CSR

Contact: Nicolas Graube <Nicolas.Graube@csr.com>

Location-based teaching

iBeacons/Bluetooth4 beacons are now being deployed in public, retail, and office spaces and offer the opportunity for micro-location applications (i.e. you are near X so execute Y). The CL has a large deployment of beacons that can provide phones location throughout. Your task is to create a platform that receives beacon sighting information from Android/iPhone devices and exposes it as location information that other can build location-aware applications on. You will then use this platform to create an educational system. It should be possible for anyone to use this platform to create new types of face-to-face interactive content that are advertised as available at particular times and location. Existing content could be imported automatically from sites such as talks.cam.ac.uk, lecture and seminar timetables, supervision management systems and so on, but users should be able to create new location-based content relevant to other learning or event types.

Earlier idea ...

There are always interesting things happening in meeting rooms and lecture theatres around the Gates Building. These could be advertised to interested students and visitors using Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. Your task is to make an Android app that uses the location beacons already deployed in the Gates Building, matching different rooms to events that are advertised on talks.cam.ac.uk, and in the lecture timetables for the Computer Science Tripos and MPhil in Advanced Computer Science. You’ll need to extract and convert information from these different sources. It would also be useful to collect information on who attends those events, allowing audience members to vote for value or popularity.

or ...

Location-based teaching

Many Universities are starting to experiment with massively online courses (MOOCs) to replace traditional lectures. However, it’s also useful to meet content experts face to face for interactive delivery. Your task is to create an educational platform based on the Bluetooth location beacons that are already distributed in the Gates Building. It should be possible for anyone to use this platform to create new types of face-to-face interactive content that are advertised as available at particular times and location. Existing content could be imported automatically from sites such as talks.cam.ac.uk, lecture and seminar timetables, supervision management systems and so on, but users should be able to create new location-based content relevant to other learning or event types.

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