Page 120 - Security Today, March 2019

DEFINING A SMART CAMPUS
In a recent report, a majority of admissions directors say they were very concerned about meeting their school’s enrollment goals for the coming 2019 academic year. Just 38 percent met their enrollment goals by the traditional May 1 end of the admission period, and less than half did so by June 1.*
What the report doesn’t say is that the incoming freshman class has come of age alongside smart phones and smart devices and that they not only want, but expect, to engage in campus life digitally— which is enabled through secure, strong connections throughout their dorms, within the classrooms, on the quad... well, you get the picture. And that’s just for starters. As you and your university customers prepare to welcome this bright band of future leaders to their hallowed halls this coming autumn, let’s take a look at what defines a Smart Campus these days.
WHAT, EXACTLY, MAKES A CAMPUS “SMART?”
A Smart Campus starts with ubiquitous, reliable wired and wireless connectivity—indoors and out. That’s the foundation. However, while that kind of connectivity may once have been a goal in itself for many colleges or universities, it’s just the beginning of a Smart Campus. Now add Internet of Things (IoT) networks (sensors, access technologies, gateways) to put campus infrastructure on the IP network, such as outdoor lighting, building lighting/heating/cooling/ power systems, security surveillance and physical access systems, parking facilities and more.
Think of the Smart Campus as the intersection between Smart Homes and Smart Cities—linking devices, applications, and people to enable new experiences or services and improving operational efficiency through automation and/or integrating disparate systems. When all the people, devices, and applications on campus share a common technology infrastructure, they can interact with each other to enable experiences and efficiencies that just weren’t possible before.
The engine of the Smart Campus is the IoT Controller. When you detect something, do something. One example is real-time building occupancy. When someone walks into a building after hours (e.g., late night at the computer lab) the system can automatically snap on the lights, the heat, and prioritize local CCTV camera feed. Another example: you can track asset utilization and share the availability of learning spaces in the library.
SMART CAMPUSES EVOLVE THE WAY STUDENTS LEARN
When colleges connect sensors, building systems, and other devices (once again, over the same common infrastructure that enables digital learning models and flexible workspaces), they can begin
to collect data from a variety of sources across the campus. All of that data can be collected, stored, accessed, and used by campus operations teams to pursue the common goals of IoT implementations: reducing energy consumption and power costs, refining services on campus to make them more convenient and effective, and more.
Additionally, those data and analytics can be collected and integrated into curricula data objects for instructional use. Students in a variety of courses— public policy, statistics, environmental studies, psychology, mathematics, computer science—now have a wealth of real-world data, drawn from their own campus environment, to study and apply to their projects. For example, ‘How can you reduce energy usage on campus by 20%?’ or ‘How can you reduce the average parking time from 20 to 15 minutes on a Tuesday morning?’ Suddenly, course work that used to be conducted largely in the abstract has become interesting and engaging – and that’s the key to engaging Millennials and Digital Natives.
IS A SMART CAMPUS A “SAFE” CAMPUS?
As innovative institutions embrace IoT technologies, they’re finding that the same platform that supports digital learning and reduces operational expenses
23 | ScanSource Focus SPRING 2019
* https://www.insidehighered.com/system/files/booklets/IHE_2018_Admissions_Director_Survey.pdf