In July 2024, COLRS partnered with Human Resources to present the App Café for the Rise Employment Development series. This was a come-and-go opportunity to have a little fun learning about new apps that colleagues across UIS use for productivity, fun, lifestyle, hobbies, finance, and news/reading.
We were very grateful to have volunteers from our campus community share some apps that they love, and we hope you love them, too!
FitOn
FitOn is a leading digital wellness platform that offers the most premium content, the widest variety, and unique social experiences. The FitOn app has unlimited access on any screen to the best workouts (such as cardio, yoga, strength, and pilates), meditations, nutrition content, and more! No equipment needed. The user may choose to a workout by a celebrity trainer or any one of the other certified trainers, and you can join one of the many challenges with friends or groups! The app gives each user the choice to select the right workout for the day by selecting the type, length, and body part you wish to focus on. FitOn makes it easy to fit in a workout at home or on the go.
-Lydia Schillinger, Customer Service Coordinator (University Bursar)
GoodNotes
GoodNotes is a digital note-taking app that allows users to create notes, annotate PDFs, and organize their notes into a digital library. It is often used as a digital planner (like a digital version of a paper planner, for friends who preferred that to Outlook) or a notebook. One of the top favorite perks of GoodNotes is that everything is indexed, so you able to search for that meeting topic from three months ago that was mentioned once!
-Abigail Nicol, Business Administrative Associate (CPAE)
The LinkedIn App has all the benefits of the LinkedIn site and offers a great opportunity to stay connected with colleagues past and present. It also allows for networking and following organizations and influencers in personal and professional areas of interest.
As a dynamic social and professional networking tool, it offers an opportunity to create and share content and learn from others. Joining groups and subscribing to newsletters can also provide opportunity for regular updates and summaries of key topics and insights being shared.
-Kristin Nisbet-White, Employer Development and Informatics Liason (Career Development Center)
Midjourney
Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence program and service that creates images from natural language descriptions, known as prompts. Similar to OpenAI's DALL-E and Stability AI's Stable Diffusion, Midjourney is a text-to-image AI where your imagination is the only limit. It can be used to generate high-quality, royalty free images and illustrations for websites, print materials, or personal projects. Beyond its fun and creative applications, Midjourney has proven to be a valuable tool for quickly and affordably obtaining custom stock photos for various projects.
-Jessica Baumberger, Director (Web and Digital Strategy)
Pocket is a digital storage tool for online texts, videos, or audio files you want to save for later, whether to read or to refer to for work, personal reasons, or anything else. Pocket works as a website repository to house your "saves" you have yet to read, and your "archive" of items you've already read. Through tags and collections, you can organize your personal internet library however you like, and Pocket provides a distraction-free reviewing window where you can even highlight text for quick, later access! You can also add Pocket as a browser extension to serve as an easy "save it" button in your toolbar, or as a mobile app where it can show up in your "share it" options for anything you come across while online. If you've ever had trouble tracking down an article you had read a while back and now can't remember the title of, Pocket can help prevent that in your future!
-Sarah Collins, Writing Coordinator (The Learning Hub)
Spotify
I've been using Spotify since 2017, and I enjoy it because:
- I can explore a variety of music genres, curate new playlists, and become my own DJ
- Play resumes from the last listening point for podcasts
- The layout of the app or web version is clear and easy to use
- Premium users get more perks (including offline and advertising-free listening)
- The overall audio quality is quite good
-Ayanna Lewis, Career Advisor (Career Development Center)
The StoryGraph
The StoryGraph is a Goodreads alternative that helps you track your reading and provides recommendations for your next read. There's a lot you can learn about your reading habits from the various charts and graphs generated based on your reading habits. You can also set personal goals or join community challenges to keep yourself motivated. I love seeing my reading progress throughout the year and sharing my stats with my friends when the year is over.
-Taylor Lester, eLearning Specialist (COLRS)
Libby
Libby from OverDrive is a free app that allows users to borrow content from their library's digital content collections, including eBooks, audio books, and videos. I love being able to access eBooks and audio books from anywhere on my phone, and access to the content is provided at no cost to through my local library. For me, it is a great alternative to social media to fill time while waiting in line!
The app is available through any web browser or Android and iOS devices. To log in, all your need is your library card and PIN number for public libraries. The UIS Library also offers digital content through Libby. You can log into your UIS library account with your NetID and password. There are various companies that provide digital content to libraries, so your library may use another app.
-Emily Boles, eLearning Specialist (COLRS)