iBeacon Project at iClevedon

After seeing iBeacons being used in a retail setting I was immediately excited at their potential within education and in particular schools that have invested in a 1:1 iPad deployment. I first saw the Estimote beacons in November 2013 on twitter as a promoted tweet and quickly visited their site to purchase a developer kit.

A few weeks past while the developer kits were being shipped which gave me time to think about how they could be used at Clevedon School. After I received the package from the US opened them up to discover some pretty cool looking beacons but with very little technical ability to actually make the dream a reality. I knew what I wanted to happen but didn’t know how! Luckily I knew someone who could. At Clevedon School we are lucky to have such a talented group of Digital Leaders and one of these is a very talented iOS Developer and had his first app on the App Store at the age of 14. Now in Year 11, Lewis Smallwood was the technical genius behind the iBeacon Project at Clevedon School.

After several brainstorming meetings we decided to use the Beacons to share location specific notifications and resources. Using the existing Clevedon Handbook App we were Apple to integrate the iBeacon function to help students receive notification or lesson resources by simply walking through the door.

After the success of the trial, we have know purchased more Beacons to allow more subjects access to this groundbreaking technology. We are also currently planning a totally interactive Open Evening experience for prospective students and parents.

It was great to also present this project at The ADE Global Institute in San Diego in July as iBeacons where a huge part of the gathering of over 400 ADEs and over 100 Apple staff.

 

Image courtesy of @jnxyz

How iBeacons are being used in education at the moment is just the start and I feel we have achieved something that will only get better. The best use for iBeacons in Schools has probably not been dreamt up yet, but I’m confident that at the moment we are definitely leading the way.

For information about iBeacons in Education visit Jonathon Nalder’s Blog  ‘The World First iBeacon Schools’