Colleges and universities around the globe got a rude wake-up call in 2020. The need for online classes and remote schooling options is more evident now than ever before. While nothing can fully replace in-person learning, technology allows students the ability to attend classes from anywhere. Whether they have a family emergency and need to leave campus or they’re recovering from being sick, technology helps them stay home and still learn. Additionally, smart building technology on college campuses is creating safer and more interactive environments. It’s helping them connect with their classmates for projects, studying, and collaboration. Here are just some of the ways that technology is changing the face of college campuses.
Online Classes
Do you remember when classes were always in person and the idea of having a class online was near impossible? Technology has made the impossible possible. No longer do students need to miss classes when they are sick. They can catch up online. No longer do they need to worry about getting to campus to turn in a paper on time.
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Students can submit assignments through an online portal. Some classes are hybrid with some material online and others in person. While other courses can be delivered through fully online platforms. Now students can plan school around their life instead of the other way around. These innovative technology advances have been critical to helping working adults finish their degrees and advance their careers.
Connecting Teachers and Students
Large classes are notorious for their lack of connectivity. In a large lecture hall, there are simply too many students to connect with. Technology in the college classroom breaks down this barrier. There are secure social media tools designed specifically for college students and their professors. These tools help students gain access to their professors in real-time to ask questions, build relationships, and help them succeed academically. Technology is always changing and these tools help students in their college years and beyond.
Keyless Entry
Want to enter a building? You better have the right code. Your code or smartphone becomes your access to your dorms, student buildings and so much more. A smart building access system can even limit the hours a day you’re allowed in. For students who can access a part of a building 24/7, this technology can help them gain access while locking other students out. This provides multiple layers of security to ensure the students who belong in a building are the only ones allowed in. This reduces the risk in dorms and other buildings on campus.
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Reducing Costs
Technology is being used to reduce costs. Data helps find trends that can be used to cut costs from anywhere on campus. The school cafeteria may be wasting tens of thousands of dollars on particular food items that no one is eating. Technology can help them switch gears to order more of what students want and less of what they hate. Electronic applications, flyers, and more can all save money on paper and printing costs. Reducing costs in college can then impact the student’s bottom line as well and save them thousands on their college education.
Get to Know Your Roommate in Advance
Back in the day, you’d get a name and if you were lucky, the address of your future college roommate. You were then expected to get along with and live with this stranger in a very tiny space. Let’s be real, this situation was less than ideal. With technology and social media, you can look up and connect with this person online. If it looks like you won’t be a good fit with this person, it’s easier than ever before to request room changes online. On the other hand, getting to know them via social media in advance can help solidify a friendship and help students connect when they are far from home for the first time.
Creating More Academic Innovation
There is more than one way to learn. Advances in technology have helped people discover that learning doesn’t need to be just lectures and tests. Online interactive environments, groups projects, hands-on learning, and even virtual reality and augmented reality are all ways that technology advances innovation in the classroom.
There are more ways than ever before to learn in college. Additionally, some professors have decided that learning is for everyone, which has led to the rise of MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses. These online courses allow anyone to learn a topic from prestigious universities without being a student at the school. Some of them offer a paid option to get credit for the course, but the knowledge gained can transform an individual beyond just getting a degree.