Your students are ALWAYS connected. In fact, 95% of teens have access to a smartphone and 89% of them are online several times during the day. But just because mobile technology is an important part of students’ lives doesn’t mean the organizations themselves are always capable of moving so quickly. So let’s talk about how you can learn to be the mobile tech expert at your school – allowing you to advocate for tools and programs that embrace smartphone use!

Understand How Students Interact With Mobile Devices

Until a few years ago, the primary on-campus interactions were student-to-peer and student-to-administrator. That’s the way it’s been since higher ed was invented – thousands of years! Today these hallowed types of information sharing are challenged by one more: the interaction between a student and her smart devices. According to Cisco, 60% of college-aged students compulsively check their smart devices for emails, texts or social media updates. This constant interruption of workflow is now part of a student’s routine. There is plenty of research to suggest that breaking concentration to check social media is hurtful to productivity. But there is an opportunity to find a place in that already-established routine and make a positive impact.

Become Part of Their Routine

Students are using mobile devices all day, every day. How can your university create engaging and helpful ways to be a part of that habit?

Making Campus Safer

SMS alerts for emergency situations is just the beginning. Schools are creating apps that help distribute information about emergencies, serve as a one-touch home base for sexual assault and violence hotlines, and replace entirely the need for on-campus landline emergency phones. They’re even removing the phones entirely, embracing the fact that smartphones are just faster and more convenient.

Streamlining Payments

Universities are allowing the use of NFC-enabled smartphones and QR-code scanning to pay for purchases on campus. Now students can buy snacks with just a tap!

Reducing Waste

Going as paperless as possible is a focus for many schools. Easy-to-build, flexible mobile guides like Guidebook allow administrators in all departments to make maps, schedules, social media, real-time messages and much more, and they can be instantly updated when something changes. We’ve even seen schools win awards for going green due to their use of mobile guides!

Give Them The Tools They Need

90% of students say wifi access is as essential to an education as a classroom or a computer. Going over your mobile data plan isn’t good for anyone’s wallet–especially a college student. And large gatherings disrupt data connectivity. Making campus-wide wifi available and consistent will keep students happy and productive. Providing reliable, powerful wifi has educational benefits too. Students can collaborate on assignments across campus and do research from wherever they are–it directly contributes to success on projects! Looking to take your department or university’s technology to the next level? Click here to speak to one of our EDU consultants and become the mobile technology expert on your campus!