Internet of Things in Education, teach and learn.

Do you think technology could be beneficial within our education system? Could it be used successfully as a positive learning experience for our students? I have a very positive, perhaps even naive, idea of the possibilities that technology could bring to improve our current education system. Not as a replacement but more as an aid, both to teachers and students.

One of this year’s buzzwords has been the ‘Internet of Things’ or ‘IoT’. It has been said to be a $1,423,09 billion dollar market with 50 billion connected ‘things’ by 2020!

So, what exactly does that mean, ‘Internet of Things’?

Well, imagine waking up on a cold early morning… Wouldn’t it be nice if the heater is on, and the coffee maker is brewing your cup of coffee even before you make it into the kitchen? With the Internet of Things this can and is becoming a reality. However, the world is much bigger than smart household appliances! Internet of Things has already made its way into other industries as well. For example, healthcare with Philips’s eICU or the Bee+, a smart Insulin injection tracker developed by Vigilant. This time lets dive into Education!

Teach, and learn about IoT.

IoT can provide many opportunities for education, students and teachers alike. I talked to Jeroen van der Ham, System and Network Engineering department at the University of Amsterdam, about IoT and education. At the UvA, Internet of Things is part of different curriculums. Jeroen wants to “make the Internet of Things more accessible to [his] students” and one of the devices he purchased is a set of WunderBars for teaching IoT. Jeroen said it gave him some ideas of how they could implement the WunderBar in Education:

• “Use them as an example of sensor networks and clouds, and we will probably allow students to use them for projects.”
• “A possibility could be research into iBeacon or gathering sensor data for other kinds of research.”
• “Giving students the option to not only work with monitor interfaces, but also other sensors and to be creative in that.”
• ”Exploring the options that cheap electronics have to offer.”

Learn, and use IoT as a teaching aid.

According to Chad Jones, VP Product Strategy at Xively, “it’s critical that schools understand how to leverage the Internet of Things so they can enhance the quality of education and prepare students to be active contributors to, and beneficiaries of, this 21st-century industrial revolution.” IoT could be used to enhance a student’s learning experience. In the UK, eight schools are already participating in a study on how IoT could enhance learning in science, geography and technology subjects!

I am interested in what your thoughts on Educational Technology are!

Leave a comment and let me know what connected devices/apps you think could improve education today.