How Smart Cards Help Students and Educational Institutions

A smart card, typically a type of chip card, is a plastic card that contains an embedded computer chip either a memory or microprocessor type that stores and transacts data. This data is usually associated with either value, information, or both and is stored and processed within the card's chip, either a memory or microprocessor. The card data is transacted via a reader that is part of a computing system. 

You can think of the smart card like a "credit card" with a "brain" in it, the brain being a small-embedded computer chip. This card-computer can be programmed to perform tasks and store information, but note that the brain is small-- meaning that the smart card's power falls far short of your desktop computer.

Smart cards play a greater role in providing vital components of system security for the exchange of data throughout virtually any type of network. They protect against a full range of security threats, from careless storage of user passwords to sophisticated system hacks.

School smart cards might be a term you have heard about or come across. The use of a smart card is one of the most popular solutions to offer students and educational instititutions.

A comprehensive guide on the technology

An embedded chip in the card is encoded with a unique ID number assigned to one individual(the owner of the card). It is the back-end computer that maintains detailed information on the student or staff member to whom the ID is issued, so administering the program is simple and straightforward. Cards are activated and deactivated on demand and only one card is active at any given time, which ensures security when students graduate or leave the school/institution.

Why Smart Cards?

Smart cards improve the convenience and security of any transaction. They provide tamper-proof storage of user and account identity. Smart card systems have proven to be more reliable than other machine-readable cards, like the magnetic stripe and barcode, with many studies showing card read life and reader life improvements demonstrating the much lower cost of system maintenance. The costs of managing password resets for an organisation or enterprise are very high, thus making smart cards a cost-effective solution in these environments. Multi-function cards can also be used to manage network system access and store value and other data. Worldwide, people are now using smart cards for a wide variety of daily tasks.

School Smart Cards

School smart cards are basically smart cards that are used in school for everyday school purposes. As mentioned earlier, a smart card is generally a plastic card with an embedded chip for different types of transactions. Debit cards, Credit cards and SIM cards are prime examples of smart cards.

A School smart card is very similar to this. It is slim and sleek and can be tagged along with school ID cards. It can be used for financial and other purposes like attendance.

You can use your smart card to:

• Enter School/University buildings and car parks
• Enter the school Sports & Fitness Centre(s)
• Enter the libraries and borrow books
• Use the printing and photocopying services
• Use loyalty Plus if it is available

Smart cards are a reliable and versatile option, which use a tamper-resistant security system for added security. Contacts are present on the cards, which when in contact with readers, can be programmed to perform a variety of different actions. Contactless versions of these cards are available and can be used within a short distance of a reader. A common use of these cards is as a proximity card for access to certain areas of a building.

What is in a Smart Card?

Smart Card Applications:

Initial Smart Card Administration Process:

• Student/Staff Enrolment
• Personalization/Re-Personalization
• Renewal/Updating of Year Information
• Hot list card Management
• Loading/Re-loading E-Purse
• Fine Handling & Management
• User Management
• Upload/Download Transaction Details
• Reports Generation

Library 

• Inventory Management
• Books Browsing
• Card Activation / Card Updating
• Books Fine Management
• Transactions - Issuance/Renewal/Return of Books
• Reservation of Books
• Record Disciplinary Actions
• Transaction Report Generation
• Upload/Download Transactions

Laboratory

• Attendance Monitoring
• Fine Management
• Recording Disciplinary Actions
• Transaction Report Generation
• Upload/Download Transactions
• Inventory Management
• User Management

Canteen 

• Inventory Management
• Transactions
• Transaction Report Generation
• Upload/Download Transactions
• User Management
• Minus finance Management (In case there is little or no money on the card)

Stores 

• Inventory Management
• Transactions (e.g. from stores to Library)
• Transaction Report Generation
• Upload/Download Transactions
• Transactions - Recording of Books instore

Information Kiosk 

• Inventory Management
• Transactions
• Transaction Report Generation
• Upload/Download Transactions

