How Smart Lockers support Staffordshire University

Smart Lockers support Staffordshire University’s flexible learning environment

LapSafe® Marketing Executive, Elliot Bibby, met up with Staffordshire University’s Digital Campus Support Team Leader, Nick Turton, to discuss their success story about implementing the Diplomat™ Smart Locker.

Customer Profile

Staffordshire University is an award-winning institution based in Stoke-On-Trent. With an array of courses and a variety of study options available, Staffordshire University welcomes hundreds of students each year. Its promise to learners is to provide the hottest technology across the campus.

“We like to think of ourselves as innovative. We were the first university in the world to provide a computing degree back in the ’80s, we were the first university in the world to provide an e-sports degree (at under-grad and post-grad levels), and the first university in the UK to go a fully cloud-based server infrastructure.”

Challenges

In 2019 Staffordshire University launched a new campus, Staffordshire University London, based at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Alongside this the university invested in a new state-of-the-art ‘Catalyst’ Building, a 45-million-pound development which opened in 2022.

This continuous growth has increased the demand for more devices to enhance the learners' experience and bridge the digital divide.

Solutions

In 2016 the university implemented its first Smart Locker installation. The Diplomat™ Smart Locker was used to secure and charge thirty-six netbooks, which were a complementary service to the library's PCs. The netbooks were provided to students to borrow for lectures.

As digital learning evolved, the university equipped the Diplomat™ Pro with high-spec laptops which were loaned to students in its Science Centre.

Following the success of the initial installation, the university chose to continue its relationship with LapSafe® by installing additional Diplomat™ Pro Smart Lockers into its new ‘Catalyst’ building, as a solution to its expansion.

The Diplomat™ Smart Lockers have allowed the university to expand its IT offering, even where space is limited.

“The Catalyst building is built around flexibility and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), it’s the strategy for the whole campus now. Across the site, our teaching/learning spaces now have no PCs at all. We knew we wanted this open environment, whereby there would be no fixed PCs in teaching spaces. The LapSafe® Smart Lockers seemed like the obvious choice to synergise with this strategy.”

Results

By increasing the number of Diplomat™ Smart Lockers, the university is now able to provide loaned devices to its growing number of students. Ensuring each student has access to technology enhances the learners' experience and increases productivity.

The Smart Locker solutions have also saved a significant amount of space by eliminating the need for desktop workstations.

Future

“We want to add some more Lockers, increase the number of bays, and get some more flexibility. We are looking at things like gaming laptops, some computing software, some engineering, and maybe some more specialist equipment.”

“Just as a final note, we really like LapSafe®’s Smart Lockers. The support we have received from your organisation is always excellent. From the very beginning, everybody we have dealt with has been very helpful.”

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