The DanceBlue Technology team is responsible for maintaining danceblue.org, producing promotional videos throughout the year and controlling audio and visual content at the marathon. Additionally, the DanceBlue technology team oversees the creative needs for all DanceBlue committees and explores further opportunities within the technology field. One of those opportunities is a DanceBlue mobile app.
We are pleased to announce that the DanceBlue app for iPhone is released and available to download for FREE on the Apple App Store!
The DanceBlue app, which has received nearly 1,000 downloads since it’s release in Nov. 2017, was developed entirely by undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky. A mobile app has been an idea for the past few years, and it is great to witness that vision finally come to fruition. Working on this project has demonstrated that learning continues outside of the classroom. As a result of developing the app “in-house” not only were we able to reduce costs drastically, but it has also been a fantastic learning experience for myself and my two coordinators, Blake Swaidner and Joey Gdovka.
The target audience of the app are University of Kentucky students, but the app is useful for anyone interested in supporting DanceBlue. The features of the new app include announcements, a countdown timer for the DanceBlue 2018 dance marathon, events that students can attend to earn spirit points and fundraise for their DanceBlue team, a blog containing news articles and personal testimonies, the ability to donate, push notifications and more!
Students often ask “I’m not signed up to participate in the marathon, but I still want to support DanceBlue. What else can I do to help?” The answer is to download the DanceBlue app! Even if an individual doesn’t plan on participating in the marathon, the app makes it possible for them to stay up-to-date with DanceBlue and show their support.
Our hope for the app is that it will increase community engagement with DanceBlue throughout the entire year. Up until this point, students would learn about weekly spirit point opportunities from word of mouth or visiting DanceBlue’s website. The “events” tab of the app improves the event experience in many ways. At a glance, you can see what team fundraisers and other DanceBlue events are happening for the current week as well as upcoming events. When you tap on an event, it shows a more detailed view with the date and time, a description, the number of spirit points offered, a map with directions, and any flyers for the event. On top of the previously mentioned features, the addition of push notifications remind users when an event is happening, so there is no need to check the fundraising calendar on the website regularly. With the app, everything is in one place with all the information right in your pocket.
We hope you are as excited as we are about this next step for DanceBlue. There are many more improvements and added features on the way! You can download the DanceBlue app for free by visiting the App Store and searching for “DanceBlue”.