Hostel 

• Card Activation / Card Updating
• Inventory Management
• Fine Management
• Transaction Report Generation

Browsing Center 

• Access Control for Internet
• Carry out Transactions using E-Purse
• Transaction Report Generation
• Upload/Download Transactions

TYPES OF SMART CARDS USED IN SCHOOLS

They are divided into two card types; (i) Memory cards (ii) Microprocessor cards(True smart cards)

(i) Memory Cards;

• The hold up 1k to 4K of data
• Mainly used for prepaid cards for public phones or other goods and services that sold against prepayment
• Does not have a CPU , so it has limited functions and can't be reprogrammed
• Can be easily counterfeited

(ii) Microprocessor Cards;

• Contain a processor - offers increased security and multifunctional capability
• Data is never directly available to the external applications
• The microprocessor in the card controls data handling and memory access according to passwords and or encryption

There are different types of smart cards. But not all of them are being made use of in schools/educational institutions. Here are some which are used.

Integrated circuit cards come in two forms; Contact and Contactless

Contact Cards

This is the most commonly used type of smart cards. This card has to come in contact with the reader in order for the card’s information to be read. The machines connect through an electrical connector which is connected to the integrated chip in the card.

Contact smart cards have a contact area comprised of several gold plated contact pads(chips).

A smart card is a plastic card the size of a credit card, which comes with an integrated chip. This chip can host 100 times more data than a magnetic stripe. It can be reconfigured to add, erase or edit any hosted data. It must be inserted into a smartcard reader with conductive plates.

The encoding process at a glance

Data personalization (encoding) on smart cards is performed in a seamless way for the card holder. The process varies according to the target smart card, with different implementation processes and levels of complexity. The personlization solution will fully encode any contact SMART card within minutes.

Overall, just like any computer, binary data are written in a miniaturized electronic circuit.

Contactless Cards

Contactless cards, also called radio frequency cards, consist of a chip and antenna composed of sensors, packaged in standard PVC cards, the chip and antenna are fully enclosed without any exposed parts. Radio waves transmit information between the contactless smart card and the card reader to complete read and write operations. The readers also have an inbuilt internal antenna to identify the smart card to communicate with it. The antennas use radio frequencies to communicate. Contactless smart cards have similar applications like contact smart cards but the transactions in between card and reader are very fast and convenient.

The self-containment of a contactless smart card makes it resistant to attack, as it does not depend upon potentially vulnerable external resources. Because of this characteristic, contactless smart cards are often used in different applications which require strong security protection and authentication. For added security, a contactless smart card can be paired with a mobile phone to restrict contactless transactions when the mobile device is not within range, preventing use of the card if stolen.

A contactless card operates without any physical link with the reader: communication is performed through microwave frequencies.

A contactless card consists of multiple components:

• A chip (with a microwave transmitter)
• An antenna
• A paper support/media or a laminated plastic card.

There are different models of cards (from simple to highly sophisticated) to support multiple applications. The chip is the core enabler of contactless plastic cards: it controls all communication with the reader, as well as data storage, data encryption and security of access.

Pictorial representation of how the contactless card works:

Interaction with the reader

The reader sends electromagnetic waves that create a magnetic field when coupled with the antenna of the contactless card.

A passive card leverages this magnetic field for energy that will be used to power the chip’s circuit.

The chip then modulates these waves and sends them back to the reader which converts the new waves into recognisable digital data.

The card will operate when brought to within 3 to 10 cms of the reader. Some contactless cards use radio frequencies and will even operate from a longer distance.

The University of Cantabria in Spain has one of the most advanced smart card implementations in higher education, using both contact and contactless technology to facilitate virtually every campus card service.

RFID Identification

Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) is very similar to that of a smart card integrated chip.

RFID Based Students Attendance Service

It is a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based Automatic & Comprehensive attendance management system. It provides robust, secure and automatic attendance management for both, Students and Staff.

