Mobile success could depend on this often-overlooked campus service

Technology repair services on campuses will likely be seen as a higher-ed essential critical to boosting outcomes and helping students save time.

You can’t use what doesn’t work. But this “duh” technology problem is more than just a frustration on today’s campuses–it can lead to significant time lost during and after class, ultimately affecting student outcomes.

And it’s this time loss problem that’s leading a growing number of college bookstores to offer on-campus tech repair services to fix damages and minimize the time students are without their devices (should accidents happen).

As the use of technology in education continues to grow, and as students have become increasingly reliant on their smart phones, tablets and laptops, it’s never been more critical to ensure students can successfully and efficiently complete their school work in a timely manner.

According to recent research from McGraw-Hill Education, 48 percent of students definitively said technology saves them time while studying. Moreover, 77 percent of those students indicated technology saves them two to five hours per week or more.

But what if a student breaks one of their all-important devices?

“I don’t know how you could do well in school without technology today,” said Chuck Morrison, COO of technology repair company Staymobile. “Access to technology is essential, and it’s a lifeline in some senses as a lot of classes don’t even use textbooks anymore. It would be very challenging not to have any devices and get through college, and that’s happened pretty fast. You wouldn’t have said the same thing 10 years ago.”

Whether it’s a cracked screen on a phone or a virus on a laptop, the importance of quality repair services to alleviate problems such as these that students often face can not be understated moving forward, especially during important times such as finals week or simply when working on a group presentation.

Also, when technology repair services become readily available, students and even faculty often feel more comfortable about adopting new devices and software, due to the knowledge that they will be protected should anything go wrong.

“Having proper technology repair will be almost an essential service going forward on campuses,” said Morrison.

(Next page: Georgia Southern University’s tech repair service; the most common repairs needed)