Blugold cards, the identification cards used by students, faculty, and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, have now gone digital. With the new system, the cards can be accessed via smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches.
According to Kent Gerberich, the CIO and Director of the university’s Learning and Technology Services, the digital ID can be used anywhere that the physical Blugold ID card can be used.
The digital ID project took over a year to complete and was overseen by Gerberich. The biggest challenge was updating all of the doors on campus to allow the digital ID to be used. Gerberich added that there are ongoing discussions about whether the digital ID will eventually replace the physical card as the primary form of identification.
Gerberich has assured users that the digital ID is secure as long as the user’s phone is password-locked or has some other form of authentication, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning. Joseph Dokken, the school’s Information Technology Commission Director, emphasized to the student paper that the credentials “are storied in the same place where your credit cards are,” asserting, “These mobile IDs are very safe.”
The digital ID system has received positive feedback from users. Dokken, who had forgotten his physical card a few times, said that the digital ID has “come in handy” for him.
UW-Eau Claire is now one of many higher education institutions that have embraced mobile ID technology, with Penn State and Australia’s Monash University being other recent examples.
Source: The Spectator
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