New mobi-site looks to bring QR codes, geotagging to university education

A brand new mobi-site is looking to bring QR codes and geotagging to the tertiary education sector.

The site is a mobile extension of content provider LexisNexis’ established online education portal MyAcademic.

The company claims that the mobi-site acts not only as “an interactive space for students” but can also direct them “to relevant online bookstores”. The geotagging feature, meanwhile, will reportedly “enable students to locate their nearest bookstores”.

LexisNexis academic marketer Henry van der Walt reckons that the site is on the right track when it comes to embracing up and coming trends within education.

“We know that the future of academic publishing lies in integrating traditional study methods with online technology. It’s no longer enough to just publish a textbook. We have to ensure maximum worth, which is why we also provide value-added material, for example making relevant multiple-choice questions available on the mobi-site to help students prepare for upcoming tests or exams,” he said.

LexisNexis claims that the site works on smartphones, feature phones with more traditional T9 capable keyboards and via a normal desktop browser.

The company’s first educational foray MyAcademic was launched in May 2011 and claims to merge “academic publishing with social media to create a platform for students, authors and lecturers in academia”.

Given that the product is aimed primarily at the South African market, it is hardly surprising that LexisNexis decided to take the mobi-site route.

Feature phones still dominate the country’s mobile landscape and make building a smartphone-specific app, or using something like the iTunes U platform — a section of iTunes meant specifically for university use — less tenable.