Internet of Things (IoT) applications in education are changing the way we think about the interactions between students and teachers/professors, classrooms and curricula.
Teachers can now access information like how many students are on-task, how much time a student spends on an assignment, or what vocabulary words a student is using with just one click. The implications for these changes in both pedagogy styles and classroom interactions will be profound.
This is an article that explores IoT applications in education – their potential implications for classroom instruction, the benefits they offer to learners, and the possible drawbacks associated with such change.
What Are IoT Applications In Education
IoT applications in education are applications that enable educators to monitor and manage student activities in a classroom using instructor- or parent-chosen computer systems.
Examples of these applications include digital signs and visual display terminals (VDTs), or smart boards, that allow instructors immediate access to student activities from anywhere via a digital interface.
The market for IoT in education was estimated to be worth USD 6.05 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to rise to USD 26.80 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 20.06% from 2021 to 2028.
Benefits Of IoT Applications In Education
The education sector is always looking for ways to measure student learning progress and student attendance. The education process is constantly evolving, and educational institutions are constantly looking for ways to improve the process.
1. Provides Teachers With Real-Time Student Information
IoT applications in education enable educators to receive real-time information about the student activities taking place in a classroom. This allows for better quality instruction that is both more efficient and personalized.
For instance, teachers can now anticipate difficulties students may be having with a particular question, or can utilize this information to facilitate classroom discussions by explaining how “those” words/concepts are perceived differently by students of different learning backgrounds.
Teachers can also leverage this information to provide feedback to students through activity-based assignments, thereby facilitating student satisfaction and ultimately learning gains.
2. Allows Students To Fix Mistakes Faster
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IoT applications in education allow students to quickly understand where they went wrong when they make mistakes, and correct themselves without receiving a mark on the assignment. This saves teachers time (and paper) by reducing instances of teacher-grader feedback loops.
3. Help Achieve Better Class Management Through Real-Time Information Exchange
IoT applications in education allow teachers to exchange information with students and parents in real-time using digital modes of communication and collaboration. Smart classroom board systems can even automatically notify parents of student progress.
This helps ensure better class management by providing parents with current instruction curriculum and their child’s performance on ongoing assignments.
4. Help Achieve A More Positive School Climate
IoT applications in education can improve school climate by using digital information screens to inform students and teachers about student activity, class news, upcoming activities, notices from administration, etc.
This helps create a more positive environment in the classroom that promotes calm and preventative response to student issues. It also helps promote teacher-student communication about new assignments or classroom schedules.
5. Enable Teachers To Conduct Different Types Of Instructional Activities
IoT applications in education enable teachers to conduct different types of instructional activities that were previously not possible due to limitations on time, organization or space.
For instance, teachers can modify a classroom to create a more engaging learning environment by using smart boards, interactive whiteboards and floor displays. This enables the use of more hands-on activities and classroom simulations.
6. Increase Fidelity In The Classroom
High fidelity instruction increases teacher-student interaction in the classroom, thereby enhancing student learning gains.
This can be achieved through live demonstrations on IoT applications in education such as virtual reality enabled digital displays or holograms – all of which are made possible by connecting physical objects to computer terminals via sensors.
7. Increase Student Engagement
IoT applications in education increase student engagement by giving students the opportunity to interact with their teachers and peers. This allows students to get “hands on” with concepts as they are being explained and involves them in the classroom process, thereby enabling better learning outcomes.
For instance, video chat between parents and teachers or remote access to the classroom provided by a mobile app allow for real-time student information sharing and parent communication with teachers.
8. Improve Academic Performance
IoT applications in education can help improve academic performance across all learning areas such as language, mathematics, science and technology integration. They can also help students with special needs by providing them with more personalized attention, faster feedback, and easier access to the general curriculum.
Drawbacks Of IoT Applications In Education
The educational environment is a key factor in student learning progress. IoT education examples can provide educational assistance by monitoring and tracking student performance and providing feedback to educators in real-time.
This data can help identify areas where students need more assistance and help educators tailor their instruction to better meet the needs of their students.
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1. Teachers Can Become Overwhelmed by Data
The increasing quantity of data generated by IoT applications in education can overwhelm teachers. Teachers may have a hard time extracting meaningful information from this data to help them focus on critical problems in their classroom (such as class management issues or student engagement issues).
Teachers may also end up spending too much time trying to make sense of this data and not enough time on meeting their students’ individual needs.
