A connected campus is essential in today’s higher education environment. Students, instructors, faculty and other administrators all need easy, fast and secure access to each other and information to maximize student engagement.
“College and university campus environments are continually evolving and in the highly competitive landscape of higher education, it’s more important than ever for campuses to be connected,” according to Aimee Rullo, Business Development Manager at Nokia. “Students need access to each other, their teachers, and a digital learning environment. Teachers need access to their students, other staff members and teaching programs that help foster growth.”
Rullo, along with Vistasp M. Karbhari, former President and current Professor, Departments of Civil Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, delivered the keynote address for Fierce Education’s online event “Higher Education: The Connected Campus.” Access the event sessions on-demand here.
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When talking about a connected campus, it has largely been around networked, Karbhari said. “However, just having smart networks does not mean that disparate platforms are integrated and that there is a seamless flow of information,” he said. “We need to remember that the network is the backbone, but the skeleton includes independent devices that may not be on campus.”
A connected campus means more than just a physical on-site connection, Nokia’s Rullo explained, adding that with the new focus on Internet of Things, or IoT, it’s imperative for schools to choose the right technology to create an active, engaging environment. Technology enables so many functions on a university campus, including allowing students to open doors, pay for meals, and enabling greater security through facial recognition cameras, for instance, as well as to manage facilities and provide real-time information to students, who are accustomed to receiving instant information she explained. “It’s more imperative than ever to make sure you have the right network in place to support these services.”
There is a growing need for wireless communications and higher education has a very diverse set of choices, including private wireless or Wi-Fi networks. Rullo expressed that colleges and universities have diverse needs for campus-wide communications and offered examples of the major use cases that are driving the requirements for connectivity:
- Classroom technologies, such as equipping classrooms and auditoriums with services such as smartboards, smart podiums and smart lighting;
- Digital productivity tools, which give staff and students with access to office productivity tools on mobile devices and broadband access for students attending seminars;
- Industry 4.0 labs, enabling labs to research and study industry 4.0 techniques including communications technology, that will be deployed by business and mission-critical IoT applications across industries;
- Campus utilities and physical plant, optimizing building, water, power and environmental management with building automation and control systems and data from IoT sensors;
- Campus Security, easing deployment of surveillance cameras, smoke sensors and emergency call buttons across the campus;
- On-campus communications, keeping academic and operations staff connected through collaborate communication tools to increase efficiency and collaboration.
- Digital signage, using connected digital billboards to disseminate information, provide emergency announcements, facilitate wayfinding and engage visitors;
- Remote learning, providing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) classrooms that can be accessed from anywhere in the world;
- Residential student housing connectivity, giving students reliable and affordable high-speed Internet access;
- Mobile e-commerce, providing secure, point-of-sale terminals throughout a campus to support ticket sales, food and beverage services, concerts and events.
For more articles from The Connected Campus, see:
The Connected Campus: Building the Next Generation Network
Connected Campus Combines the Best of Physical and Remote Learning
Pros and Cons for Boosting Bandwidth with Private Wireless Networks
Protecting Student, Institution Data While Embracing Cloud Technology