Students can now access course materials from their smartphones thanks to Tobey Osborne, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette student who released an iPhone app for LSU’s Moodle program last week.
Osborne, a computer science sophomore, released the app after creating a similar program for ULL’s version of Moodle. The app allows students to check their grades and e-mail and access teacher’s resources from their phones. The app also offers a class-specific chat function.
Osborne has been creating and releasing different apps under the name Toast, Inc.
“Over the past year and a half, I’ve produced 10 apps in total,” Osborne said. “About half of those were games, others were for companies or churches. Then I made the ULL’s Moodle app, and once I did that, it was simple to make the LSU version.”
The ULL’s app quickly became popular, gaining a five-star rating on iTunes. Osborne saw an opportunity for expansion.
Morgan Mills, mass communications and political science sophomore, is a friend of Osborne’s. He is helping to get the word out about the app.
“He needed someone from LSU to help troubleshoot, and I was happy to help,” Mills said.
Mills said he believes the app has a lot of potential and thinks it will be successful among University students.
“I can access my syllabus in 30 seconds — that’s what’s so great about it. I’m surprised no one has come up with this before,” he said.
When working with the ULL’s Moodle app, Osborne said he had some setbacks regarding the legality of using the UL logo on the app, and eventually he was forced by the university to remove the logo.
“I guess UL is notorious for being strict about that kind of thing,” Mills said.
But Mills is hopeful that with LSU Moodle, there will not be such problems.
“If they have a problem, we’ll deal with it,” he said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
LSU IT Services declined to comment on the app because it is not a University-authorized application.
LSU Moodle is available on the iTunes app store for $1.99 and is compatible with devices running iOS 5.0 and higher.
 
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Contact Gordon Brillon at [email protected]