How smart tech is transforming higher education

A traditional college education has followed the same blueprint for centuries: a professor stands at the front of the class imparting knowledge to a sea of students at fixed desks. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach. But in a 21st-century world being reshaped by rapid technological change, and a changing student body who are digital natives, innovative institutions are asking themselves how they can do more.

A growing number of colleges and universities today resemble smart cities of the future, and they’re undergoing a high-tech makeover using a variety of cutting-edge technologies.

They’re embracing “hybrid learning” models — integrating physical campus spaces with new digital capabilities, or combining “bricks and clicks” — to free learning from the traditional constraints of space, head count and real-time presence.

And increasingly, they’re looking to the Internet of Things (IoT) — connecting sensors, devices, cameras, collaboration tools, analytics and digital learning platforms over a common network infrastructure — to transform campus learning in powerful new ways. As they do, they’re empowering students to become more engaged and successful in their academic programs. And they’re making their campuses more attractive to prospective students, top faculty and even research grants.

A smart campus starts with ubiquitous, reliable, wired and wireless connectivity, indoors and outdoors. However, while that kind of connectivity may once have been a goal in itself for many colleges, it’s just the beginning of a smart campus. When all of the people, devices and applications on campus share a common technology infrastructure, they can interact with each other to enable experiences and efficiencies that weren’t possible before.

If colleges and universities expect to remain competitive, they need to invest in smart technology in order to reap the enormous benefits. The ways and types of digital technology used on a smart campus are almost endless.

Facial recognition is increasingly replacing traditional ID cards; smart buildings maintain student safety and comfort while reducing power; smart transit and parking allow real-time views of parking availability and traffic conditions to help students arrive to class on time; AR and VR apps enable students to explore university campuses from a distance; and AI-powered digital assistants make sure that students have the right information at any time.

Colleges and universities may take great pride in their longstanding traditions, but the last decade has brought sweeping changes to campus learning. A smart campus embraces these changes — building on one-to-one and now many-to-one computing devices per student to implement new teaching and learning models.

With students, devices and applications all connecting over the same ubiquitous technology infrastructure, a smart campus can redefine lecture halls, collaborative workspaces and even learning itself. Here are six ways technology can help deliver a whole range of new services and experiences that elevate life on campus.

Flexible learning spaces

On a smart campus, mobile technologies and applications free educators to rethink how they deliver learning. Why invest in an expensive dedicated computer lab when you can create a “virtual” lab in the cloud, accessible from a web browser anywhere? Why stick to traditional lecture hall configurations — a speaker up front talking to a sea of fixed seats — when you can reconfigure any room on the fly, without losing connectivity to digital tools and curricula? Why stay inside at all when you can move the lecture outdoors?

New learning models

By using networked computing technology, new learning models are emerging which fit the digital native lifestyle. When every student has nonstop access to audio and video conferencing tools, they can jump on a collaborative working session in seconds. With access to capabilities like screen casting and file-sharing apps from their personal devices (such as with Google Docs, Office 365, Box, etc), multiple students can work collaboratively on the same project without having to be in the same physical place.

Digital portals

Most colleges and universities are already embracing digital learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard and Instructure. A smart campus provides ubiquitous, rock-solid, wired and wireless coverage everywhere, so students can easily access these portals anytime, from any personal device, whether they are studying in the residence hall or enjoying the sunshine on the quad.

Virtual labs

Students studying modern science, engineering and computer science disciplines need access to heavyweight computational resources. In the past, that meant reserving dedicated time in a lab for a project. On a smart campus, that lab doesn’t have to be a fixed location. Instead, colleges can virtually spin up cloud resources and deliver them to students wherever they’re needed — and spin them back down again when they’re no longer in use. However, a faster and reliable Wi-Fi infrastructure within campus is vital and will help to add value in students’ learning when they are working in the lab.

Lecture capture

In the same way that technologies used in a smart campus free students and faculty from the constraints of physical space, they also afford more flexibility and freedom in time. By recording and archiving all lectures, when an ill student misses a class — or just wants to review before a test — every second of every lecture can be streamed with a click of a mouse.

Library of the future

When students can research and work productively from anywhere, libraries can be reimagined as multipurpose media centres. The library can still be a place for dedicated research. But now, with conference rooms, quiet rooms, reconfigurable workspaces — even dedicated “maker” spaces — the library becomes a vibrant hub for working collaboratively and engaging with campus life.

To prospective students, technology runs through practically every facet of their lives — as ubiquitous as the water they drink and the air they breathe. It’s time for universities to enable a more dynamic and connected digital lifestyle, and give students, faculty and researchers a campus they can’t wait to call home.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Drazen