This document discusses how beacons, which are small Bluetooth transmitters, can be used in educational settings to provide location-based services. Some examples given include delivering personalized educational content to specific areas of a classroom, enabling wayfinding apps for campus tours, allowing students to automatically check in at events, and providing electronic coupons or notifications in certain campus locations like dining areas or the bookstore. Additionally, beacons can help with attendance tracking, device management, emergency notifications, understanding traffic flow on campus, and replacing printed materials with virtual programs.

3. BlueSense
Networks
Accent Advanced Systems
AIRCable
Plus Location Systems; Bluecats
Estimote
Beacons, a.k.a.
Bluetooth Low Energy
(BLE) and Bluetooth
Smart: What do they
look like?

4. Beacons make it possible to
deliver educational content
to specific areas or learning
zones within a classroom,
enabling a new level of
personalized education.
1

5. Combine beacons with
apps for wayfinding
and campus tours.
Printed maps are
becoming a thing of
the past.
2

6. With beacons,
students can
automatically
check in at events.
3

7. Beacons make it possible
to provide electronic
coupons for discounts on
food and drink at specific
locations, such as dining
areas.
4

8. In the bookstore, use
beacons to:
• Trigger notifications for
discounts on merchandise
or special events
• Notify in-range students
of the current wait time for
the book buy-back line.
$
5

9. With beacons,
schools can
eliminate badge
readers for
granting building
access to students.
6

10. Beacons can be used to
set up scavenger hunts
for students, with badges
or prizes for completion.
7

11. Beacons can provide
information on key
landmarks, trees in
an arboretum, or
museum artwork to
create augmented
spaces or extended
classrooms, when
students use their
smartphones closeby.
8

12. 9
Beacons can be used
to deliver electronic
agendas and meeting
materials to students
in the classroom.

13. With their accurate
position capabilities,
beacons can take the
burden out of tracking
class attendance.
10

14. Beacons can be used to
restrict device access at
locations. When a teacher
with a beacon enters the
classroom, all student
devices with Mobile Device
Management (MDM) are
restricted to textbook app
access only.
11

15. Beacons provide directions and
rotating special content to students
within a museum or library, replacing
signs and printed programs.
12

16. Mass-produced paper
programs are no longer
necessary at sporting
events, where beacons
enable virtual athletic
programs that describe
the players and activity.
13

17. Beacons notify campus
administrators of the
accurate locations of
students during campus
emergencies, setting a new
standard in campus safety.
14

18. Schools can use the
location-sensing ability
of beacons to better
understand the flow
of students and staff
throughout the campus.
This can help optimize
scheduling and campus
design, and remove
bottlenecks.
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Special thanks to: Brian Rellinger and Bob Nilsson,
with contributions from David Soliday, Joe Peterson,
and Cheryl Pearl.