From checking available meal swipes to homework on Canvas to seeing if there’s a laundry machine open, an app built by three Dartmouth ’17s hopes to put the aspects of student life all in one place.
Sean Cann ’17, Tyler Fisher ’17 and Kevin Neilson ’17 founded the company Seabird, launching the “Dartmouth Student” app in September of 2014. Now, with over 2,800 downloads and around 1,000 users on the most recent April update, the app is one of many products the start-up has created for schools.
The app aggregates several campus services Dartmouth students use into one platform, including Canvas, Banner, laundry machine availability and Dartmouth Dining Services swipe balances.
The idea of building Dartmouth Student originated from the inconvenience they experienced as students trying to navigate information online, Neilson said.
Neilson first built an app in 2010 for his high school, the Delbarton School in New Jersey. After he arrived at Dartmouth, he showed his app to his freshman floormates Cann and Fisher. Together, the three started discussing the possibility of making similar apps for other high schools. They then created an app for Cann’s high school, St. Edwards High School in Ohio.
After receiving some positive reviews of their previous work, they decided to create a similar app for Dartmouth.
Fisher said that there were similar apps already in existence that were created by the College but that students he spoke to were dissatisfied with them.
“Nobody we knew actually had that app on their phone, so we knew there was room for improvement,” Fisher said.
Fisher said the initial process of building the app was time-consuming. He described two months of long hours for all three before a arriving at fully functioning prototype, but the group has since improved their abilities and efficiency.
While the initial financial costs were minimal, the sale of their first app to Elyria Catholic High School in Ohio did provide funding for their later projects.
Neilson added that Dartmouth has been an encouraging environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Dartmouth is incredibly supportive of new ideas and startups,” Neilson said, adding that he and his team shared the app with College President Phil Hanlon during his office hours.
Fisher added that he and his partners have incorporated skills gained through their coding experiences at the College to build the apps.
Seabird has received positive feedback from users since the release of the app, Cann wrote in an email.
Kelsey Phares ’17, who has been using Dartmouth Student since her sophomore year, said she has found the app to be useful.
“Every time I use it I find a new feature, like links to the dining menu and the ability to see which washers and dryers are available across campus,” Phares said. “I’m also impressed that it allows for an easy way to sign into Banner from my phone.”
Qianyi Yong ’19 expressed interest in downloading the app after hearing about its functions and its accessibility for iPhones.
“Several times I went to the laundry room and found no machine available, or I went to KAF and found that it was closed,” she said. “This information is available online for sure, but not that accessible on iPhone.”
Cann added that future prospects of the app include new features and an Android version.
Cann said that they hope to make improvements based off of data they will collect through a suggestion portal and data analytics. They also plan on creating a more personalized experience for users.
Other current updates include a new food portal feature which allows students to see dining facility hours and daily menus. In the future the app will incorporate detailed special hours of service of the dining facilities, Cann said.
Besides this app for Dartmouth, their company, Seabird, also has apps that serve other schools. They now have five clients, with the prospect of a rapid expansion in the near future.
“Over the summer, we will be increasing our outreach efforts and expect to partner with a lot more schools to help solve their organizational difficulties,” Cann said.
Cann said that their experiences as students have allowed them to better identify users’ needs.
“The three of us who created Seabird Apps are all students, and we know exactly what a student wants to use,” Cann said.
