Arizona State U Adds Mass Notifications for Emergency Preparedness

Arizona State University (ASU) has implemented a new mass notification system in an effort to improve communication and emergency preparedness.

"The safety of those on our campuses is our top priority, which is why we need to be able to communicate with students, faculty and staff, and other affiliates quickly in an urgent situation," said Allen Clark, director of emergency preparedness at ASU, in a prepared statement. "We are updating our emergency messaging system so the ASU community receives important messages when it matters most. We look forward to adding additional services that will enable the system to serve the community more efficiently and have the broadest reach possible."

The school chose Blackboard Connect, which began operating on January 1, and "will send both urgent notifications and important campus updates to students, faculty, and staff through email, texts, RSS, Facebook, and Twitter," according to information released by Blackboard.

Students faculty and staff were automatically enrolled in the system in late December and prompted through the university's secure Web portal, MyASU, to update, customize, or opt out of the system. Users will also have the ability to manage message settings, set the campus location they want to receive messages from, and add additional subscribers.

The move builds on a previous relationship between Blackboard and ASU, which began using the company's learning management system, Blackboard Learn, in 2000. ASU also began using Blackboard Student Services in 2011.

Arizona State University enrolls more than 72,000 undergraduate and graduate students at four campuses in the Phoenix metro area.

More information about ASU is available at asu.edu. Visit blackboard.com to learn more about Blackboard Connect.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • glowing brain, connected circuits, and abstract representations of a book and graduation cap on a light gray gradient background

    Snowflake Launches Program to Upskill 100,000 People in Data and AI

    Cloud data platform Snowflake is embarking on an effort to train and certify more than 100,000 users on its AI Data Cloud by 2027. The One Million Minds + One Platform program will provide Snowflake-delivered courses, training materials, and free access to Snowflake software, at no cost to learners.

  • two abstract humanoid figures made of interconnected lines and polygons, glowing slightly against a dark gradient background

    Microsoft Introduces Copilot Chat Agents for Education

    Microsoft recently announced Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, a new pay-as-you-go offering that adds AI agents to its existing free chat tool for Microsoft 365 education customers.

  • hand touching glowing connected dots

    Registration Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Thriving in the Age of AI

    Tech Tactics in Education has officially opened registration for its May 7 virtual conference on "Thriving in the Age of AI." The annual event, brought to you by the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal, offers hands-on learning and interactive discussions on the most critical technology issues and practices across K–12 and higher education.

  • Three cubes of noticeably increasing sizes are arranged in a straight row on a subtle abstract background

    A Sense of Scale

    Gardner Campbell explores the notion of scale in education and shares some of his own experience "playing with scale" — scaling up and/or scaling down — in an English course at VCU.