In this paper we present human work interaction design challenges and opportunities for the vision of the Smart University as a platform that provides foundational context data to deliver the university of the future. While learning analytics have enabled access to digital footprints of student activities and progress in terms of data such as demographics, grades, recruitment and performance, they cannot provide information about activities and interaction in the physical study and work spaces in a university. The smart university proposes a novel platform that will provide context aware information to students through the integration of learning analytics with data sensed using cyber-physical devices in order to provide a holistic view of the environments that universities offer to students. However, designing the interaction of students and staff in the smart university ecology of information and sensing devices requires an understanding of how they work as individuals, as members of teams and communities. Through two use cases we illustrate how insights obtained from social cognitive work analysis can be used for the design guidelines of the different interfaces part of the smart university ecology.