Changing students’ lives with iBeacons

At StuComm we believe in effective student communication, that’s why we created the StudentsApp. In an earlier blog we’ve already told you how the StudentsApp can help educational institutions to communicate better with its students. We are always looking for ways to improve the app, and thinking about/developing new features. Some of the new features that we are developing make use of the iBeacon technology, and in this blog we will go deeper into these features.

What are iBeacons?

iBeacons are small transmitters that send information to mobile phones, when you are close to the beacon with your phone. There are plenty of companies and cities that already use iBeacons, for example Sneek was the first European city to be completely covered by them in order to offer people in the city center real-time information about deals, events, monuments etc., Schiphol and Westfriesgasthuis use them to offer their visitors navigation, and through iBeacons visitors of Glow Festival in Eindhoven could get more information about the art pieces.

As you can read iBeacons can be applied and used for various reasons. We feel that they are a perfect way to keep students informed, involved and inspired. At the moment we are looking at two ways to make use of iBeacons for our StudentsApp; creating an in school/campus navigation and a workplace availability feature.

In school/campus navigation 

Imagine you’re a new student, a first years or exchange student, who is still trying to get adjusted to the new environment. You probably don’t know many people, are not familiar with the systems or buildings, and maybe don’t even speak the language. All of this together can be overwhelming. With the in school/campus navigation feature, students can use the StudentsApp to navigate their way around the building or campus. The app will inform them exactly via iBeacons about where to go, so you will no longer have problems with students being late in class because they were lost on campus or in the building.

Workplace availability 

We currently offer the room availability feature in the app, but we want to take it one step further by creating a workplace availability feature. Anyone using the StudentsApp can inform him- or herself at all time about where a workplace is available. The time that a student would normally spend on finding an available place, can now be spend on studying.

Want to know more about the StudentsApp and its features? 

Besides indoor navigation and workplace availability, we are working on other interesting new features, we will reveal more about these. Feel free to contact us if you want to more about the StudentsApp, its features and how it can be helpful within your organisation!