The ability for students and faculty to seamlessly engage and have complete access to information regardless of where they are located physically is key to the future of higher education.
The “Connected Campus” model is one that will define colleges and universities and differentiate them from their education counterparts in the coming years, according to Vistasp M. Karbhari, former President and current Professor, Departments of Civil Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Karbhari delivered the keynote address for Fierce Education’s online event “Higher Education: The Connected Campus.” Karbhari was followed by Aimee Rullo, Business Development Manager at Nokia and a Diamond Sponsor of the event. All the event sessions are available on-demand here.
Before the pandemic, tech-savvy college students expected instantaneous connected experiences on their campuses. However, COVID-19 forced administrators to play catch up to ensure that everyone is always connected. “Higher education institutions need a smart campus strategy that supports new technologies like mobile apps and next generation platforms to ensure seamless engagement and accessibility for all,” said Elliot Markowitz, Head of Content at Fierce Education and moderator of the event.
While many connected campus initiatives have been underway at higher education institutions for quite a while, the pace has been accelerated and further catalyzed by the pandemic, Karbhari explained. “And in doing so, it has actually changed the context of what it means to be a connected campus. We have an opportunity to be more engaged with our constituents, enabling data and services to flow seamlessly, providing tremendous attention and personalization, ensuring that knowledge and education are available and learning is ensured, without constraints of time, space or location,” he said.
In the past, school buildings were designed to increase connection, interaction and engagement, and allowed for catalyzing conversations to happen around a coffee machine or drinking fountain, Karbhari pointed out. Physical spaces have been designed not only for functionality, but to facilitate connection between people, places and offices. For more than 15 years now, we have looked at zones where we could have different functions that could be connected to a network, with the focus on complete connection across a campus.
“At that time, there wasn’t much beyond using Wi-Fi for student-facing, transactional functions like registration, where we moved from standing in line to doing it online,” he said. “Smart technologies and smart networks are necessary, but in my opinion, they are not sufficient. The focus must be on people but more than that, to be truly connected, there must be a seamless integration, without the pillar to post or going from one office to next that we had to in the past. We can’t replace that with a digital equivalent.”
A connected campus is more than a physical, on-site connection, explained Aimee Rullo, business development manager at Nokia, who helped deliver the keynote session. “With the growing environment surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT), it’s imperative that you choose the right technology,” she said. “To improve the overall student experience in a digital world, universities need to create an active and engaging environment.”
In the past, “connected” has largely meant “networked,” Karbhari said. “When we talk about a connected campus, what we really should be talking about is an engaged campus,” he said. “Are we looking at technology, and putting faculty, students and knowledge at the center? It’s not just about having the student at the center, because to service the student as a true customer, we must have the faculty involved, and faculty need to be able to do their own research and not just teaching. Teaching, engagement and service to the community all have to come together If we’re going to be truly connected.”
In a truly connected campus, time, space and location should be absolutely irrelevant. “We should be able to build a digital twin of space and services and we need to think about things that are physical and digital – ‘phygital’,” he pointed out.
A connected campus must be more than just a traditional campus or networked campus, Karbhari said. “A connected campus has to be a combination of physical space and integrated digital platforms focused on people, remembering that a university campus is more than students, more than faculty, more than staff and more than the city in which it’s located,” he said. “Physical space and digital platforms should not be distinct from each other but we need to design them in an integrated fashion.”
Coming next week: Nokia’s Rullo shares her thoughts on how the “Connected Campus” is evolving and the components involved.