Axians Netherlands offers a digitalisation solution for university and school campuses, based on the internet of things. Thanks to indoor geolocation, students benefit from easier access to the indoor educational facilities available to them. The solution also improves the schools sustainability.
The benefits of the internet of things are not limited to the industrial sector. The IoT is also proving its worth in another, perhaps unexpected arena: university and school campuses. Or so Axians, the VINCI Energies brand expert in new technologies, is showing in the Netherlands with its EduAnywhere solution, developed jointly with Cisco Country digital acceleration program team and its partners.
EduAnywhere is compliant with GDPR rules on data collection and purposes for processing.
By equipping a campus with presence sensors , connecting them directly with the existing wireless systems already in place and supplying students with a dedicated mobile app, it is possible to offer them a great personalised services. Thanks to indoor geolocation, the student can, for example, view the location of classrooms, canteens and libraries, and what the best route to the locate will be.
If not already in the vicinity, the student receives an automatic notification and route five minutes before a class starts. They are also informed of upcoming events and can plan individual and group activities to make use of the spaces best suited to individual concentration or group work respectively. Once signed up to an activity, the student receives a “motivational” reminder if they deviate from the timetable.
Sustainability and safety
The solution also includes measures and insights to reduce the risk of students’ dropping out by facilitating their integration and socialisation. The educational establishment can use this “smart campus” digital twin to optimise facilities by studying actual occupation rates.
Stefan Collet, Business Development Lead at Axians Netherlands, also highlights the challenges of sustainability, with more efficient energy consumption, and safety, with the reminder of safety rules and CO2 analysis on the campus. “Post Covid-19, the EduAnywhere solution is used even more to ensure compliance with health rules, and social distancing in particular”. In this feedback report, the professional training establishment Aventus explains how they used EduAnywhere to apply a measurement system when their capacity was reduced to just 15% of students.
GDPR compliance
The EduAnywhere solution includes four elements. The Axians EduAnywhere platform collects and analyses the data received from the bluetooth. The campus administrator also has access to numerous indicators consolidated on a single dashboard.
Additionally, Cisco’s DNA Spaces module, paired with the sensors through the existing wireless technology (Wi-Fi), locates students within the campus and interacts with them, for example through automatic notifications.
Several Cisco partners complete the picture. Mazemap, a Google Street View-type application for indoor navigation, is an excellent example that can help students find their lecture rooms or friends. Another example is an engagement module that helps them realize their potential by providing all the information they need right in their app at just the right time.
“We created EduAnywhere as part of a very close, ongoing collaboration with Cisco, via their Country digital Acceleration program, says Stefan Collet. He adds that the solution is, of course, GDPR compliant in terms of data collection and purposes for processing.
20/01/2022