2. Students May Become Overwhelmed By Information
A smartphone is owned by 83.2% of all 12- to 17-year-olds, according to an eMarketer estimate.
The amount of digital information available to students using IoT applications in education can also be overwhelming. This can lead to students spending unnecessary time on meaningless tasks or missing out on the learning outcomes that will help them succeed in the future.
3. Maintaining Digital Prototyping Hardware For Long-Term Usage Can Be Costly
While IoT applications in education can help educators achieve a more personalized learning experience for their students, maintaining hardware such as digital displays for long-term classroom usage may prove too costly for many schools and school districts.
Schools may also experience problems with equipment maintenance and repairs – especially if the technology is new and not yet widely used.
Risks Of IoT Applications In Education
There is a growing trend of using data collection and IoT in education, specifically to help disabled students. By automatically suggesting academic topics and learning materials, educators can better tailor their instruction to the needs of each individual student.
This personalized approach has the potential to greatly improve educational outcomes for disabled students.
Additionally, 31.0% of parents and 73.0% of parents reported that their children had smartphones between the ages of 6 and 10 respectively.
1. Legal Issues
IoT applications in education can create legal issues if the information shared by students or teachers with other students or parents is deemed private under certain customer contracts.
For instance, if a company sells educational software to schools and it comes with the right to use student information for the purpose of promoting its product, then this right may be considered a breach of contract by many customer contracts.
2. Ecosystem Change
In addition to legal issues that may occur with data privacy and security, there is risk involved with disrupting current product ecosystems such as classroom management systems that have been in place for decades.
For instance, many schools use classroom management systems such as Blackboard and Qualtrics to manage their classrooms. The use of this technology may need to be modified or rebuilt entirely in order to integrate with the new IoT solutions.
Not only will this cost money, but it may also be disruptive and uncomfortable for school administrators.
3. Regulatory Compliance
The use of IoT applications in education requires additional regulatory compliance beyond that of most traditional computing applications.
For example, many states require schools to have a cyber security plan that sets forth specific rules for how networks are secured and monitored as well as when teachers can access students’ information.
In addition, school districts may require teachers to undergo specific training programs in order to use IoT applications in their classrooms, or have a board policy that requires all teachers to utilize such applications.
4. Cost
The cost of IoT-enabled hardware is also a pitfall for many schools and school districts who may not have the funds to purchase new technology. Not only is there an up-front cost of buying these new devices, but there’s an ongoing cost of operating these devices as well.
The operating costs of these devices may also be prohibitively expensive as they are often more energy intensive than traditional computing devices such as laptops, desktops and mobile phones.
5. Regulatory Concerns
As mentioned before, some states require teachers to use specific devices for accessing student information and creating digital content.
For instance, teachers in schools across the country still use desktops and laptops to access students’ information, but are now required by many states to also use tablets such as iPads in order to create digital content.
For some teachers, purchasing and operating classroom devices such as mobile phones may not have been economically feasible or acceptable in the past due to these additional regulatory requirements.
6. Disruption Of Business Ecosystems
The disruption of existing business ecosystems can be disruptive for many companies. For instance, many schools use classroom management systems such as Blackboard and Qualtrics to manage their classrooms.
The use of this technology may need to be modified or rebuilt entirely in order to integrate with the new IoT solutions. Not only will this cost money, but it may also be disruptive and uncomfortable for school administrators.
7. Security Concerns
While valuable information can be gleaned from the data that is collected by IoT devices in school, there are also some concerns about the security of this information.
As mentioned before, teachers and students alike share information about themselves and their students with each other on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
If a teacher or student uploaded a photo to one of these sites, then this could be viewed by teachers and other students without their consent.
8. Cost Of Deployment
Paper costs an average school $200,000 a year, or 10% of their budget, but reusable technology would fully eliminate that expense.
Deploying IoT solutions in schools may not be as cost effective as companies would like to believe. This is especially true for companies who require the installation of additional hardware such as digital displays or cameras at multiple locations on campus.
This adds additional cost to an already expensive solution, and may not give rise to the desired ROI that companies are looking for.
Future Of IoT Applications In Education
As IoT technology becomes more affordable and ubiquitous, it’s likely that the cost of deploying these solutions will become easier for companies as well.
At this point, the primary benefit of implementing IoT applications in education would be a measurable ROI in terms of student achievement or teacher productivity.
It’s not yet clear how this discrepancy between the need for IoT technology and the actual application will be addressed, but it is certain to develop as time goes on.
Last Updated on September 26, 2023 by Parina Parmar
