How eduroam can increase accessibility, reduce IT workload and help close the digital equity gap.

Enabled by new technologies like 5G and the industrial internet of things (IIoT), progress towards truly blended learning is gathering momentum across the sector. This learner-centric model – where students do their own reading and preparation, saving valuable classroom time to work on live problem-solving – allows them to study at their own pace, whenever and wherever they want, using their own laptop, tablet or mobile phone to access online resources.  At the same time, though, the digital equity gap leaves some learners to struggle with even basic connectivity. Students and staff need consistent, reliable connectivity  In an ideal world, learners should be able to connect 24/7 to their institution’s resources – and stay connected. In the real world, however, they might not be able to get a seat in the college or university library, or they might need to work in a public library or at home. They might have to travel to another campus or spend an hour on the bus home – time that could be usefully spent catching up on studying. [#pullquote#] Moving around between locations means that students lose connection and have to search again for free wifi and re-authenticate. It’s a long way from the ideal of ‘zero touch’ connectivity. [#endpullquote#]In addition, from an IT team’s point of view, learners using their own devices on campus throws up all sorts of problems. With research teams and students becoming ever more mobile, the need to provide secure access to wifi can cause real administrative headaches.  Education anywhere To ensure that students and staff have a consistently positive experience when it comes to connectivity, it makes sense to use eduroam. Specifically developed for the research and education community, this widely adopted roaming service provides uninterrupted internet connectivity across the campus and beyond.  [#pullquote#]eduroam widens the scope of places learners can connect: some 560 organisations across the UK offer the service from more than 2,000 eduroam hotspots. A single wifi profile gives users seamless access across their own institution and to any eduroam-enabled site, simply by opening their laptop. [#endpullquote#]Reducing IT department workload and costs eduroam accommodates all the mobile connectivity requirements of an institution: it supports local users connecting to the local network, visitors connecting to the local network, and local users connecting to other participating networks. And it does all this without placing any burdens upon an institution’s IT resources. Instead, eduroam sits separately from the network so has no impact on it, which reduces IT department workload. It also improves the security of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) wireless infrastructures. The ability to effectively protect, monitor and audit traffic on the network is essential for safeguarding, and eduroam gives institutions “identifiable oversight” when anyone connects using their own device. And any organisation connected to the Janet Network is eligible to use Jisc’s eduroam service as part of their Jisc membership. Addressing the digital equity gap Making eduroam available in student accommodation and transport networks and in places like libraries, community centres and other public buildings, would massively extend access to zero touch internet connectivity for students and education sector staff who, for whatever reason, are not on campus. For example, councils across the country which are already using Jisc’s govroam public sector roaming service can extend access to zero touch internet connectivity by making eduroam available in thousands of public spaces.  We’ve already enabled govroam at more than 500 public sector sites in Kent and Medway, which is delivering effortless eduroam connectivity to council offices, community centres, fire stations, hospitals and more. It’s also increasing the number of places learners at local colleges can connect, as eduroam is now also available at libraries across Kent. [#pullquote#]Replicated across the UK, this could benefit all those learners who don’t have an internet connection at home, whose broadband connection is poor, or who can’t afford the data roaming costs.  [#endpullquote#]The vision: eduroam everywhere At Jisc, the vision is to extend connectivity even further, so that learners can access eduroam in areas where there is only cellular connectivity – on public transport, say, or at home. We are working with Cradlepoint on a range of portable devices that use cellular connectivity to deliver eduroam to students and staff. These devices will enable learners to continue to access resources wherever they are – on the bus, in sports facilities and even in shared off-campus accommodation. The devices for home use are small enough to fit into a rucksack, while larger versions are being used in off-campus buildings to deliver eduroam to up to 100 users. We’re also looking at using this technology to provide campus network resilience via cellular 4G/5G connectivity in cases of fibre outages or delayed fibre connection.   The sky’s the limit The potential for eduroam to extend the boundaries of connectivity is massive and far-reaching.  To prove it, we recently demonstrated that Jisc’s eduroam service can successfully connect to the Starlink satellite internet service, and we’re exploring other satellite internet services too. This opens up the possibility that eduroam could be made available to UK educators and researchers anywhere on the planet with a clear view of the sky. To find out more about connecting to Jisc’s eduroam service contact Ed Wincott (ed.wincott@jisc.ac.uk)Explore the benefits of eduroam and hear about Jisc’s exciting new innovations at Networkshop 2023, June 14-15 at Nottingham Trent University.  Find out more about our current cellular and satellite innovation projects: For cellular 4G/5G connectivity contact Victoria Atherstone (victoria.atherstone@jisc.ac.uk)For fixed network cellular backup connectivity contact Neil Shewry (neil.shewry@jisc.ac.uk)For eduroam connectivity via Starlink satellite contact Peter Kent (peter.kent@jisc.ac.uk)