MCA has been highlighted by JISC as one of the most exciting projects to come out of its Rapid Innovation programme. JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) is funded by UK higher and further education funding bodies and provides leadership in the innovative use of digital technologies to support education and research. Its Rapid Innovation programme funded innovative small-scale technology projects designed to engage with new and unproven technologies to create tools specifically geared to address the needs of people working in higher education.
The ILRT project team comprised project manager Nikki Rogers, developers Mike Jones, Jasper Tredgold and Chris Bailey and designer Ben Hayes, with support from Nick Skelton (Residential and Mobile IT Manager) and Urfan Ali (Web and New Media Manager).
Nikki Rogers said: ‘There’s a lot more information we can add, such as student timetabling information, opening hours of University facilities, bike lock-up information and a library hook-up, so that students can see whether books they’ve reserved are on the shelf before they come in to collect them. It’s quite innovative – very few universities are doing anything similar, and there’s a lot of interest both within the University of Bristol and from other institutions. We’re currently looking at strategies to develop the project further.’
More information about MCA is available on the project blog.
Students are invited to access MCA via their phones and provide feedback via an online survey.