Beacons: A Shiny New Tool for Delivering Context-Specific Content

The silent conversation can seem like magic. If a beacon isaddressing your mobile device, you won’t even know it’s there until your deviceresponds, possibly offering up some information that you’re only just realizingyou need. If you’re holding the beacon, personalized content might instantlyappear as you approach a learning station. A beacon, working with an app on asmartphone or tablet device, can help you find your way, provide usefulinformation, or track your progress.

Beacons are tiny, low-power devices that use Bluetooth totransmit a signal to any device within range that’s equipped with the right app.The app understands and responds to the signal in any of a number of ways.

Beacons got off on the wrong foot with many people: A commonearly use of beacons was to beam ads and special offers to potential retailcustomers who were in the vicinity of the store where the beacon was located. Manyconsumers were annoyed by the volume or intrusive feeling of these pushedpromotional messages, and they disabled or deleted the apps, retaining only anegative impression of beacons.

Now, eLearning developers are trying to turn things aroundfor beacons and deploy them in the service of eLearning. While some eLearninguses of beacons follow the push notification model, TorranceLearning has literally “flippedthe typical use case for beacons,” according to CEO Megan Torrance. Thecompany’s new product, Digitally Enhanced Exhibit Program, or DEEP, uses tabletcomputers that are in fixed locations to run the app and puts learners incharge by handing the beacons to them.

Potential eLearning uses ofbeacons include:

• Beacon proximity readings can tell where peopleare; they can record when a learner arrives and leaves an office, a classroom,or a learning station at a museum, for example. An app can use this informationto monitor attendance or direct people to where they want to go. Conversely, abeacon’s proximity reading, paired with information about the bearer’sidentity, could prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing sensitiveinformation.
• By offering location- or context-specificinformation at specific stops along a route, beacons can facilitate guidedtours of a workplace or learning space. Or beacons could deliver just-in-time context-specificinformation, such as product information or user manuals for sales or repairpersonnel on service calls.
• Beacons can track a learner’s progress throughcourse material, delivering content and supplemental materials as needed, andrecording the amount of time spent, material covered, and performance onactivities and assessments.
• A beacon-based program can provide managers withbig-picture data, showing when and where traffic is heavy on campus walkways orshowing how and when learners or employees use a space, whether it is a cafeteria,a conference room, or a footpath between office buildings.

The DEEP approach of attaching the beacon to the learner,rather than relying on each learner to have the appropriate app installed andactivated on a smartphone or tablet, reduces costs. Fewer expensive mobiledevices are required; the tablets are at a limited number of learning stations,while inexpensive plastic beacons are issued to learners. And, since learnershold the beacon rather than the app, they are freed from any negativeassociations or worries about being inundated with push notifications.

However, some eLearning developers might implement the modelof placing beacons at various locations and delivering content to learners’mobile devices. This approach could be useful for navigational aids, providinghighly accurate location information. For example, an app could show thelearner’s location as a lighted dot on a map, and beacons at strategiclocations could guide the learner to a specific room or area within a building.

To avoid inundating learners with unwanted notices,developers can take their cues from research conducted by Localytics,an app marketing and analytics company, which found that people will disable oreven delete an app if they receive too many push notifications. But theLocalytics research also found that people were evenly divided over whetherpush notices were a nuisance or a help; they were most receptive to targetedoffers. In fact, 48 percent of Localytics’ respondents wanted offers based ontheir preferences, and more than a third were receptive to other types ofpersonalized messages. Thus a beacon-based system could be well received if itdelivers relevant, personalized eLearning content.

With any eLearning that includes some form of tracking ordata-gathering, concerns are sure to arise around what data the app can accessand how that information is used. But many corporate ID badges already includeinformation about the bearer, track employees’ whereabouts, and enforce accessprivileges. The beacon-based program would add layers, linking existing informationto eLearning activities, for example.

In addition to privacy concerns, any connected device raisesissues of data security, susceptibility to viruses, and the chance of datafalling into the wrong hands. Developers considering beacon-based solutionsshould weigh the potential concerns along with the tremendous benefits ofdelivering personalized, context- or location-specific information to learners.

For instance, developers may need to address employees’ worries aboutprivacy and the potential for beacons to intrude on every aspect of theirworkday. That could mean navigating the fine line between pushing usefullocation-driven content to employees and creating in those employees a feelingof being “stalked” by an app that constantly interrupts with notifications. Andif beacons are attached to employees’ ID badges, providing a way to opt out orleave the beacon behind sometimes can be essential to gaining learner buy-in.