Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Mercer U Adds ID Cards to iPhones, Apple Watches

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 07/09/19
college student using smart phone

Students at Georgia's Mercer University can now use their iPhones or Apple Watches to access buildings and facilities, buy food, register for events and handle other ID card tasks. The institution recently enabled functionality that would allow community members to add their "Bear Cards" to Apple Wallet, turning their devices into "contactless" student IDs.

Aside from the convenience factor, contactless student IDs can bolster security, according to the institution. Credentials are protected by multi-factor authentication and can be remotely deactivated by the student or university.

The building access is made possible through the use of Allegion Schlage electronic locks (specifically, the AD-300 and AD-400 models), which feature built-in credential readers and access control sensors.

Also required was campus transaction software from Transact. This firm, previously a division of Blackboard and now an independent company, produces campus card systems and services.

"We've seen the shift where people are becoming less dependent on cards and more dependent on their mobile phones, and it's no surprise that college students are embracing this change," noted Jeff Koziol, Allegion business development manager, in a statement.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • cyber security padlock

    AI Adoption Forces Trade-Off Between Speed and Identity Security, Study Finds

    AI adoption is forcing enterprises to trade security for speed — and identity controls are the first casualty, according to a new report from Delinea, a provider of identity security solutions for both human and AI agent identities.

  • silhouette of business person facing wall of data

    Why AI Strategy Belongs in the President's Office

    Institutions that are succeeding with AI share one thing in common, and it is not a better committee, a larger budget, or a more sophisticated technology stack. It is a president who never handed off the steering wheel.

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • businesspeople in silhouette with colorful network lines

    Report: AI Will Reshape Work More than Replace It, but Global Impact Is Uneven

    Richer countries face greater exposure to AI-driven changes than developing countries, which are less exposed to AI but risk being left behind, according to a joint report from the International Labour Organization and World Bank.