Attendance Check

• Whether a student/teacher arrive or not and leave school on time, be late or leave early
•  Proper communication between student, teacher, parent, principal & administrative
• Security and safety management

A School Management System could make your school staff's life easier than ever. Using School Management System, finding student information is just a few seconds away which might have cost hours, or even days, before. At the end of the semester, printing students' statements becomes just a few minutes' job (the speed limitation is determined by your printer), but it could be a nightmare without using a School Management System. If a student is absent, an email or even a short text message could be sent automatically to their parents' email address or mobile phone.

RFID Card

RFID (Radio frequency identification) is the contactless identification of objects using electromagnetic waves. A coded transponder is attached to a respective object and the transponder is read using a specialist reader. Whether it’s recording times, access control or protecting data, RFID technology offers a wide range of solutions. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a generic term that is used to describe a system that transmits the identity (in the form of a unique serial number) of an object or person wirelessly, using radio waves. A sub-type of RFID is NFC, which stands for Near Field Communication, enabling two devices to communicate within a very short range. NFC cards add a layer of security to information transactions.

Proximity cards

Proximity cards, also known as “prox” or “proxy cards,” are a type of RFID card used to grant access and provide security without requiring insertion into a card reader. This contactless approach to security makes prox cards an ideal solution for parking lot access control, restricting access to secure areas and general building access.

Enterprises currently using proximity card readers, as well as those using smart card readers, can now add biometric authorisation to their verification process without having to implement biometric readers. An on-card fingerprint scanner resides on these contactless biometric cards. Without having to change existing card readers, these access cards provide an easy, cost-effective way for institituions/enterprises to upgrade access authentication on legacy card readers.

Features:

• Accurate & Automatic Student Attendance.
• No need to show card to reader or any other device. So no waiting time at gate when many students coming together in small time frame.
• No need to change anything in current practice of operation.
• Automatic daily SMS to parents on arrival/leave of student from school.
• Automatic SMS to parents of absent students or student not leaving school after standard school time is over.
• Automatic daily SMS to class teacher for number of student Absent and Present.
• Besides daily tracking of the child, InSchool Attendance system can also be used to inform parents on the Events, Holidays and Change in any schedule of the school.
• Daily / Weekly /Monthly / Yearly Absentee/Attendance Report.
• Manual Entry Option for the student who forgot his/her ID card.
• Bulk SMS facility for special events and announcements.

Benefits to Schools

• High-end technology that ensures complete safety and security of the child.
• Automated updates to parents of their children at the time of arrival and leaving school premises.
• Attendance of students recorded and stored through our Tracking report even in case parents' mobile number is not reachable.
• Besides daily tracking of the child, RFID Time & Attendance system also informs parents on the Events, Holidays and Change in any schedule of the school.
• Helps in inculcating principles of discipline and punctuality in the child.
• Can work on Software-as-Service (SaS) model, so no need to invest anything in terms of infrastructure or licensing cost by school.

Benefits to Parents

• High-end technology that ensures complete safety and security of the child.
• Automated updates to parents of their children at the time of arrival and leaving school premises.
• Attendance of students recorded and stored through aTracking report even in case parents' mobile number is not reachable.
• Besides daily tracking of the child, the RFID Time and Attendance system also informs parents on the Events, Holidays and Change in any schedule of the school.
• Helps in reducing stress level and anxiety of parents regarding the whereabouts of their children.
• Help Desk Support provides assistance to parents to update any changes in their Mobile numbers.
• "Very-Tiny" technology embedded in ID cards in such a way that it will not even be noticed by children.

There are two main types of RFID; Passive RFID and Active RFID.

(i) Passive RFID tags do not have an integrated power source and reflects the electromagnetic waves produced by the RFID Reader. Hence it needs to be in close proximity with the reader to pass information. It is less expensive and sleeker compared to Active RFID

(ii) Active RFID on the other hand can produce its own electro-magnetic energy and communicates with the reader at long ranges. These are but more expensive and bulky, as it has its own power source.

