The Vol Connect app was introduced to underclassmen during Welcome Week, but the platform offers resources to all students. In an attempt to create a one-stop shop for student needs, the Vol Connect app makes scheduling appointments, locating the campus events calendar and receiving T-Credits much easier.
Susannah Marshman, the assistant vice chancellor for leadership and engagement, saw a need to streamline the student experience and combine several former university applications into one.
“It’s really to streamline the student experience. We wanted to make sure that the resources that students needed the most, they would have one spot to be able to connect and get all that information back,” Marshman said.
The app consolidated two major on-campus resources — One Stop and advising. Students are now able to submit a help ticket to One Stop through the app to get their questions answered and receive financial counsel, and they are able to book an advising appointment prior to class registration.
“They can put in a One Stop ticket through Vol Connect in addition to scheduling their advising appointment,” Marshman said. “Then all of that information gets populated and syncs together on one calendar to hopefully help students stay organized and show up to those important aspects of their student experience.”
Vol Connect not only benefits students, but faculty can seek information through the platform as well.
“The perks on the back end for faculty and staff is that we are able to pull up individual students to see: Are they engaged? Are they connected?” Marshman said. “If we need to schedule a time with you, we can easily see kind of what your class schedule is so that we could suggest a time outside of your coursework as well. So it helps … get a more holistic view in terms of what a student is involved in, how they’re connected and whether they are showing up in the places that they should be.”
The app was initially introduced in May with a concentration on student success and advising.
“When we went live in May, the focus was on the Divison for Student Success and One Stop,” customer relationship director Ashley Zesinger said. “As a student you can go into the Vol Connect app and set up an appointment with your advisor, if you need coaching, if you need help from the career development team. … You can reach out to those groups right now.”
The app rollout continued through the summer in programming for the class of 2028 like Welcome Week, Vol 103 courses and class registration, but has since been integrated into the upperclassmen routine.
For student organization leaders, the app was introduced on Aug. 17 at the Student Organization Conference Knoxville. Students were required to download the app and show the personalized QR code to enter the event and earn attendance for their organization.
During SOCK, Marshman explained the event aspect of the app and how it connects students to major campus events including Tennessee Saturday Night hosted on the evening of Aug. 17.
In March, Rowdy Rewards and Big Orange Tix announced a merger to reconcile high ticket demands. In the merger, loyalty points started anew and the weighted ticket lottery system stayed the same — not guaranteeing a ticket for every student who submitted a request during the ticketing period.
In the merger, students can earn T-Credit — or loyalty points — by attending any athletic event to increase the likelihood of securing a ticket.
“UT Athletics and Student Life streamlined and enhanced the T-Credits program to focus on rewarding students for supporting and attending athletic events by merging points systems,” Marshman said. “Students will be able to earn T-Credits for attending specific home sporting events.”
Although there is no direct correlation between the Vol Connect app and Tennessee Athletics, there are select on-campus, non-athletic events that offer T-Credits to incentivize attendance and allow students to earn points.
“For example, Tennessee Saturday night was an event that had T-Credit. If you attended, you got a T-Credit for it, and the check-in process with it was through Vol Connect,” Marshman said. “Then we took the list of students who checked into the event, we uploaded that to the T-Credit system, and all those students were then subsequently awarded a point.”
Although not all campus events will award a T-Credit through check-in, the Tennessee Athletics app will list credit-worthy events within the platform to signify point eligibility. Marshman added that there are athletic-related activities throughout the semester that will offer T-Credits.
“When there’s a home game, we’ll have a watch party, and students who attend that can earn a T-Credit,” Marshman said. “We’ll also have it at the chancellor’s kickoff through homecoming week. All of those events that have been selected that are not athletically based are all events that are open to all students.”
T-Credit opportunities are not class or major-exclusive, creating an equal chance for all students, according to Marshman.
“I know there has been conversation or rumors that Torch Night, for example, was a T-Credit event,” Marshman said. “It was not. … Because that event is not open to all students. We will never select an event that students could earn a credit unless everybody is eligible.”
The app’s ultimate purpose is to get students centrally connected to campus and amplify the student experience.
“What Susannah’s team has been working on is campus events,” Zesinger said. “I know that is a real pain point for students right now. It’s really hard to figure out what’s going on. We are working toward having one centralized calendar where you can find all of the events across campus.”
The Vol Connect app plans to keep upgrading its platform and merge outside Tennessee apps into one system within the coming years. For now, the personalized QR code within the app is the gateway to student events and engagement.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a statement provided by Susannah Marshman after the time of publication.
