PennApps Labs is increasing its interaction with the student body.
The organization, a subsidiary of the Undergraduate Assembly, launched its UserVoice website on Monday. The UserVoice feature will allow students to submit ideas for potential projects in a forum. The ideas with the most student votes will rise to the top of the suggestions list and be considered a PAL project.
The idea to use the UserVoice service comes from PAL’s desire to streamline the process of pitching and receiving ideas from students.
UA President and College junior Dan Bernick said in an email, “The Undergraduate Assembly is committed to working for students and we want their input. Students should let us know what they want to see – a dining hall app, a student group website, a study tool – anything.”
College and Engineering junior Roy Weiss, who promotes products for PAL, said the original method of exchanging project ideas with students didn’t allow for many ideas to be pitched. Prior to UserVoice, PennApps Labs and the UA hosted bi-annual open houses where students could suggest ideas for new projects.
“Since it only happened twice a year, not many people would come and it’d end up as a brainstorming session between the UA and PennApps Labs. It limits the breadth of ideas that can be considered to be developed,” Weiss added.
The UserVoice feature is also being used on projects that PAL currently operates, such as Penn Study Spaces and Penn Book Bazaar, to generate user feedback.
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