Card, mobile credential, payment and security
Some students at Utah Valley University, Orem, are looking for donations that will give them seed money to develop their own iPhone app that could double as a student ID card.
Trent Ewing and Mark Wilkinson are in the planning stages of making an app for the university. They want the app to replace student ID cards and have already spent time collecting donations from students.
“Our goal is to get our idea off the ground. Talking to people we have almost 100% approval rate,” Ewing said. “The main problem students have is that 43% don’t have smart phones.”
They also said the app could save the school money.
Read more here.
The University of Tampa has increased security at one of its buildings, allegedly due to threats against a faculty member, although school personnel would not verify that. The university is now mandating that ID cards be swiped in order to gain entrance to the communications wing of the building.
An email from Andrew McAlister, associate chair of the communications department, seemed to indicate that some were propping the building’s door open to enable access to anyone.
One source, however, commented that the security measures are a response to a situation involving a former student threatening at least one professor in the communication department.
While students might find the new security inconvenient, they understand the reason behind it. “It’s kind of annoying but they are trying to do all they can to keep us safe,” commented one student.
Read more here.
Information for 1,600 freshmen and sophomores in the College Park Scholars program at the University of Maryland was inadvertently posted to a public Web site, university officials said.
The information, which was on the site for a month, included names, university ID numbers and student ID magnetic-stripe numbers.
While the university said the site only had 30 viewers, officials decided to issue new ID cards to students in the program. College Park Scholars is a residential community for academically talented freshmen and sophomores.
The information stored on the site has no use outside the university, a spokesman said, but it could be used to enter a residence hall or use dining points if someone had the means to reproduce a student ID card.
It was “purely by human error” that the information landed on the site, said a university official. The information posted did not include Social Security numbers, email addresses or phone numbers.
Read more here.
The University of Glamorgan in Wales has installed new security measures that require a swipe card to enter certain parts of the building. Access to the building from the main entrance will not be restricted, but students and staff will have to swipe their card to enter the main teaching areas.
“The University of Glamorgan is currently enhancing security at its Cardiff city center campus,” said a university spokesperson. “In line with other city based universities, the swipe card system will maintain the security of students, staff and equipment at our busy city center building.”
The new security has drawn mixed reactions from students. “I think it’s a really good idea. It’s good to have some sort of security seeing as the university provides so much equipment for us,” said one student.
Another student disagrees. “I don’t really like the idea of the swipe cards. They are just more hassle than they’re worth.”
Read more here.
Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Ill., is piloting a program that can track students on school buses. The goal is to increase safety while determining more efficient bus routes. The school rolled out the program in late January that provides each student with a card that the student uses as he enters or exits a school bus.
The district already issues student IDs with magnetic strips that comply with the system implemented by First Student, the district’s transportation provider. It is using its pre-installed GPS system and adding the readers at no cost to the school, said a school spokesperson.
The program will also help the district determine places where bus routes are not heavily used by students. When all the students are swiped in, a driver can see their stops and may not have to run through every stop on the route, which could potentially save the district money, said Mark Michelini, assistant superintendent for business .
The pilot program will be rolled out slowly over the spring semester, he added, with plans to eventually expand the program to five to seven buses this spring.
Read more here.
The CBORD Group rolled out version 6 of its Odyssey PCS card system that features online and mobile control of activities and sales. It also includes AdminWeb, making it easy to access current information on-the-go.
Version 6 supports real-time email notifications generated by Odyssey. For example, an alert can be configured to notify an administrator when a specific patron’s card is used, or a patron can be alerted if an account balance falls below a threshold level.
AdminWeb, a Web-based version of the user interface, enables users to view and edit patron data from any Web-enabled computer or mobile device and proactively monitor terminal statuses and errors.
Real-time privilege information is also at the user’s fingertips with the Odyssey PCS Web Activities module. It enables administrators to look up patrons and instantly verify eligibility, freeing staff from using possibly outdated static lists.
The Web Sales module provides payment options for events. Administrators can search for patrons or swipe their cards and process payments through Odyssey eliminating the need to handle cash.
Heartland Payment Systems Campus Solutions division has recruited 12 higher education districts and campuses totaling 20 different colleges to manage the schools’ financial aid disbursement services utilizing Heartland’s Acceluraid electronic disbursement product.
“Available as a standalone solution or integrated with Heartland’s complete campus OneCard system, Acceluraid simplifies a campus’ refund process by eliminating paper checks,” said Ron Farmer, executive director of Heartland’s campus solutions. Acceluraid also provides faster access to financial aid funds without charging pin debit and other fees, added Farmer.
Representing more than 110,000 enrolled students and nearly $290 million in annual financial aid refunds, these colleges include:
Students have a dedicated Web site to access information and transaction history concerning their school-branded Discover prepaid debit card issued by Oklahoma-based Central National Bank.
Upon activation, students’ financial aid funds are automatically deposited to the card and they can then use their funds anywhere Discover is accepted.
As the need for security increases, whether its K-12 or on college campuses, educators certainly don’t want to turn their schools into fortresses.
While certain elements, such as or metal detectors, may be necessary evils, some security experts believe that creating a good relationship with students could be just as important.
According to this article at Assa Abloy’s Future Lab Web site, one German school uses the crime prevention through environmental design principle in that if the students feel the classrooms belong to them, they will protect them. It’s what one risk management expert calls “territoriality.”
One teacher believes students can be her main allies at helping secure a school. The first task, she says, is to create groups of students which are small enough to be able to take responsibility.
“We have teaching groups of seven to nine teachers with three classes of altogether around 80 children,” she explains, “and they stay together all the way through their education.” The teachers get to know the children well. “I know who’s feeling unhappy today, I know what goes on at home, I can spot a child who has changed worryingly. And they know they can talk to us,” says the teacher.
The school emphasizes the “safe classroom”, where children are encouraged to feel secure “not only physically but also emotionally,” she adds. The students even help design the rooms.
Read more here.
More than a million users have chosen the latest release of Blackboard Connect 5 for their mass notification service needs.
According to Blackboard, after just 90 days in the marketplace the service now serves clients in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. More than 200 school districts, higher education institutions and local governments have signed on.
The 2011 Campus Computing survey reported Connect is the most widely used notification service in higher education and helps institutions create and send messages faster and ensure that they are targeted and relevant to specific audiences.
One school district said the change was made over the weekend and by Monday “we were back at work sending 41 messages to thousands of parents without a hitch.”
Blackboard Connect enables users to record, send and track voice notifications to home phones, businesses, local agencies and mobile devices. The system also sends email, text messages and posts to Facebook and Twitter. In addition, built-in features, such as automated language translation and real-time delivery reports ensure users receive messages during time-sensitive events and critical situations.
Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore., is adding a key card system that will enable staff and faculty to use cards instead of keys to unlock doors and to get into specific buildings, according tot he student newspaper.
“This technology is in wide use around the world and it has many different functionalities,” said Public Safety Manager Jace Smith. “It’s going to help Lane be an active, engaged participant in the 21st century especially once we start expanding its uses.”
After Sept. 26, no staff or faculty member will be able to use metal keys on any lock on campus. The project will involve removing or changing all of the external locks.
Through the system’s software, individual cards may be coded to work during certain times for each building on campus.
Students won’t be provided key cards unless they are employed by the college.
“I think that there is a lot of promise for using this technology with students, but there has to be a commitment to the institution,” said Smith.
Read more here.
