6 Ways Technology has Changed Student Transportation

 

Technology advances have greatly affected our lives and the way we work. With the help of technological innovation, we are able to communicate more, quicker and better than ever before. Many employers are reaping several benefits offered by technology.

School transportation has been influenced by technological advancements to a large extent. Today, most of your cars and buses are having Wi-Fi, satellite radio and a host of integrations. Numerous technologies used in cars are now implemented on school buses.

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Here follows the 6 ways by which technology has changed your child's school transportation:

1. It's Easier to Track Students

As a parent, you may never stop worrying about the safety of your children. With the introduction of student tracking system, you are able to enjoy better safety for your children. You get to know whenever a student exits or enters the school bus, as they are tracked using ID cards. 

When a child's ID is paired with GPS technology and RFID technology, you can better monitor his or her location in real-time. You can also get in touch with teachers and can have a good rapport with each other.

In addition to this, you will be able to track details about pending fee payments and thus get a notification regarding it through your app. Also using your id, you can change your child's pickup point whenever necessary.

2. Students' Safety is Doubled 

With the installation of security cameras and integrating it with your smart phone applications, you can keep your children safe and provide a sense of security. These tools not only provide ease to the mind, but also provide you valuable data to produce reports. 

3. Effective Planning of School Transportation 

Earlier, route planning of school transportation used to be an arduous and frustrating. But, with the advancement of technology, you can optimize your school bus routes easily. By automating, you can create routes that save time as well as fuel. 

Using GPS technology, you can figure out the shortest, safest and most efficient route for your school bus. Thus, you can reduce road hazards that may otherwise put your child at risk. 

Every details regarding trips will be updated in the app including students in bus, those who are absent or on leave. Thus, the entire student statistics in the school bus can be taken using technology.

4. Emergency Management

It is difficult to manage school transportation during emergency situations such as highjacking, accidents or natural calamity. Earlier, during such situations, management was unable to find the real-time location of the bus. Use of GPS tracking system will make it a lot easier and thus take quick action at the time of emergencies.

With the help of GPS technology, school authorities will be able to know about the accident and its location instantly. Hence you can take necessary action to handle the situation.    

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5. Helps to Take Bus Attendance Easily

Driver console app helps the driver to take school bus attendance easily. Whenever students enter or exit a school bus, their details will be announced via the audio facility as well. 

The introduction of latest manifest feature help drivers to get school bus passenger details of a particular trip instantly. It will produce exact passenger detail of the day, neglect leave applied student details for the day, and all pickup point details for the day. 

If one student applied leave and his pickup point is 3 km inside pickup point, then the driver can skip the pickup point because it will not appear in that day's stop list. This is particularly helpful to drivers working with multiple trips or routes. The manifest feature also includes a route diagram which helps you to identify the pickup location. Hence, as a driver, you are not required to remember every student and their pickup points.

 6. Effective Management of School Transportation   

Using the same technology you use to track students, employees can also be managed efficiently. Transportation officials can monitor routes and detect unauthorized stops, which may affect fuel costs of school transportation.

Today life has become simpler and easier with the help of technology. It has completely revolutionized school transportation. 

As most of us follow the 9 to 6 work culture, it will be difficult for you to check out the safety of your child's school transportation. These smart school apps will help you to solve this issue. It would be handy for you to monitor your child's location in real-time through smart phones, which are constant companions for most of us.

How can RFID Technology Help Library Management

“RFID is increasing in popularity among libraries, as the early adopters of this technology have shown that, it makes good economic sense, both for large and small libraries”

As you are familiar with, RFID technology is revolutionizing schools all over the world.Earlier, managing libraries would have been a complex task for you. But with the advent of RFID technology, you would able to manage libraries better than ever before. Also, the task of school/college librarians becomes much easier and quicker. You can even say that the future of RFID might wipe out the necessity of a full time librarian.

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Use of RFID in Libraries

RFID technology is mainly used for effectively managing your library operation and detecting missing books. The RFID based system has a tracking system that moves beyond security with efficient tracking of materials inside the library. These systems provide you services like easier and quicker charge and discharge, proper listing of books and material management.

This technology helps librarians save valuable staff time, which may otherwise be spent on scanning bar codes while borrowing or returning books. As the name indicates, RFID is an integration of radio-frequency based technology and microchip technology. Using RFID technology, you can extract information stored on a microchip in the tags affixed to library materials.

