University of Florida Department of Housing and Residence Education is a featured program.
Use of Social Media
Facebook
The University of Florida Housing and Residence Education Facebook page allows for a fun and creative way for the Department to advertise and reach out to students about programs, events, and other important news that could be happening in their building or area.
Residence areas create and post to their building/area pages, twitter handles, and the general housing information. These options receive significant traffic and use by students.
RAs use Facebook for much of their programming initiatives, and post important information for finals week, break times, move in/out, etc.
Students are also encouraged to join our advisory board groups and pages during floor/building meetings and all social media information is posted on the Housing website as well.
Since all these UF DOHRE sites are linked, if a student is on DOHRE’s Facebook page, it is really easy to get to Housing’s Twitter account and other social media sources.
Twitter
The University of Florida has excelled in the providing up-to-the-minute news information from a variety of different resources, including academic programs, all Gator Sports, coaches, mascots, university journals & blogs, emergency alerts, research opportunities, housing, and more. All helping to bring a multitude of Gator Nation news to a student’s computer or phone with ease.
Instagram
@UFHousing on Instagram is another way that the Depart of Housing and Residence Education connects with students and the community by advertising exciting opportunities coming up or sharing photos and videos from all of the excellent events that have taken place.
Use of Apps
UF Alerts
UF provides a multi-tooled approach to providing emergency notifications to students and faculty as quickly as possible so that they can adequately react and safeguard themselves. These methods include the Web, Text Messaging, Email, IP Telephones, Facebook, Twitter, and RSS.
Bus Routes
With thousands of students needing to move to, from, and across campus on a daily basis, the University of Florida and Gainesville Regional Transit have implemented a sophisticated transportation system. To make it easy for students and faculty to find the right bus to specific locations, riders are able to determine which route they need to be taking and then pinpoint the exact, real-time location of the bus they’re waiting for using the Gator Locator bus tracking system and TransLoc app for their smart-phone. This allows for more efficient use of time as well as increased security and certainty of those riding the bus at all hours.
UF Mobile app
For a student at a university as large as the University of Florida, getting around campus or becoming adjusted to life away from home can be challenging. Fortunately, UF has developed its own app to make things easier.
All in one place, students can find:
- Campus maps
- Grades and assignments
- Dining hours and options
- RecSports information
- Student payment capabilities
- Campus news information via access to the Gator Times
Submitted by Chris Anderson, Graduate Hall Director and Nikki Steinburger, Student Learning and Engagement Graduate Assistant, University of Florida