This past March when attending my very first ACUI National Conference, my co-workers and I spent a good amount of time within the EXPO. It was there that my colleague noticed cell phone charging stations that seemed worth the investment.
After returning to our offices and settling back into our routines he decided to order 5 of these charging stations to put up within our student center. The reason for this purchase? Well we had far too many of our students asking “Can I use your phone? My battery died” or “Where can I charge my phone?” or my personal favorite “Can I borrow your iphone charger?” After repeatedly having to answer these questions we decided it was fate that these stations were at the EXPO at the ACUI conference. And so we ordered 5 stations which were customized to say “Bergen” and have Bergen’s signature purple and orange colors on them with the tag line “Get Charged” underneath.
After being installed it took a few days for students to realize the convenience of these stations and many began to charge their phones, ipads and/or tablets at these stations.
Fast forward a month and now we have ordered more charging stations to put up within the entire main building of our campus. The stations are convenient, cost effective, and provide a service to the students which they appreciate and utilize frequently. But the best part is that students respect the devices.
Although our student center will only have been open one year come October of this year, we as an office recognize the need to change and utilize our space in a way which best serves our student population. In the upcoming months we are looking to finally add more artwork and decor to our walls so as to make our students feel at home. Ultimately, we work on modifying our space in a way which suits our students and their needs. Indeed, we are also looking into getting TV stations into the student center, hopefully, within the upcoming academic year. These stations would portray messages about the college and events taking place in order to keep the students informed and provide additional means of delivering information. It is critical in this day and age to relate to students in a way which they understand, in my opinion, this means utilizing technology to reach the masses.
Fast forward one year from now I hope to be writing a post about TV stations in our student center and the positive response they received.
As a final thought I’m curious to know how technology is currently affecting your campus? How do you use technology to reach the masses at your college and/or university?
