Another way the physical environment is being augmented to work better with mobile technologies is the phenomenon of beacon technologies. These include Bluetooth beacons placed in physical locations that can send out a Bluetooth signal to nearby devices. NFC (near field communication) devices could also fall into this category: these are passive devices that become active when a compatible mobile device is held within a few centimetres of them - a common example is the payment technology offered in many retailers, where holding a phone beside the terminal initiates and completes a transaction.
However, Bluetooth beacons have a much larger range (typically tens of metres) than NFC devices, and are being used more and more in retail and other environments. Mall of America (Marcel 2018) is a useful case study in the use of Bluetooth beacons in retail.
Bluetooth beacons can be used in a number of ways in educational settings:
Wayfinding: beacons can offer navigational information to students who are new to a campus, for example highlighting the departments that are housed in a particular building as the student access the building.
Emergency alerts: students at a particular site can be notified via Bluetooth of any ongoing security issues, and given real-time instructions of how to react (e.g. location of muster stations).
Attendance tracking: teachers could potentially use beacon technologies to record students' attendance in a class.
Feedback into physical design: beacons offer the possibility of tracking student movements around campus, thus enabling efficiencies to be made in the design of the physical environment.
Location-based learning resources: strategically placed beacons can offer location-based resources to learners - imagine for instance beacons located around an historic site or as part of an experiential learning walk.
Cost: While relatively inexpensive, the cost of fully equipping a physical space with beacons could be substantial.
Range and accuracy: Beacons have a limited range and are also not perfect when it comes to geolocation.
Battery life: Unlike NFCs, beacons need an external power supply.
Security: Not all beacon manufacturers make their devices difficult to hack. Unsecure beacons could be used to share data with bad actors.
Speaking of bad actors (apologies, Cruise fans), the 2002 movie Minority Report predicted the use of beacon technologies (or similar tech) to create personalized advertising experiences: