HomeOriginally from Mashable.
Jeff Kirchick is Director of Universities at SCVNGR, the popular mobile game about going places, doing challenges and earning points. He presents regularly about the future of mobile and location-based services in education. You can follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyKirchick or e-mail him at jeff@scvngr.com.
Mobile technology is on the minds of higher education professionals more than ever before. At the recent HighEdWeb conference in Austin, the itinerary included several ways schools can use social media, blogs and mobile technologies to better captivate its student body. And last week, hundreds of orientation professionals gathered in New Orleans for the National Orientation Directors Association annual conference, where they discussed how to engage with prospective students in modern and relevant ways — including mobile — to welcome the next freshman class.
It’s no mystery why: The latest numbers show 40% of teens plan on buying an iPhone within the next three months. In the last three years, the smartphone penetration rate among the 18-24 age demographic has risen by nearly a fifth. It’s not unreasonable to expect that nearly all of the Class of 2015 will have smartphones by the time they graduate. At the same time, nearly half of all college students are using their phones to access the mobile web.
There’s a recent debate about whether schools should create mobile apps or mobile websites. Either way, according to Dave Olsen, a web developer at West Virginia University, roughly 15% of colleges and universitieseven have a mobile website, much less an app or set of apps targeted to their prospective, current and/or alumni bodies.
To be fair, universities have come a long way. Nearly all schools are now using social media for everything from brand awareness to event management. And some institutions — for example WVU, William and Mary and Ohio State University — are pioneering and already providing an impeccable mobile experience for students.
As tomorrow’s grads become increasingly married to their mobile devices, here are five ways that mobile tech matters just as much as social technology in the higher ed space.
1. Engaging a Mobile Student Body
Students today seem unable to go five minutes without checking their phones for a text, notification or email. (88% of students even text during class!) The power of that reliance could be harnessed to announce campus events, such as a fundraiser or a special guest lecture, or even incorporate it into the class curriculum.
Technology in education usually means places of higher learning play a bit of catch-up, but those who start embracing mobile now with development and budget resources will be ahead of the curve for years to come. Check out what Purdue University’s done with mobile learning with their remarkable Studio Project. In particular, the project’s Hotseat app takes status updates and creates a “collaborative classroom” by allowing students to provide near real-time feedback during class. The idea is that professors can then adjust the course content and improve the overall learning experience.
2. Providing Real-Time Information that Matters
Even though the latest numbers show only 4% of adults use location services to check in, nearly a quarter of them use it for practical things like getting directions and recommendations. Savvier teens are more likely to use location for fun, but they’re also looking for practical information: campus events, news alerts, social recommendations — you name it, there’s probably a need on campus.
One great example of this is at WVU, where the school’s iWVU app shows everything from athletics to shuttle bus info. Another is Ohio State University’s OSU Mobile app that even gives students their grades and schedules in real-time.
3. Creating a Safer Campus
Just this summer, the University of California, Davis removed more than 100 emergency landline phones from campus — not only to save money, but because the idea of a stationary phone-based system seemed draconian when compared to the ubiquity of mobile. Indeed, a safe student body makes for a happy one, and the rise of mobile technology should empower students more than ever before to report dangerous situations and remain safe from harm.
Many schools, like Princeton University, send their student body SMS alerts for emergency situations. And new apps like MyForce Campus Interface provide crime data about campus and surrounding areas. Mobile technology has enormous potential to bring real-time knowledge and assurance to any college student today.
4. Empowering Mobile Commerce
The idea of paying with your phone is starting to catch on, with Square and Intuit’s GoPayment, as well as LevelUp and Google Wallet. Some early-adopter institutions are already on top of it.
Last year, the University of Denver partnered with Mocopay and a local coffee shop to test things out. Stanford University is experimenting with BlingTag stickers, which charge students’ PayPal accounts for purchases on campus. Embracing mobile payments on a wide scale will result in new levels of data and commerce, for example, giving schools a better read on dense periods of commercial activity. This will help identify the best (and worst) performing kiosks and services. QR-code technology could also securely add value to promotions, such as apparel and attendance at athletics events.
5. University Brand Reputation
All of this doesn’t have to take place in a vacuum. Developing a strategy where mobile activity is easy to share on existing social networks is key. Allow your app to connect with Facebook when possible and appropriate. Your students will be able to share what they’re up to with their friends, mapping directly to the brand of your school.
Adding game mechanics — for example, asking challenge-type questions during an orientation game to baking in reward elements — can encourage even more sharing and memorability.
When creating a mobile strategy, consider these successful social media ideas. Emerson College, for example, has brought big brands in need of social media help together with an eager-to-learn, hyperconnected student body. The process alone earned big social media savvy points for the brand.
Mobile is the next imperative channel. Technology makes things easier and adds new layers of engagement, commerce, safety and knowledge. This provides a better overall college experience, which is increasingly important to college rankings and polls. Putting the right mobile technology in place strengthens overall brand perception and student welfare alike.
Are there are other reasons why mobile matters to your college or university? What is your campus doing with mobile? Please share your stories and feedback in the comments.
Image courtesy of Flickr, hellobeautifulworld
The student group had beef jerky. Now except for the “SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!” commercials of the 90′s beef jerky while admittedly delicious has never really been what one would consider Hight Tech, or a candidate for social media marketing. But a beef jerky mascot on the other hand could be. I told the group to create a rancher or possibly even a chicken (a la Chick Fil A with their cows) but don’t just create a little image of this mascot, but go full out. Make a backstory for this mascot, mascots are a chance to go completely creative. Maybe Hotrod the Chicken (maybe it’s spicy jerky) grew up with Monty (the U of MT mascot) and they picked on the younger Slash (the Missoula Mauler’s mascot),and back then he was just called Rod. but one day Monty stole Rod’s girlfriend b/c Rod was just kinda boring. And on that day Rod changed his name to Hotrod and vowed to NEVER be boring again! (ok, yeah, a little simplistic, but you get the point). So now we have this cool backstory and graphics for Hotrod, this is where the new media comes in. At no point has there existed a technology to immediately connect with people and actually interact with them on the scale that we now have with social media. So use it! Create a twitter feed for Hotrod showing him doing all kinds completely outrageous things (like surfing ON a shark off the Great Barrier Reef). Create a #hashtag for Hotrod’s out there to post about their adrenaline fueled activities. Create a facebook account and fan page. Treat Hotrod like he was a real person, responding to emails, joining adventure clubs and talking with people. The biggest thing is to treat him as a larger than life celebrity and people will know him, and then by extension your product that Hotrod supports in the same way that sports stars endorse wheaties, or Ashton Kutcher those cameras that he’s got. The great part is that except for some app devo, and some graphics Hotrod could exist completely on free social media sites. Give him a twitter feed showing pics he took while jumping out a plane, or scuba diving. You could prbly go several months before you would even (if you really want to) need to create a costume for you mascot.