential rate thanks to the popularity of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android smart phone operating systems,” said Stephan Gunsaulus, director of marketing and communications for Cuesta College. “We intend to leverage this technology to help our students get timely access to information that they need to make progress in their academic careers.”

The increasing trend of smart phone use among the college-aged population is supported by a recent study sponsored by Noel-Levitz, the National Research Center for College & University Admissions and OmniUpdate, titled “Focusing Your E-Recruitment Efforts to Meet the Expectations of College-Bound Students.” The study concluded that 23 percent of the college-bound students surveyed reported searching for college websites directly from their smart phones.

The app is a natural outgrowth of not only students' adoption of mobile technologies but also of Cuesta’s evolving course offerings. Scovil taught the first iPhone programming course at Cuesta College earlier this year and will teach a mobile device programming class with a focus on Android smart phones in the spring of 2011.

The free app can be downloaded by searching for Cuesta College from iTunes or the Android Market.