EDET 678 Emerging
Technologies
Week 5 Blog
Essential
Question: Design an object that could be classified as belonging to “The
Internet of Things” and describe how it could contribute to your classroom.
I have
never heard the term Internet of Things, IoT, until I read the articles
provided for us. According to Kobie, IoT is “about connecting devices over the
internet, letting them talk to us, applications, and each other.” (2015) For
example, my Apple products all speak to each other through the internet and my
Apple ID that I have on each device. I recently bought a new cellphone and to
confirm my identity for using my Apple ID on this new product, Apple sent my
computer a code that I would need to input to the phone. I also can push
different material such as a book that I am reading on Kindle to any of my
devices (iPhone, MacBook Air, or iPad). Now when I don’t have my computer and I
am bored at the dentist, I can read my textbook that is located on my computer
but rather on my phone. The great part of this IoT, my security is protected
and it is easy to work between various devices.
The
possibilities when it comes to IoT in the classroom is endless and Meyers gives
an example in his article that shows how powerful IoT can be when used
properly. “Imagine how pattern recognition software or data analytics might add
to the teacher’s contextual understanding by then mapping the record of
behavioral incidents against a student’s cognitive activity, heart rate, or the
classroom temperature.” (2014) How many times have I wanted to know what
factors create behaviors to be more frequent within students. This got me to
thinking that IoT’s should be researched and approached in coming up with ways
to solve problems within the classroom.
After
talking to my friend who is an elementary teacher about what is a problem in
her classroom that maybe I can tackle in how to fix the problem or support the
teacher in fixing the problem. She confided in me that behavior is a major
problem in her classroom and managing the students’ physical behavior is a big
part of that. SO we started brainstorming and we have thought of a chair and
ground piece (near the feet) that tracks the movements of the students and has
mechanics on it to let them fidget around without distracting other students. The
IoT part of this technology is that it is connected to a teacher’s iWatch,
iPad, or any device and provides data on all of the students’ movements. It
might show that Jimmy can only stay focused and sitting still for a 30 minute
time period and Jill has a hard time staying awake around 2 pm every single
day. This might give the teacher more of an idea on how to create a schedule
either for the whole class or the individual students of which they can stay
focused or not misbehave. It is true that a teacher can do this without a “super
chair” but its helpful to have the data already created for the teacher.
References:
Kobie, N. (2013).
What is the internet of things? The
Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/06/what-is-the-internet-of-things-google
Meyers, M. (2014)
Can the internet of things make education
more student-focused? Deloitte Development LLC. Retrieved from http://government-2020.dupress.com/can-internet-things-make-education-student-focused/
photo retrieved from http://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=%2bXhfvNhK&id=179FBC870E8B683E265521B9E9A4E1887BDC3B9E&thid=OIP.-XhfvNhKM0OUnE0wraIIvAEsDg&q=chair+of+the+future&simid=608034097828004930&selectedIndex=4&ajaxhist=0
I love this idea. I especially like that you brought up that not only would this collect data, but that it would also allow the opportunity to fidget. I often find myself giving students a hard time about doodling or fidgeting when I give instructions, but when I am in the role of a student, these things actually help me to focus. So instead of fighting against it, how can we make room for it and get data out of it too!
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh at the chair picture. Just how much we want the chair to collect is questionable. I like the idea, but have to wonder about it. Maybe a simple wristband would do the trick.
ReplyDelete