PLEQ: a better campus experience for students

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15 August 2024

PLEQ - the app that helps you find a place to study on campus - is still going strong 18 months after its launch. The latest results show a more even spread of students across study facilities and a better distribution of crowds across buildings. PLEQ combines the convenience of an app with privacy-friendly sensor technology.

Wishes and goals

The annual National Student Survey has long indicated that overcrowded study areas are a source of discontent among students. A real-time overview of available study spaces and related facilities has been high on their wishlist for some time. First-year students in particular have a hard time finding their way around campus and locating a suitable place to study. Students have also expressed the wish for more social interaction. In short, they are looking for a better campus experience.

One of the university's goals is to make the best possible use of existing study areas. This can be both sustainable and cost-effective by doing away with the need to create additional facilities. To meet these needs, the Corporate Real Estate and Facilities department developed PLEQ in collaboration withstart-upOmnia.

PLEQ's key features

PLEQ is an app whose main features include an interactive 3D campus map, an overview of study spots available, real-time crowding information, recommendations for suitable study spots and a feature that gives students the chance to rate study spots.

Success factors and results

A number of factors have contributed to the success of PLEQ, including the involvement of a student panel, promotion through panels and a VU Instagram post about the launch. Privacy is an important consideration: PLEQ's sensors only register the number of people present in a space without capturing information that would make them identifiable. But the choice of a web application that is faster and easier to use than a regular app, has also been crucial to its success.

Today almost half of the university's students use the app on a monthly basis. PLEQ's recommendation function directs around 400 students a day to underused and lesser-known parts of the campus. This means that students try other buildings and discover study areas they might never have encountered, rather than lingering in peak locations such as the Main Building. By distributing crowds more evenly, the app has led to a better campus experience.

Sociable learning environment

PLEQ also helps create a more sociable learning environment. It enables you to share a location with fellow students and invite them to join you using WhatsApp, for example. And by continuing to distribute students more effectively across our campus, we can make space for more students in our existing buildings, reducing the need to invest in new facilities.

The app also shows the route to the study spots from the main entrance of the relevant building.