Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Features
Location-Aware Services >> Where on Earth...?
2/1/2007
An early adopter of LAS, MSU actually launched a pilot of the technology two years ago. The college partnered with Rave Wireless (a provider of mobile apps and mobile phone offerings geared specifically to the higher ed space) to develop applications that eventually would become the cornerstone of the college's recently launched Campus Connect program. "We were [Rave's] maiden voyage, and they have since taken some of our applications and built a standard portfolio around them," Chapel says.
FACTBOX
Montclair State University (NJ) is an early adopter of three Rave Wireless location-aware offerings: a shuttle bus locator service (tracks exact location and ETA), a security service (students can register their treks across campus and the system alerts campus police of non-responsiveness), and a social networking service that helps students locate the whereabouts of "community" buddies.
Indeed, Montclair's location-aware services include Rave's three most popular offerings: Rave Transit, a shuttle bus locator service that incorporates transponders on each bus to track the exact location and estimated time of arrival; Rave Guardian, a security service that, for safety purposes, enables a student to register his trek across campus and puts campus police on alert should the student not check in within a reasonable time period; and Rave Entourage, a social networking service that enables users to create communities and determine the locations of community members who want to be located—useful if a student has two hours to kill on campus but doesn't know where his buddies are.
For deploying LAS technology to protect its students, MSU earned the 2006 Jeanne Clery Award from Security on Campus, a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to safe campuses for college and university students. "That award was gratifying because there is a tendency to regard location-aware applications as mere gadgetry, but now they are getting some real traction in the higher ed space," Chapel says.
Today, as part of MSU's Campus Connect program (and included in tuition), all incoming students receive a cellular handset. The program is mandatory, because MSU also is using the cell phones as data-collection tools in the classroom. (Students take tests and answer questions via the phones, and results are compiled in real time. Not a location-aware service, Chapel notes, but one more value-add for students and, in this case, faculty.)
A Growing Trend
Increasingly, location-aware services are being viewed as a good fit for higher ed, most importantly because they open a line of communication that did not previously exist between student and college.
"Students these days don't read e-mail, and they certainly don't read standard mail," says Chapel, "so if you want to get something out there that is actually read, it can be done by text messaging. [Employing] GPS, it's feasible to use text messaging to target messages geographically— say, to announce a class cancellation due to inclement weather."
Raju Rishi, COO and co-founder of Rave Wireless, sees text messaging as a big selling point for his company's applications. "The youth of today lives and dies by text messaging," he maintains. "Kids view it as their lifeline, and they are more receptive to other applications used in conjunction with the phone, rather than using that device just for voice transmission. The widespread use of cell phones by students used to represent a cultural gap, but now universities are seeing that they can leverage that device usage to their advantage."
Ronald Forsythe, VP for planning, assessment, technology, and commercialization at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, agrees. "There will be a large percentage of higher education institutions offering these services because they realize [the technology will] help them communicate with the students." UMES is rolling out the Rave Wireless Guardian and Entourage apps as part of the institution's Hawk Talk mobile communications program. The college is also looking at implementing a weather service that provides weather and classcancellation information to students, based on their location. Though Hawk Talk is currently an opt-in program, UMES saw a nearly 60 percent "take" rate for incoming students because of the Guardian safety-focused application, Forsythe notes. "We had a big discussion with the students and parents explaining the benefits of the program, and the location-aware services were big sellers."
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
