“We should develop an app!” 

How many times have you heard this (or shouted it yourself) when working on a project? After this “aha” moment, when you’re giddy with excitement, the dim reality often hits once you mention it to someone else:

“No way, they’re too expensive!”

“But aren’t there already enough apps out there?”

“Shouldn’t be just recommend good apps to people?”

“We would never be able to produce something people would want to use.”

“A mobile app? We’ll talk about that later.”

While there definitely are legitimate reasons why an app isn’t the answer to your prayers, there are also voids in the mobile learning world and real needs Extension produced apps could fill. 4-H-related apps are in short supply for example, especially project-specific apps. So why do we have this love/hate relationship with mobile app development? I think the answer comes from our knee-jerk reactions mentioned above. Instead of focusing on if we should or shouldn’t develop an app, I think the conversation needs to be re-framed in the sense of what do our clients need that we aren’t offering them? Unless your client is a gamer or needs a task streamlined, an app isn’t going to work anyway. But if we keep responding to app requests by saying “we can’t do that”, where does the conversation go? It usually stops dead in its tracks and thus a great idea gets shelved.

Many times, a responsive website is all that is needed. Not a mobile app, not a mobile website… but a responsive website:

There are many great Extension produced apps in existence, which supports the point that we can indeed create good apps if the need exists and there is support to develop them. Here are a few examples:

– University of Illinois’ “Catch the Carrot” game

– New Mexico State University’s “Eat-And-Move-O-Matic” game

– University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s “Beef Anatomy” app– NMSU’s apps for professional development use

So how do we get past this love/hate relationship and move on to making some decisions about where mobile apps fit into our work? Here’s what needs to happen:

1. We must change how we question what our clients need in a mobile environment. Forget asking “do we need an app?” We need to first ask “What are our clients’ needs when on the go? /  What would make their lives easier or more fun? / What can we provide that would fill this need?”
2. We must use the P.O.S.T. method to determine People / Objectives / Strategy / and Tech (in that order) to further determine and strategically decide what technologies are worth using, and which are never going to be used.
3. We need to look into the crystal ball. Extension is notoriously reactive and slow to change. We’ve jumped on the mobile app bandwagon ironically as it has begun to run off the road! Mobile apps are beginning to fill very niche areas like entertainment and utility… the rest are morphing into responsively designed websites now that developers realize people aren’t using them. Taking a look at future trends (or determining where everyone else is heading in the mobile app world) can help point us in the right direction.

I believe we’re at a pivotal time in Extension to have an enormous impact: if we can determine how to best fulfill the public’s mobile learning needs. Solving the mobile app dilemma in one step in the right direction.

~Jamie