The Internet of Things (IoT) has huge disruptive potential for many aspects of life, including education. This presentation, presented at the ALT-C conference 2015, looks at some of the key IoT technologies and how they might be used in an educational context.

1. Exploring the
Educational Potential
of the
Internet of Things
Farzana Latif, TEL Manager, University of Sheffield
Dr. Ian Glover, Senior Lecturer in TEL, Sheffield Hallam
University @farzanalatif & @irglover

2. Session Overview
◇ What is the IoT (brief history)
◇ Why is it important?
◇ Current Examples
◇ Relevance to Education - Activities
◇ Next Steps - Steering Development
#altc #IoT

3. What is it?
The Internet of Things
(IoT) refers to devices
and sensors that are
able to communicate
directly with other
devices using internet
technologies.
Data is transmitted
between devices /
sensors, processed
and acted upon,
usually resulting in
changes to some
(other) devices, often
without human
intervention.#altc #IoT

5. Background
◇ Terms: Internet of Everything, Network of
Everything, Machine to Machine (M2M)
communication, Mesh Networks
◇ Represents ideas that have existed since the start
of the web.
◇ Technology Advances:
￭ Closed to Open Systems
￭ New Protocols (TCP/IPv6, Bluetooth LE)
￭ Cheaper hardware & sensors
￮ Increasingly electronic devices are being
developed with multiple sensors in them.#altc #IoT

6. Why is it important?

7. A Growing Trend
◇ UK Government’s 2015 Budget
◇ 2015 NMC Horizon Report
◇ Specialist degree courses
￭ Staffordshire University (with HP)
￭ Waterford Institute of Technology
◇ Growth of the ‘Maker’ and ‘Maker Movement’
◇ In five years all Samsung hardware will be IoT-ready
(Samsung, 2015)
#altc #IoT

8. Huge Disruptive Potential
◇ Changing how we interact with devices
◇ Altering our environment algorithmically
◇ Represents a move from all-purpose devices, to
single purpose ones with integration software
◇ >26 Billion connected devices by 2020 (Gartner,
2014)
#altc #IoT

9. IoT in Everyday Life
◇ Fitness/Smart Wear
◇ Health care
◇ Cars - wireless control systems
￭ In five years, there will be 250 million connected cars on the road as the
Internet of Things grows to include 25 billion devices (Davidson, 2015)
◇ Weather monitoring - Smart Citizen
◇ Smart homes - Nest thermostat
◇ Smart cities - smart road signs
#altc #IoT

10. Some IoT Technologies

11. Connected Appliances
Connected Appliances are consumer devices that
are able to communicate their status when
requested by other devices, and/or can have their
settings modified by others.
Potential Use:
A control hub in a classroom uses infrared sensors
to identify the type and location of activity in the
room and adjusts the lights and temperature
accordingly.#altc #IoT

12. #altc #IoT
Connected Appliances
The (clichéd) Smart Fridge (e.g. LG’s Smart ThinQ)

13. Connected Appliances
App-controlled kettle (e.g. iKettle)
Mood Lighting (e.g. Philips’ Hue)
App-controlled Boiler (e.g. British Gas’ Hive)
Connected Buttons (e.g. Amazon’s Dash, bttn)
#altc #IoT

14. Connected Appliances
Connected Teaching Spaces (e.g. The George
Washington Uni )
Smart Universities (University of Warwick)
#altc #IoT

15. Connected Appliances
◇ Fitness/Personal Analytics
(Quantified Self)
Wearables + IoT = powerful
#altc #IoT

16. Self Automation
◇ Self-automation - IFTTT, Zapier
#altc #IoT

17. NFC/RFID tags
Passive chips containing small
amounts of data, read by tapping
with a smartphone or dedicated
reader device.
Potential Use:
Interactive objects - tags attached to
objects allow learners to launch an
app to interact with relevant
resources by tapping with a
smartphone / tablet.
#altc #IoT

