Modo Labs Showcases Mobile College Admissions

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A company spun off from MIT's mobile development efforts says it can help universities make themselves more attractive to prospective students.

Modo Labs was established to commercialize the open source Kurogo middleware for mobile development that got its start at MIT, under the direction of cofounder and COO Andrew Yu. "The most popular app there was a shuttle tracking system that would let you stay indoors until the bus arrives," he said, something that was popular in winters. "That's still a popular app at many schools."

Although programmers can use the platform to create their own custom apps for any purpose, Modo Labs continues to focus heavily on the higher education market with its Mobile Campus suite of apps. Admissions 2.0, which was announced this week at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers annual meeting in San Francisco, can be purchased as part of that suite or separately. Modo claims that 60% of students now conduct part of their online college search from a mobile device.

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Kurogo provides a suite of standard modules for connecting to databases, content management systems and other common enterprise systems, along with generic open source modules for displaying news items or videos and connecting with Facebook and Twitter. Content can be presented in either a mobile Web format or in the form of native apps for iPhone and Android phones. Modo Labs sells a series of premium apps that run on the platform, including a Mobile Hospital and Mobile Enterprise suite, as well as Mobile Campus.

"A non-programmer can go in and create a mobile site, adding pictures and text, without knowing PHP or iOS/Objective-C," Yu said, referring to common programming languages for the Web and iPhone native apps. At the same time, developers with common PHP and HTML skills can create more custom apps.

"Admissions 2.0 directly supports our recruitment and retention efforts," said Indiana State Web Services Director Santhana Naidu in a statment. "With Modo Labs' content publishing technology, we were able to deploy both an Admissions mobile website and native apps, without any development resources. Now, the solution provides all the capabilities needed for recruits to fully explore the University from any mobile device."

The Admissions 2.0 app provides templates for four key functions:

-- Explore: Explore is the gateway to information a school's facts and figures and unique history, as well as articles, photos, and videos about campus life and academic programs.

-- Visit: Everything about how to visit the school and set up a tour.

-- Apply: Details on the admissions process, including dates, application requirements, interview scheduling, financial aid and important deadlines.

-- Campus Virtual Tour: An optional extension to Admissions 2.0, the tour model displays a rich, interactive, multi-stop mobile tour with descriptive text, photos, videos, and links.

Modo Labs Admissions module

Follow David F. Carr at @davidfcarr or Google+, along with @IWKEducation.