Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Can technology contribute to student safety and well-being?

  • By Richard Fuller
  • 03/01/19

Student safety is a top concern. Colleges and universities want solutions that will help them to support students’ mental health and well being, as well as guard against potential threats. Often the first area of consideration is physical enhancements, such as security cameras and bulletproof glass, which can make a real difference but can inhibit the educational mission. Now many schools are turning to solutions that address student mental health and well-being, which are often at the root of school safety issues, with more extensive use of digital safeguarding.

Digital safeguarding can provide valuable insight into students’ mindsets and can also alert staff if students make—or are discussing—threats of violence to themselves or to others. As the use of mobile technology in the classroom grows, digital safeguarding can be one of the best ways to detect potential safety concerns. Early notification allows schools to investigate and address concerns before they get out of hand.

A recent survey of school counselors found that paper-based record keeping is the most common practice to record information on student well-being and mental health issues. Experience suggests that the era of informal record keeping is being replaced by auditable recording of student safety incidents and the actions taken by schools. Schools can also look for solutions that allow them to integrate, analyze, and store student safety data digitally in order to improve efficiency and inform counseling sessions or other interventions.

Campus administrators can play an active role in addressing safety through policy, funding, and implementation of digitized safeguarding solutions or other technology.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management March 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

About the Author

Richard Fuller is Executive Chairman of Impero Software (www.imperosoftware.com/us), which provides student safety and device monitoring and management solutions. He can be reached at 844/346-7376 or [email protected].

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • University of Arizona Approves New Residence Hall

    The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved plans for a new residence hall at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2028 and have the capacity for more than 1,200 students, enforcing a new university expectation that all first-year students live on campus.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.