Beacons in Education — All about Improving the Campus Experience

The beacon technology combined with smartphones and tablet devices has disrupted the education industry. By combining mobile phones and beacon technology a lot of university campuses have a host of opportunities to change the way the entire education system works. Beacon app development is bestowing best of both worlds to education campuses, eLearning solutions, as well as students.

What are beacons and how do they work

Beacons are wireless devices that send signals to devices in close proximity using low energy Bluetooth connectivity. The beacon range keeps increasing with technological advancements. Today, there are beacons with a range of 200 meters.They are strategically placed to deliver personalized location-based content to users via mobile devices. A beacon application for the education industry is very useful to improve the campus experience, classroom experience, and more.

6 ways beacon technology is used in the education sector

Navigate through the campus without a guide

Beacons in educational sector give students and staff the ability to move around the campus without getting lost. The students and staff members can get a multilevel mapping provision in the app which helps them to navigate through the campus using interactive maps. Now finding locations such as building, lab, library, or classroom in wide campus areas is a lot easier.

Provides specific shelf and book information

Beacons are very useful for libraries to locate book shelves, particular book identification, book circulation notifications and more.

For instance, if a student is having difficulty in finding a particular book e.g. Fundamentals of Mechanical Vibrations by Liang-Wu Cai from the Engineering book section in the library then he doesn’t have to wait for the librarian or anybody from the administrative department for support if has enabled a beacon app for self-guided tours.

Excellent in-class experiences

Another important use of beacon technology in education is to enhance the in-class experience. Instead of counting students one by one the instructor can make use of check-ins with beacon technology to take attendance. Moreover, by placing beacons around the room or lab, the lecturers can create a more interactive learning environment or workshop.

A beacon has the ability to identify the students handhelds who are attenting the lecture. This will help the lecturer to send educational content to students. A push notification containing link of the educational content will be sent on students’ handhelds using beacons. Once the students receives the link, he can download and access the valuable content.

Better student and faculty relationship

With beacon education app faculty members can send schedules, worksheets, and other electronic materials to students’ devices. The proper interface would enable a more seamless communication between professor and student developing a more effective model of learning style.

In addition, professors can make a more interactive learning environment or workshop by positioning beacons around the room or laboratory. Such learning zones increase opportunities for engaging team building activities or challenging puzzles.

Powerful communication tool

With the use of beacon technology, university campuses can shoot targeted messages and target specific users like professors, enrolled students, alumni, and more. This tool is also useful for sending notifications to each and every student about on-campus events, committee meetings, guest speaker, or any sporting event happening nearby.

Receive and send security and emergency alerts

Beacons can help schools and university campuses set up a localized notification system in order to deal with safety alerts.For instance, if a fire or a natural calamity occurs in and around building A the school/ university officials can immediately send safety alerts to each and every person in the nearby proximity and tell them to evacuate.

Location analytics at your fingertips

The beacon education app helps schools to monitor the traffic pattern of their students and faculty. Using this data schools can offer a well-organized campus experience by removing traffic jams and improving scheduling which will result in a better campus design.

The final say

Therefore, opting for beacon development for a smart campus will facilitate educational institutes to manage on-campus activities and teach students effectively by ruling out traditional methods. If you are looking to develop a beacon application for your educational institute, talk to our experts.

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Originally published at www.softwebsolutions.com on December 1, 2017.