Key Features of RFID in Libraries

  • Time Saving

Using RFID technology, you are able to reduce the amount of time required to perform circulation operations. A lot of time can be saved by librarians which is spent on checking out and checking in borrowed items. The procedure of borrowing and returning become easier and faster.

  • Reliability of the System

As you already know, RFID based system is highly reliable. RFID based library systems declare 100 percent detection rate using RFID tags. If you need to identify the items moving out of the library, you can use RFID system that has an interface between exit sensors and the circulation software.

As a library official, you will be able to know if an item is missing, and if someone tries to get away with your books,that person can easily be spotted..

  • High Speed Inventorying

Without tipping out or removing books, RFID tags help you to scan the books on the shelves. Using a hand held inventory reader, unique identification information of each book can be read.

  • Automated Materials Handling

Material handling became much easier for you with RFID technology. Conveyor and sorting system in this technology helps you to move library materials and thus sort them into separate categories. Also, it helps you to reduce the amount of staff time required to make materials for re-shelving.

  • Longer Life

RFID tags have a longer life than bar codes.Before a replacement, most RFID vendors claim a minimum of 1,00,000 transactions for you.

Though there are so many benefits with this technology, there are certain disadvantages associated with it.

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Disadvantages of RFID Systems

  • Active RFID systems are expensive
  • RFID tags are easily damaged
  • Problems with exit gate sensors
  • Issues in user privacy
  • Collision of reader and tags

The future of RFID in library depends mainly on rectifying those disadvantages and thus giving more focus on the benefits associated with it. Development of RFID is rapidly going on, which yield larger memory capacities, wider reader ranges and faster processing. Its applications, innovation and standardization are constantly changing.

There is no need for separate database as RFID tags contain identifying information such as title of the book, material type, etc. Though benefits and flexibility of RFID technology is widely known, RFID is a better solution for you to further optimize the automation and tracking documents in the library.

How to Teach Students the Importance of School Bus Safety

 

A positive school bus environment is key to fostering healthy child development and high level learning and is directly linked to student academic performance”

 

One of the important aspects of student transportation is safety. School bus is the vehicle that assures safety the most to students. In order to keep their bus safe, students play an important role. School bus environment is a completely different environment for them. Sometimes they may sing, play and shout inside the school bus.

Most of the kids who are having attention and learning issues may be the victims of school bus bullying. They are responsible for their own safety as well as their fellow students. With the help of school bus safety tips, teachers, students and school authorities are able to ensure safety in school transportation.

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Here follows certain ways by which the importance of school bus safety can be taught among parents, teachers and students:

  • Conduct Mock Drills

Mock drills can be conducted to ensure school bus safety. This demonstration helps the students to prepare for the danger awaiting them in school transportation. They will get an awareness regarding school bus safety tips.

Such mock drills can be conducted by school bus drivers. They can explain the proper procedures to be followed by students to safely evacuate from the bus at the time of emergency. Students should be taught about how to exit the bus from the rear door.

Students must listen carefully and follow the instructions from the driver during emergency situations. The mock drills become successful only when there is full participation from students, parents and school authorities.

  • Create Awareness among Teachers and Parents

Teachers play a vital role in assuring school bus safety. First of all they should have proper awareness about safety. They are responsible for teaching students about good behavior, providing proper discipline and supporting students.

Teachers should have proper awareness about school bus safety tips. With the help of safety experts, teachers can be taught about school bus safety and its importance. With this knowledge, they can provide guidance to students.

Parents also have great concern towards student safety. They can make their child aware about various safety rules. There are so many safety tips and issues that parents are unaware of. Safety experts help them to understand and realize about it.

  • Use Gaming Apps

It is a world of gaming apps. Students will be more interested in apps rather than giving them boring lessons. Hence it is a good idea to popularize games that teach school bus rules which indeed help children familiarize with various safety protocols.

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Importance of School Bus Safety Tips

  • Use Pamphlets or Notices

Distributing notices or pamphlets with interesting graphics related to school bus safety can easily grab the attention of students. Such notices can influence the students in following various safety tips. It is highly informative to the students as well as parents.

  • Use Signs or Indications

It is very much useful and valuable if you keep signs at the right places which attract attention of students. This can give them a proper warning regarding dangers. And it also helps them to get prepared whenever they are trapped in danger.

School bus discipline is one of the major issues faced by drivers. They are responsible for the conduct of the students and school bus is the extension of school.

Managing and controlling student behavior on the school bus is a team effort involving teachers, drivers, parents and school authorities. For maintaining a safe environment, it is essential to teach students about the importance of school bus safety.