With the recent launch of Roger Link, Roger Williams University’s new app for connection and communication on campus, university students wonder what this new app can bring to life on campus.
Roger Link is the successor to the Corq app. Both apps are places you can go to find information on the events, clubs and organizations on campus, but Roger Link aims to accomplish more. Roger Link takes the simple information of Corq and marries it with Hawklink, the RWU-centric website devoted to the organizations and clubs on campus.
According to Carol Sacchetti, Director of Student Programs, Leadership, and Organizations (SPLO), she hopes that Roger Link will become a student’s one-stop-shop for information on campus.
“I think we’ve heard from students that Corq gives you information, but that’s it, it is one dimension where this is much more dynamic and can do a lot for students,” Sacchetti commented.
Roger Link and Hawklink are both part of the Anthology brand, an educational technology company used by colleges nationwide. Anthology gives universities tools to edit its sites to match the university’s personal brand.
According to Sacchetti, since Roger Link and Hawklink are both part of Anthology’s brand, SPLO was able to use the infrastructure from Hawklink to convert the information on the website straight over to Roger Link, allowing SPLO to focus on the other features that Roger Link offers.
The idea for Roger Link came from Sacchetti and Associate Director of SPLO, Adrianne Harris.
”Adrianne and I went to the Anthology conference in July and as part of that we went to different sessions. They started talking about the Navengage app and we are listening like, “Woah that’s really cool, we would like to be a test. We have heard from students that Corq, although it has all of the campus events, that is its only feature,” said Sacchetti.
Sacchetti and Harris then brought the idea to the summer Organization retreat, a gathering of all of the officers of the organizations on campus, and the idea stuck with resounding success. RWU’s administration felt similarly about the app and with funding from the Student Senate the mission to get Roger Link on board was up and running.
Not only does Roger Link feature dates and times for events and club meetings, but it also provides students with chat rooms, easy access to forms, and a feed similar to Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).
“I think it allows for a lot more connection with individual students, clubs, and organizations while still having everybody say ‘here is where all the events are’ and everything else,” Sacchetti emphasized.
Sacchetti believes this new app could grow the community of RWU and to provide students with a sense of place on an app that is wholly created by and for the university.
Roger Link also provides students easy access not only to the clubs and organizations on campus, but also to some of the university’s departments like the study abroad office and campus housing.
SPLO hopes that Roger Link can provide the same function as apps like Groupme, through their group chat function to keep people up to date on club and organization information.
Privacy is also a point emphasized by Sacchetti and Roger Link, with the app only connecting students within Roger Williams. Students will be able to use the Roger Link chat feature to connect with other students from clubs or classes without having to share their phone number or Snapchat, creating a public space for students to communicate across campus without having to exchange their personal information.
Roger Link launched on Jan. 30th to coincide with the SPLO bingo event on Jan. 31st. Its launch incentivized students with bingo cards that already had spaces filled in. In the following weeks since Roger Link’s launch there has been a steady increase of new students adapting to the app, and as the weeks since the launch pass SPLO will continue to push information and incentives to get the student body onto Roger Link.