Cards embedded with RFID technology offer the user a large variety of applications compared to the more conventional contact based cards. RFID cards can transfer data without needing to tap or insert the card into a card reader and offers the customer security, flexibility and durability as well as being simple to use. RFID technology has a variety of uses and applications, it has a range of up to 5 metres, which makes it an ideal way to access car parks or for use in mass transit. Which reduces customers wait time at barriers.

School Smartcard functions:

Benefits Of School Smart Cards

Cashless Transactions – One of the most evident benefits of smart cards used in school is cashless transactions. Students can pay their school fees, make canteen and bookstore payments and more with the smart card. Parents need not worry about asking students to carry actual cash to school.

Easily Manageable – With smart cards, school authorities can easily manage students. As each smart card would have the profile of the student associated, it becomes easy to identify activities and track students inside the school premises.

Access control – Schools can provide access to selected students or staff for accessing particular areas such as labs, office rooms, etc. This makes managing easier as well.

Durable – Unlike traditional ID cards, School Smart cards are made from durable plastic and can be reused for a few years. This saves money and also helps avoid the hassles of distributing new ID cards every term/semester/year.

Cost Effective – Smart cards help save a lot of money by making your school perform more efficiently. Given this, the cost for smart cards is minimal.

Smart ID – The complete profile of each student can be stored or accessed through a smart card. This makes several things such as access control and fee payment possible with more convenience.

Attendance – Teachers do not need to spend time marking attendance. Students just need to carry their Smart IDs to school classrooms for attendance to be recorded. Teachers and other school staff can mark their own attendance the same way as students do with the use of smart cards.

Fee Payment – Making fee payment becomes hassle free. Students just have to produce their smart card to the accounts department and they will swipe the money using the Smart ID’s unique PIN.

Library Management – From issuing and returning library books to keeping track of the due date and fine collected, smart cards are extremely useful for library management. The fine can as well be paid by students using the smart cards.

Canteen & Store – Just like fee payment, students can use their smart cards to buy food, drinks, books, and other stationery from the canteen and the school store. This way it is easier for the management to look at the accounts as well.

Medical History – In case of medical emergencies or situations, medical history can be added to the smart cards and would be a great help.

How Smart Cards Improve Student Life

Today, people are ready to accept anything that would make their tasks easier. Convenience is key. They are always in search of all-in-one packages. Smart phones are a good example of this. And, that tendency to embrace all-in-one packages is exactly why smart card solutions are very important in student life.

Many tasks related to school can be accomplished effectively with the help of smart cards, which are embedded with RFID chips.

If implemented, how do these smart cards solutions improve student life?

1. Influence on student tracking systems

Student and school bus tracking devices have gained immense popularity at present as they tend to be a great relief in terms of the concerns parents have about their children’s safety on their ride to school and back. . With the help of smart cards,

It is possible to track students and school buses easily(That is for the students who use school transport)

• Whereabouts of the students can be notified in real time via automated SMS alerts
• Management Information System (MIS) reports can be generated
• Data regarding students, parents, vehicles and drivers can be stored, which can come handy for future needs

2. Changing interaction at Canteen/Cafeteria

Sometimes, students, after reaching the canteen, realise that the money they took to school is not enough to buy food. Such situations can be avoided using a smart card.

• Smart cards can be used by students to make purchases
• Amount for which items were purchased, would be deducted from the card
• Students have the facility to check the balance left in their smart cards
• Parents get notified on the purchases made

3. Makes it easier to Collect Fees

Parents who pay fees know what a tedious task it is to pay their child’s school fees. Every time, they have to provide their child’s roll number and other details, which barely stay in their memory, to pay the fees. Smart cards prove to be useful there. Parents can easily access payment information with the help of smart cards. Also, it is possible to top up the smart cards at the fee collection counter of schools.

4. Simplifies the way students use the Library

In most schools, students are expected to carry a library card and show it to the librarian each time lend/return a book or when they are reading the book in the library itself. In case they lose that card, they may have to pay a fine to get another card. Smart cards mean less chaos for students in that case. They can use smart cards to lend/return books. Students can also use their smart cards to mark library attendance.

