From Registration To Graduation, New Mobile App Guides Students At MDC

Miami Dade College released a new educational mobile and web app, Navigate, this semester to students college-wide. 

The app allows students to manage their class schedule, assemble study groups, explore career options and plan their future course load with an advisor. It’s designed to assist students with their education at the College, from registration up until graduation.    

After a year of testing the app, it’s being managed through the New Student Center. 

“The app is effective because it contains numerous resources in one place where students can easily access information,” said Kathy Maalouf, vice provost of student affairs and project manager on the partnership. “It is a go-to spot for our students.”

Several local colleges and universities offer Navigate to students, such as Florida International University, University of Miami and the University of Central Florida. More than 550 colleges have partnered with the student success platform. 

Users can access three key features—My Path, Major Explorer, My Profile. 

After accessing Navigate through their MDC account and setting up a personalized profile, students can register for classes, schedule appointments with advisors and set reminders on important assignments. If a student misses a deadline for school paperwork or assignments, Navigate will send notifications to remind them.  

The app’s Major Explorer allows students to explore possible majors and careers by inputting their goals, interests and hobbies in the app. Students are also able to take assessment tests within the app that matches them to the careers that best fit them.

“It’s super user-friendly,” said Karina Alegre, a second year MDC student who tested an early model of the app, “and because you can use it on different digital platforms it’s very accessible to college students.”

While the app is tailored for students, there is also a staff component that allows advisors and faculty to set deadline reminders, deploy campaigns and communicate with their students in order to provide “holistic student support.”

Miami Dade College partnered with Navigate as a way to provide comprehensive, digital support to the student body. After validating the product, three groups of students and staff were selected to test the product and provided feedback. This led to a soft launch, allowing first year students to utilize the app before implementing the full launch of the platform to all.

“The College was committed to finding the best platform to improve student success,” Maalouf said. “There are several student success platforms on the market. It was a challenge to select the best fit for MDC.”

In the end, project managers found Navigate to be the most user-friendly and believed it had the best features.

“Miami Dade College will continue to assess different programs and technologies in support of enhancing student success,” Maalouf said. 

The platform can be accessed for free via the App Store and Google Play. The website version is available at www.mdc.edu/navigate/.