Article

Colleges learning to use kiosks

From the student union to remote campus locations, kiosks offer students and faculty an education.

March 17, 2002

On many college campuses, students have a new hangout: the campus kiosk. Kiosks have become a home away from dorm for students seeking quick access to e-mail, the Internet, and campus information.

News of their arrival spreads quickly.

"I remember installing a kiosk in my building, walking across to another building to check on another, which probably only took me five minutes, walking back to the kiosk I just installed,

Where you can find campus kiosks: Arizona State University City University of New York (CUNY) Dutchess Community College Florida State University Memorial University of Newfoundland Stanford University UCLA University of Alabama University of Pittsburgh University of Texas Medical Branch University of Texas of the Permina Basin UT-Austin School of Law

and finding a student actively using it," said Lorraine Deitz of the information systems department at SUNY/Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Deitz said Dutchess Community College paid $67,000 for 10 kiosks, which are located in the lobbies of each of their buildings.

Kiosks have become integrated on college campuses, blending in, rather than competing, with the voluminous network of computers that already exist at most institutions of higher learning.

Tim Kearns, director of marketing for kiosk manufacturer MontegoNet, said that their popularity with students is due to their convenience, even though many college students own computers or can access them at the library and the computer lab.

Kearns said his Portsmouth, R.I.-based company had sold kiosk systems to at least 10 ivy-covered clients, including UCLA, Stanford University and Florida State University.

Entertainment for the studious

That colleges recruit kiosks should come as no surprise to anyone, said John Schofield, director of marketing and corporate communications for nascent kiosk manufacturer nanonation.net.

"What you find in a university setting are very savvy computers users," said Schofield, whose company recently sold five kiosks to Arizona State University for its student union. "They use computers not just for research, but to stay connected. It's the number one form of entertainment, even more so than television. So rather than clogging up university computer labs, you're seeing a scenario where kiosks that are part information and part entertainment are springing up."

Typically, a kiosk will be located at a campus hub of activity, such as a student center, and will offer students and faculty e-mail and Internet access. Some kiosks will also feature campus information. Arizona State's kiosks give campus tours as well as information on registering for classes and ASU sporting events. Students at Dutchess Community College swipe their college ids to view course registration information and grades.

Beyond offering scholars the chance to send e-mail and check out the latest music and sports news, kiosks serve other functions that make them vital tools for colleges and universities.

"The ones that are really clever will give students something," said Pete Snyder, vice president of sales and marketing for Broomfield, Colo.-based Kiosk Information Systems Inc.

100 KIS kiosks are teaching University of Pittsburgh faculty and students how to browse the Internet in style.

(KIS). "They'll give students a coupon to a venue on campus or to the bookstore. That keeps `em coming back."

KIS has installed 62 kiosks at the University of Pittsburgh, and the university has contracted for 38 more.

Here are two examples of thinking outside the e-mail box:

Recruitment tools: Having kiosks on campus showcases a school's ability to be technologically innovative while catering to the needs of students.

"Kiosks can provide a very flashy, public example of a university's tech savvy, which is something that many schools are trying to highlight for prospective students and their families," Kearns said.

Kiosks can recruit full time from anywhere. Laurie Herring, a recruiter for the college of engineering at Florida State University, said the college recently purchased four kiosks in part to help promote the college, which is located several miles from FSU's main campus. Two of the kiosks will be located at the college, with the others being placed at FSU's main campus and at Florida A&M University.

The kiosks will offer information on the college along with faculty and staff directories, giving prospective students a first-hand taste of what to expect from the engineering school.

"I saw the kiosk as a hook, if you will, to get the attention of undeclared undergraduates already on campus and especially freshmen to increase the college's enrollment numbers," Herring said. "Students may never come out here unless they visit while researching colleges while still in high school, at orientation, or when they register for their first year engineering seminar class."

Exhibits: Colleges are discovering that kiosks are effective for celebrating their hallowed traditions.

One school that falls in that category is the University of Alabama. Pride in athletics is as important as academic accomplishment at U of A. Arguably, the school's most iconic figure is Paul "Bear" Bryant, legendary coach of the school's football team in the 1960s and 1970s.

Bryant and U of A's football traditions are celebrated on campus at the Paul W. Bryant Museum. The museum installed the kiosks several years ago.

"The star of our collection is football videos and we were looking for a way to make more of our collection available," said Ken Gaddy, Bryant Museum director. "We have three kiosks that pull data off our servers. Visitors can look at photos, watch videos, and play trivia games."

The kiosk network enhances the experience of visitors who want to relive the schools glory years.

"It gives the visitors more control over what they want to see," Gaddy said. "Our biggest problem is deciding what to leave out, but it gives us the opportunity to put more in the space."

Kiosks work well in museums because reprogramming a kiosk is easier than taking down an exhibit and setting up a new one. Gaddy said that would come in handy in the future.

"You're always adding and changing things, coming up with new ideas," Gaddy said. "I don't think we'll ever consider ourselves completely finished with our kiosks."

Enrollment is up

It appears as though more kiosks will be enrolling in higher education. MontegoNet's Kearns said that his company has seen an increase in interest from colleges and universities in recent years. Snyder agreed, though he noted that financial restraints will always impact the ability of colleges to launch kiosk programs.

"It's always a tough sell with universities, because those guys are poor," he said. "They're budget constrained and we understand that. We'll generally tell the university, `Tell us your price point and we'll tell you what you can get.' "

Schofield said nanonation.net has discussed campus-based kiosks with the University of Nebraska, which is located at nanonation.net's home base of Lincoln, Neb. To Schofield, colleges and kiosks are natural classmates because the Internet began in academia.

"In the very beginning, the Internet had roots in education and government applications," he said. "The universities, more so than other venues, are quick to pick up on the fact that this is a good entertainment medium."