5. Safer, easier transactions at Book stores

• Students can easily purchase the books they need from the school book store using smart cards
• List of items bought by the students would be recorded
• Parents get notification of all the items purchased by students

University Smart ID Card:

Benefits to the Institutions 

Integrated Campus

Smart cards are used for creating convenient, all-in-one campus cards for students and staff. With a single ID card, cardholders can identify themselves, check out books, buy food, and attend sports activities and access services and facilities across campus. One card does it all. And unlike the old film-based systems, systems give you a powerful, digital image database that you can use for building electronic student files and creating class rosters, bus schedules and a host of other useful reports.

Revenue Potential

Serves as a viable and continuous revenue source for the Institution. The initial investment would be respectively high as an additional investment in terms of hardware will have to be made. However the recurring costs will only include the cost of the card with its printing costs.

Results in substantial cost saving for the Institution because no costs are incurred for record maintenance.

Benefits to the Staff 

• Record Disciplinary Actions against students
• Upload/Download Transactions
• Fine Management in library and Photostat centers
• The staff, for getting the details of student's marks or conduct can use this     information Desk.

Benefits to the Students 

• Smart cards can be used as E-Purses that can aid in technologically handling money for various applications.
• Improves the quality of life from the conventional way of life to a tech-savvy mode of living.
• Simplifies campus life.
• Improves convenience
• Security for purchases

Advantages of Smart Cards

Smart carts are of great advantage, in terms of school related purposes. The advantages of smart cards include:

Access made easy

ID Cards that use magnetic strips require students to swipe through an ID card reader manually. Students will have to wait in long queues to swipe. The cards tend to be damaged easily, as well. Smart cards do not require swiping and hence no long queues, making it more convenient for students.

Last longer

It is a common scene in schools that students replace their damaged ID cards at least once in an academic year. This can cause loss to the parents as well as the school, in terms of money. With smart cards, which are made of durable materials such as PVS and polyester, students would not encounter such a problem. This can help them in saving money in terms of ID card replacement annually.

Save money, time and effort

Use of a single card to serve various purposes will be equally useful for students, parents and schools. It helps in easy and cost-effective management.

Track student activities

With a large number of students present in a classroom, it is not possible to find out whether any of the students have missed classes. However, it is possible with smart cards and if the student is present, it is possible to find out the amount of time a student spends in the class.

Library management made easy

Students can use smart cards to mark attendance in the library. They can also use it for borrowing/returning books and in case, there is an overdue book(s), students can pay it through smart cards.

Electronic payment

Students can use smart cards to pay at the canteen for food items/ beverages they buy. They can also use the cards in the school book store to buy the necessary items they need, of which the notification would be sent to parents.

Track students

Concerns of parents and school authorities regarding safety of students on their journey to school and way back home can be addressed using smart cards. Whereabouts of students can be tracked real time using smart cards. School bus tracking is also possible with smart cards.

User-friendly interface

Though some software are said to be effective and useful to users, they lack a simple interface that they are able to understand and use comfortably. Therefore, the smart card software is developed in such a way that its interface is user-friendly and easy to understand.

Therefore, Smart card systems are designed to;

• Improve security
• Save valuable staff time
• Simplify administration
• Improve student retention rates (therefore success rates)

Access Control

Combining smart cards or biometric technology with networked access control allows you complete control and peace of mind that areas of sensitivity or risk are secure. Wireless locking systems ensure that buildings, rooms and the valuable equipment contained within, remain locked until such time an authorised individual wishes to gain access using their Smart ID card.

Smart Card Solutions

Improve safeguarding at your school by installing access control systems in and around school buildings. A staff, student and visitor identity lanyard and card policy ensures everyone on site and in classrooms is authorised to be there, easy to identify and fully accounted for.

e-Registration and Attendance Monitoring

Wireless locking systems ensure that buildings, rooms and the valuable equipment contained within, remain secure until such time an authorised individuals wish to gain access, or a timetabled lesson indicates the room should become accessible.

