Laying the groundwork for a future-ready smart campus

When we talk about smart campuses, the focus often falls on innovations in the classroom. Immersive learning, augmented reality, personalised experiences — it’s all about how technology is transforming education.

But before we achieve these breakthroughs, we must first consider the foundation that supports them: campus administrative and security operations — the backbone of every successful academic institution.

Without a safe and robust environment, attracting top talent, for one, will be a challenge. Educators already overwhelmed by administrative tasks will be wary of inefficient institutions. Parents will steer their children away from schools with inadequate safety measures. Administrators will feel frustrated with overwhelmingly repetitive and unproductive workloads.

Setting the stage for future-ready campuses

To power next-generation learning experiences, we need next-generation groundwork. Technology presents a powerful solution.

In the following sections, we will explore how emerging technologies, along with Canon’s innovative solutions, can transform campus operations and pave the way for a smarter, more efficient future in education.

Let’s dive in.

Streamlining administrative functions with smart tech solutions

An overly menial and inefficient campus administrative function can reduce productivity and morale among administrative teams. This can negatively impact the experiences of students and faculty — and ultimately undermine the institution’s competitiveness.

To stay ahead, campuses must embrace smart technology. Here’s how smart technology can streamline administrative workflows to enhance productivity and efficiency:

1. Simplifying student admissions and management

Ask any campus administrator and they will tell you how tedious and stressful the admissions process is, particularly during peak periods. Small teams often juggle tens of thousands of paperwork and applications, manually verifying, recording, assessing, and processing each one.

This labour-intensive process not only creates inefficiencies and human errors, but also hampers productivity across the board. With so much coordination needed between students and faculty, any slowdown in this process will impact everyone’s progress.

Canon’s Solution-in-Focus: Student Profile Management

Intelligent information management systems like Canon’s Student Profile Management can streamline the process and significantly lighten the workloads of administrative teams.

Here’s how it performs:

1. Automated Workflow

The Student Profile Management system functions as a robust digital library that automatically captures, indexes, and stores student records in one central location. Staff simply upload their documents, and the system takes care of the rest.

With records stored digitally, searching and retrieving information is effortless. Workflows can also be automated to further reduce the need for manual tasks, freeing administrators to focus on higher-value activities and meaningful interactions.

Free up administrative time by enabling self-serviced workflow like onboarding and enrolment with new students

2. Intelligent Reporting

An intuitive dashboard enables administrators to easily access information and generate reports. This gives them the insights needed to make informed decisions, whether in resource management or course planning, boosting efficiency across campus operations.

2. Automating attendance taking

Student attendance is an integral part of the classroom experience. It keeps students engaged and ensures they don’t miss out on learning opportunities, which are key to achieving better educational outcomes.

Effective monitoring not only helps keep students in the classrooms, but also plays a part in deterring chronic absenteeism. In fact, research shows that timely communication with parents about their child’s attendance can cut absenteeism rates by more than 10%.

However, tracking attendance can be a labour-intensive task for both educators and administrators. Leveraging smart technology in this area can make a difference.

Canon’s Solution-in-Focus: Course Scheduling Attendance System (CSAS)

CSAS is a facial recognition-based attendance system designed to automate and streamline the attendance process. Here are two ways it can make the lives of educators and administrators easier and more efficient:

1. Seamless Access Control

Advanced facial recognition devices at classroom entrances seamlessly verifies students’ registration status before granting access.

This not only ensures that only registered students are allowed entry, but also enhances safety by preventing entry to unauthorised individuals. For students prone to entering the wrong classrooms, the system also serves as a helpful reminder to double-check their schedules.

2. Automated Attendance Taking

Once access is granted, attendance is automatically recorded in the system, freeing educators from the burden of manual attendance-taking. This seamless process lets them focus on what they do best: teaching.

On the back end, administrators can easily monitor attendance data and analyse trends to identify potentially truant students, facilitating timely interventions before issues escalate.

Strengthening safety and security with artificial intelligence

Schools are meant to be safe havens for staff and students, whether in K-12 or higher education. Yet, headlines of widespread school bullying and escalating campus violence tell a different story.

An unsafe environment can tarnish an institution’s reputation and prevent parents from entrusting their children to their care. While security teams and educators are doing their best to maintain safety, they can’t be everywhere at once. More can certainly be done to protect against and deter violent incidents on campus.

That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. With 24/7 monitoring capabilities, AI is the perfect ally for educators and security teams in creating a safer campus environment.

Canon’s Solution-in-Focus: Workplace AI

Workplace AI is a powerful edge computing solution that transforms existing surveillance cameras into proactive security teams. At its core, Workplace AI is a video analytics solution that leverages machine learning to develop specialised algorithms that detect custom events and provide real-time insights.

Potential campus use cases for Workplace AI.

1. Violence Detection

Workplace AI algorithms can be trained to identify violent behaviours, including physical altercations or the presence of weapons. When an incident occurs, the system will immediately trigger alerts to relevant personnel or authorities, ensuring swift intervention for everyone’s safety.

2. 24/7 Monitoring

Always on duty, Workplace AI enhances campus safety by detecting loitering and potential intrusions — including catching truant students attempting to leave school grounds. Real-time alerts enable security personnel or authorities to respond quickly to any threats or breaches.

3. Attire Detection

To protect student and personnel safety, certain areas on campus like laboratories and technical areas may require special safety attire. Workplace AI can facilitate compliance by detecting the right clothing requirements, assisting educators in upholding safety standards.

Workplace AI can help administrators detect and uphold safety standards

Tomorrow’s education begins with a smart campus today

Academic institutions play a crucial role in shaping future generations. As other industries embrace tomorrow’s technologies, they must ensure they are not left behind.

From streamlining administrative functions to enhancing campus security, smart technology can support and empower educators and administrators to focus on what truly matters: delivering exceptional learning experiences that pave the way for student success.

Work with Canon to kick-start your journey to educational success today!