Mentone Student Helps Develop Prayer App On High ... Tech
March 24, 2021 at 8:48 p.m.
Mentone Student Helps Develop Prayer App On High ... Tech
By Staff Report-
Yayira Dzamesi from Mentone; Joshua Tarwater from Cedarville, Ohio; and Noah Duncan from Ossining, N.Y., have been working together since early fall 2020 on the GOPray app. The project was initiated by Cedarville’s computer science faculty.
Patrick Dudenhofer, assistant professor of computer science and cyber operations, played an influential role in the project’s preliminary development. He highly encouraged the idea, took on the role of first client to help shape its guidelines and became the project’s faculty advisor when it was selected, according to a news release from Cedarville University.
“The senior capstone is structured to create projects for certain types of ‘clients’ that we may have in a real work setting,” Dzamesi said. “Some of the project options are continuations of past students’ work, but we really liked that this one was brand-new, and also that Professor Dudenhofer would be one of our clients.”
“Initially, the goal was just to develop a prayer app with specific prayer requests and specific reminders,” Tarwater said.
However, as more clients and specific guidelines came in, the scope of the project broadened.
Dudenhofer connected Cedarville’s Global Outreach (GO) office, which coordinates local and international ministry efforts, about the app to secure them as a secondary client. Later, they added Dr. Kevin Jones, assistant professor of education and school of education dean, as a third client.
“Dr. Jones was interested in finding a way to share prayer requests with alumni around the world,” Duncan said. “We set up a meeting to share what we were doing and see if it aligned with his goals, and he seemed over the moon about the compatibility of our directions.”
Alongside Jones’ hopes for alumni prayer connections, the GO office hopes the Cedarville Prayer App will be incorporated with its missions emphasis by highlighting prayer requests for missionaries, unreached people groups, and other ministry opportunities.
Additionally, Dudenhofer hopes the app will serve as a practical tool for individuals looking to manage and organize their prayer requests.
“In normal prayer journaling, you’ll often write down a request, and it stays on your list without any later follow-up on if it’s been answered or not,” Dudenhofer said. “Those can keep compiling and become overwhelming, so I began to think of a prayer app where you can list requests, they’ll stay present for a specified period of time, and then, they’ll be moved to an archive to keep requests up to date.”
After months of planning, researching, testing softwares, coding, designing and developing, the student team is finalizing its prototype, which can be downloaded onto certain devices. They’re expected to showcase the new app with students this month to gather feedback from outside users.
“I think we expected a lot more roadblocks, but much of the development has been encountering those problems and just working through them ourselves,” Tarwater said. “We’re excited to see what people who haven’t walked the process with us have to say.”
Currently, the team is exploring ways to scan prayer requests into the app via QR codes. They’re also considering different routes of app publication, as well as the practicality of app maintenance after they graduate.
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but I really think this app will be successful,” Dudenhofer said. “It’s an accomplishment to reach the testing portion of a project like this, and it’s good to get feedback from users who are unfamiliar with the development process. I’m excited about it.”
Yayira Dzamesi from Mentone; Joshua Tarwater from Cedarville, Ohio; and Noah Duncan from Ossining, N.Y., have been working together since early fall 2020 on the GOPray app. The project was initiated by Cedarville’s computer science faculty.
Patrick Dudenhofer, assistant professor of computer science and cyber operations, played an influential role in the project’s preliminary development. He highly encouraged the idea, took on the role of first client to help shape its guidelines and became the project’s faculty advisor when it was selected, according to a news release from Cedarville University.
“The senior capstone is structured to create projects for certain types of ‘clients’ that we may have in a real work setting,” Dzamesi said. “Some of the project options are continuations of past students’ work, but we really liked that this one was brand-new, and also that Professor Dudenhofer would be one of our clients.”
“Initially, the goal was just to develop a prayer app with specific prayer requests and specific reminders,” Tarwater said.
However, as more clients and specific guidelines came in, the scope of the project broadened.
Dudenhofer connected Cedarville’s Global Outreach (GO) office, which coordinates local and international ministry efforts, about the app to secure them as a secondary client. Later, they added Dr. Kevin Jones, assistant professor of education and school of education dean, as a third client.
“Dr. Jones was interested in finding a way to share prayer requests with alumni around the world,” Duncan said. “We set up a meeting to share what we were doing and see if it aligned with his goals, and he seemed over the moon about the compatibility of our directions.”
Alongside Jones’ hopes for alumni prayer connections, the GO office hopes the Cedarville Prayer App will be incorporated with its missions emphasis by highlighting prayer requests for missionaries, unreached people groups, and other ministry opportunities.
Additionally, Dudenhofer hopes the app will serve as a practical tool for individuals looking to manage and organize their prayer requests.
“In normal prayer journaling, you’ll often write down a request, and it stays on your list without any later follow-up on if it’s been answered or not,” Dudenhofer said. “Those can keep compiling and become overwhelming, so I began to think of a prayer app where you can list requests, they’ll stay present for a specified period of time, and then, they’ll be moved to an archive to keep requests up to date.”
After months of planning, researching, testing softwares, coding, designing and developing, the student team is finalizing its prototype, which can be downloaded onto certain devices. They’re expected to showcase the new app with students this month to gather feedback from outside users.
“I think we expected a lot more roadblocks, but much of the development has been encountering those problems and just working through them ourselves,” Tarwater said. “We’re excited to see what people who haven’t walked the process with us have to say.”
Currently, the team is exploring ways to scan prayer requests into the app via QR codes. They’re also considering different routes of app publication, as well as the practicality of app maintenance after they graduate.
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but I really think this app will be successful,” Dudenhofer said. “It’s an accomplishment to reach the testing portion of a project like this, and it’s good to get feedback from users who are unfamiliar with the development process. I’m excited about it.”
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092