Interactive And Collaborative Experimental Platforms For Teaching Introductory Internet Of Things Concepts

The traditional approach to teaching computer system and IOT involves the presentation of a large amount of theoretical and mathematical data and materials to students. The common approach is a theoretical explanation of the principles, on the whiteboard and if possible, with the use of graphical animations. The main issue in this area is raising interactivity and getting collaboration between students on project assignments. In this paper, authors are proposing more interactive approach that could be beneficial to teachers of related subjects. Presented are the results of using software and simulating tools (in combination with Arduino hardware development solution) for teaching collaboratively and interactively courses related to IoT. The paper presents ideas for implementation of practical and experimental project assignments, student engagement and collaboration. The paper also presents the results of authors after applying this approach to one generation of students. The application access with practical assignments gave markedly better results, measured through student engagement, classroom attendance and distribution of student results. In this manner, the students had a better understanding of the basics of the microcontrollers, sensors, IoT and were willing to engage in programming of microcontrollers at the lower level. Students have also shown better results in closely related courses such as the courses of operating systems. In addition, some students continued to use IoT platforms for future projects (in college or practice).