Orientation is in full swing at campuses across the country, and while it may be too late for some campuses to prep their incoming freshmen, it’s never too early to start circulating important considerations for future arrivals. Two University of Virginia student orientation leaders offer their top items to help incoming freshmen better navigate their first days on campus.

It’s grown increasingly difficult to ignore the rise and impact of mobile apps on campus. Not all are relevant to the campus card space specifically, but an increasing number of mobile apps are reaching many of the same touch points that the student ID card does. This idea was the inspiration for our “Next-gen apps merge campus ID and student life” piece from 2015.

There’s now a different take on the campus safety app in the form of Grooop, a student-developed app out of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, that’s leveraging messaging and friends groups to ensure student safety.

A Northeastern University spin-off company is leveraging Amazon’s Echo Dot smart speaker to help improve the student experience on campus. The company, n-Powered, is providing incoming freshmen with the speakers, equipped with an Echo Skill called Husky Helper.

The big news in the campus card space this month is the announcement that the Apple iPhone and Watch will support the use of student ID cards on campus for access and payments. With the new contactless credential initiative primed for action this coming fall at a host of Blackboard client campuses, CR80News was able to gather some additional details in a recent Q&A with Blackboard’s VP of Global Market Development, Jeff Staples.

Though details are not available at this time, CR80News has confirmed that Assa Abloy is working with Apple on their efforts to add student ID cards to Apple Wallet. The company shared the following statement exclusively with CR80News: “This fall Apple is bringing the ability to add student ID cards to Apple Wallet. ASSA ABLOY […]

The iPhone and Apple Watch will soon serve as a new student ID credential on campuses across the country following an announcement at the company’s 2018 WWDC keynote. Though Blackboard wasn’t mentioned by name in the keynote, each of the flagship campuses listed on stage is a Blackboard Transact client and the company has now confirmed its role alongside Apple in bringing this technology to the campus card industry.