Tech trends in Higher Education and how to keep one step ahead

At AppsAnywhere, we specialize in technology in higher education, and we understand the struggles universities can go through when it comes to modern technology and making it work for their staff and students. We designed AppsAnywhere with student experience in mind, and to provide a fast working, modern service to those who need it.

This means, like every hard-working tech company, we try to stay ahead of the trends. Here are a few we’ve noticed recently, and how they could affect higher education.

1. Improved Wi-Fi Connectivity

Wi-Fi has been growing since the early 2000s, and has since then become a household name. Wi-Fi was first available for home use in 1999, the same year as the current generation of students, which means they grew up with Wi-Fi as a household name. However, Wi-Fi in Universities has been slow to grow in the nearly two decades since.

This year, AppsAnywhere predict Universities will begin overhauling their Wi-Fi and Connectivity, improving the speed, access and location of availability. Wi-Fi hotspots are cropping up around popular university cities in the UK and US, with faster connections previously seen in universities the past few years.

This gives students, teachers and university staff the ability to connect and work when is suitable to themselves, without fear of slow internet or connection issues. Students can now work anytime, anywhere, especially with the help of AppsAnywhere.

2. Online, All the Time

Everything is (not so) slowly moving online and with technology such as Chromebook and Windows 10 S, it certainly looks to be the case. Browser-based technology opens a wide range of doors for students and universities, no matter the preference of device. Universities are looking to HTML5 to save them time and money, giving their students access to a wide range of learning resources without the worry of enough devices, restrictions or a lack of control.

AppsAnywhere have been working to get AppsAnywhere ready for this growing trend in 17/18, working with Parallels to deliver university applications through browsers (available in October!).

3. Portable technology

Mobile phones, computer tablets and ultralight laptops have been on the rise for as long as the current generation of students has been alive, and while they are becoming more accessible to the student generation, it does mean rising costs for higher education.

Providing more computers and tablets in libraries and classrooms, as well as creating more spaces for students to work on campus with access to university software, doesn’t come cheap, especially when 93% of grad students and 88% of undergrads own their own laptop.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and AppsAnywhere has helped revolutionize some universities and their students’ experience over the past few years, and we predict technology such as personal laptops, tablets and even mobile phones becoming a staple piece in the classroom and lecture hall in the coming years.

AppsAnywhere want to keep your university one step ahead in technology, which is why we are now offering more application delivery methods in our latest update of AppsAnywhere. To see how Application Virtualization can help you, and if our University App Store is the perfect match, contact us directly.