18. NFC/RFID tags
Embedded in Poster (access event info, staff
details)
University of Cordoba embedded NFC across the whole University
Location Based Activities (e.g. museum)
Attendance/Punctuality Checking
Locate books in library
Other Examples
Contactless payment / keys
Bluetooth music systems
ePassports
#altc #IoT

19. Beacons
Actively broadcasts its existence to devices within
range, generally using Bluetooth. Apps launch a feature
or display content when within the proximity of a known
beacon, or use to triangulate their location indoors.
Easily added to an existing environment.
Potential Use:
Hyper-Situated Learning - short-range beacons launch
materials to provide scenarios and hands-on materials
for using a variety of specialist workstations (labs,
museums).

20. Beacons
Treasure hunts/learning labs (combine with AR)
Attendance monitoring (Uni of Sheffield)
Location-based messaging / announcements
Recruitment events (Uni of Bradford)
Other Examples
Entertainment venue promotions
Timetable information at bus stops
Advertising products in shops
Indoor positioning#altc #IoT

21. Activity
◇ In groups, think of a situation
within an education context
◇ What would be the purpose of
introducing IoT technologies?
◇ What data would you need?
◇ Share your discussions
#altc #IoT
Example Data
Barometer, Blood pressure,
Device status(es), Heart-rate,
Human input, Humidity,
Infrared, Light level, Location,
Movement, NFC tag,
Online data, RFID, Sound,
Temperature, Time,
Video data, Wind speed
Try out some of the technologies.

22. Are there any other examples
that you know and want to
share?
#altc #IoT

23. Uses in Education
◇ Passive Environmental Personalisation
￭ Connected equipment can adapt automatically to
activity and preferences (e.g. study efficiently)
◇ Hypersituated Learning
￭ New ways to interact with and within spaces
￮ e-World Cafes, NFC posters
￭ ‘Classroom without walls.’
◇ New Learning Experiences
￭ Create interactions between objects
￭ Draw upon many data sources and types#altc #IoT

24. #altc #IoT

25. Challenges/Concerns
Ethical concerns
◇ Equity (socio-economic
divides)
◇ Privacy and Trust
◇ Human redundancy
◇ Wider Knowledge vs
Less Depth
◇ Empowerment vs
Disempowerment
Technical issues
◇ Security (cars, baby
monitors)
◇ Need for standards
◇ Large-scale rollout(buildings,
secure placement)
◇ Software updates
Anything else: discuss in groups, tweet, etc.#altc #IoT

26. How can this community help
ensure that the development of
the IoT is useful for Education?
#altc #IoT

27. Summary
◇ IoT has potential to transform the way
technology works for us
￭ including in Education
◇ The technology is already with us:
￭ we need to start talking about how we can
harness it
￭ we need to think about the ethics and
privacy issues around its use
￭ we should try out the tech in our contexts
#altc #IoT

28. Any questions?
You can find us at:
● @farzanalatif & @irglover
● farzana.latif@sheffield.ac.uk & i.glover@shu.ac.uk
Thanks!
#altc #IoT

29. Useful Links
Nesta: Design and the IoT
http://www.nesta.org.
uk/node/756
Internet of Things
Consortium http://iofthings.
org/
If This Then That
http://www.ifttt.com
Eddystone beacon info
http://arstechnica.
com/gadgets/2015/07/meet-
googles-eddystone-a-flexible-
open-source-ibeacon-fighter/
#altc #IoT

30. Useful Links
Beacons Demystified [video]
https://vimeo.com/99382488
European Research Cluster on
IoT
http://www.internet-of-things-
research.eu
Internet of School Things
http://iotschool.org/
Windows 10 IoT edition for
Raspberry Pi
https://www.raspberrypi.
org/blog/windows-10-for-iot/
Raspberry Pi iBeacon guide:
https://learn.adafruit.
com/downloads/pdf/pibeaco
n-ibeacon-with-a-raspberry-
pi.pdf
#altc #IoT

31. Credits
● Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
#altc #IoT