Cashless Systems

Take payments from staff and students for goods and services without the need for cash. Our systems use either smart card or biometric technology to make payments quick and easy, reducing waiting times and the risk of theft or loss

Photocopier and Printer Control

Equipment on site such as photocopiers and printers are regularly used by staff and students. Wasted printing and copying results in excessive replacement of paper, toner, ink and other consumables. Cashless system cards allow for greater control and restrictions and encourage everyone to be less wasteful and more environmentally friendly.

Cashless catering

There will be no more forgotten dinner money and canteen queues with cashless catering systems. Your choice of smart card or biometric technology enables staff, students or their parents to load money on to the cashless catering system online. Payments are quick and secure and parents can monitor menus, food choices and total spending.

Over the years, the government has increasingly placed emphasis on educational establishments to improve security so we can safeguard our children, control access, secure buildings, classrooms and equipment, monitor and record attendance and reduce risk, for students and staff, with cashless payment systems. Smart cards provide educational establishments with fully integrated identification management systems that are designed to work with and enhance existing security and payment measures.

So, a smart card is basically an authentication token and is the ultimate descendant of plastic cards and magnetic stripe cards. The smart card is able to dynamically store and process several kilobytes of information. The card data is transacted though a card reader which is part of a computing system. The first smart-cards were introduced in Europe nearly three decades ago and now smart-cards are being used worldwide for a variety of daily tasks. The small size and the bend requirements of the smart card which are designed to protect it physically limit the memory and processing resources of the card. When used as the only identification system it is not excessively trustworthy as it can be easily stolen, lost or simply forgotten at home.

In our daily lives, for authentication we usually prefer a combination of something-we-have (e.g. smart card) and something-we-know (e.g. password). 

The fundamental security advantage of smart cards and other related secure technology permutations is that they have built-in features making it much more difficult for a would-be hacker to steal or alter the information stored. The second major feature is that since the chip has a microprocessor, “It has good computing power. It can run applications, it can do calculations, and it can generate unique data as part of a secure transaction.

That way, if someone were able to intercept or read that information through the chip, and tried to re-present that information a second time, the back-end system would detect that was a duplicate transaction and reject it. That technology is what makes smart cards effective.

Smart cards also have the ability to retain biometric information like facial or fingerprint identity. When one uses a smart card to access a building, and [the entry gate] wants to read information off the card, it would find there was fingerprint information in that card and have it checked against the original fingerprint in the card, and send the message back to see whether the match was successful.

As students move around the educational facilities, the card again is secure, from the standpoint that you can’t make a duplicate copy of the ID badge for example. It’s nearly impossible to alter or copy that information onto a second form of identity.

This is a general overview and understanding of school smart cards. Smart cards have the ability to serve various purposes and are useful to students, parents and school management in everyday school/educational life.

Smart Cards are the Smart Choice

So What is Next?

The ball is already rolling on the mobile front, a school/university mobile app that integrates a number of student services that include:

• Student grades
• ePurse balance and transactions
• Library loans
• Real-time parking data
• Sport facility information
• Promotions and discounts
• Student ID

The conversation surrounding smart cards on educational campuses is one that is met with reticence by some, but the reality is that educational institutions in other countries have been leveraging smart cards for decades. We ought to follow suit or end up playing catch up.

HID Global will soon support the rollout of student IDs on University campuses on iPhone and Apple Watch with Apple Wallet combined with HID technology in Assa Abloy locks as part of the broader technology solution.

Blackboard is bringing contactless student IDs to Apple wallet for campuses. This will offer secure access to facilities, residence halls and more, as well as payments for dining, laundry, vending and retail. This will be launched at the University of Alabama and the University of oklahoma USA this fall.Later to be launched at John Hopkins University, Santa Clara University and Temple University.

How many 'School/education smartcard portfolios' do you as a Smart Card Technology company have?

#Smartcards #Education #Schools #rfid #Schools #Authentication #Schoolmanagement

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