After years of feedback, HerdLink has received a redesign called HerdLife. HerdLife offers a redesigned homepage that personalizes the student experience.
“When students log in, they see their points, badges, class schedule, organizations and events that match their interests,” said Andy Hermansdorfer, the director of Student Life. “It makes involvement feel more accessible instead of overwhelming.”
“Over the last couple of years, we have just received a lot of feedback from students and faculty, mostly that HerdLink was not mobile-friendly, not updated and didn’t do a lot of the things that we needed it to do,” said Buffy Six, communications coordinator for the Division of Student Affairs.
Six said the university began exploring alternatives for HerdLink but decided on working alongside Ready Education, the creators of the Marshall U app.
“We started working with Ready Education for the campus app and learned they had a system similar to HerdLink, but it did everything we needed it to do, was mobile-friendly and offered a lot more at a better cost,” Six said.
Student feedback was a major part of HerdLife’s development. Work-study students, graduate assistants and student leaders participated in early stage testing throughout the process.
“This is a flexible, ongoing platform,” Six said. “We’ll always be able to adjust it to fit what our students need.”
HerdLife offers a redesigned homepage that centralizes academic and involvement information, including class schedules, the academic calendar and event listings. Students can also earn points and badges for participating in campus activities.
“The points and leaderboard are one of the biggest changes,” Six said. “Students earn points by registering for events, posting and building their profiles.”
Hermansdorfer said usability was a major reason HerdLife stood out.
“If the software is easy to navigate, it makes the user experience so much better,” Hermansdorfer said. “That was one of the biggest things that separated HerdLife from other options.”
Chase Stewart, the assistant director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said the platform gives students greater control over their engagement on campus.
“One word I would say is, ‘empowerment,’” Stewart said. “It’s individualized, and the opportunities to get involved, to make a difference on campus, to make friends and build a family, it’s there. It’s on your phone.”
Stewart said HerdLife will be especially beneficial for fraternities and sororities by simplifying administrative tasks.
“Managing rosters and keeping them accurate and updated is going to be a much simpler process for fraternities and sororities,” Stewart said. “Students are highly involved, studying abroad or balancing a lot, and this helps streamline that.”
Stewart also said the platform opens the door for long-term improvements to organizational tracking.
“My goal is to work with presidents and council leaders to incorporate things like accreditation tracking directly into HerdLife,” Stewart said. “That consistency will make things easier for everyone.”
If students have questions, comments or concerns, they can reach out to [email protected] or reach out to Andy Hermansdorfer at [email protected] for different training opportunities every Wednesday from 4-5 p.m.
Jimmy John Jacob can be contacted at [email protected].
