We’ve all laughed at them.
We’ve probably been that person as well.
As a professor, I see it every semester – new students walking into the wrong classrooms or standing in the middle of the halls looking perplexed. Even on a university campus as small as ours (Oklahoma City University), new students get lost. They stand, schedules in hand, and wait for someone to offer help or for someone to pass who looks friendly enough to ask.
Students at the University of California in San Diego won’t wait idly for help if they get lost on campus. Instead, they’ll pull out their iPhones and launch their interactive campus map app.
UCSD is the most recent university to make the mobile move with a university-created free app providing an interactive campus map, including where particular classes are located; college sports scores; and the ability to call, text or e-mail the campus community. Officials also are creating a similar Blackberry function. Read more here.
The university isn’t the first to use apps to help students navigate their university lives. The Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Duke, and Stanford are among universities using mobile technology to help students. A Japanese university recently launched an application that allows university officials to track student attendance. Read more here.
Given our preference for travel aided by GPS, these developments seem like wonderful ideas. I hope my university soon can offer similar amenities.
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