The fall term at my local university , where over forty thousand students will descend onto the campus, will begin shortly and it seems like a Nunchi style system would fill a great need. Although I only teach a couple of advanced electrical engineering courses to graduate students as a part-time instructor, I notice the bewilderment in the eyes of the freshman who are thrust into a confusing and stressful environment for the first time.

If there was an app that could be utilized by the students that would automatically load their smartphone calendar with their class schedule, and then using GPS could direct the student to the correct class location at an appropriate time. This app would also turn off the phone ringer and politely respond to any callers and texters that the student is currently attending a lecture and will return the call or text after class. The course professor could also use this same technology to automatically take attendance, and upload the days assignments and due dates to each smartphone.

For my students it would be nice for them to check the availability of space in the electronics lab to work on their assignments, or to notify them when space becomes available. I would also like to know how much time students spent on each lab assignment, as I could give extra help to those expending more time than average. Since I have to spend most of my day at my regular job, this app could also notify students of my limited time available if they need extra help outside normal course hours.

There are many possibilities for a Nunchi style app in a university environment as well as a corporate environment.