Purpose

Image courtesy of SmartDataCollective

According to Benson Hougland's presentation, "What is the Internet of Things? And why should you care?" the Internet of Things (IoT) has major potential for advancements in the medical community. Hougland gives the example that wearable technology such as FitBits could monitor more than just your sleep habits -- they could check your vital statistics & if anything went awry (heart attack, for example), these medical bracelets could contact the hospital, transmit your information to a doctor, and then the doctor could immediately dispatch an ambulance to your home while providing all of the necessary information to the paramedics. It isn't as far-fetched as it sounds when you think about the fact that we already have the beginnings of such technology available today, from OnStar technology in our cars to Life Alert necklaces and fitness bracelets.

The Internet of Everything will change a number of things about our educational system. According to the ZDNet article, "How will the Internet of Everything change education by 2018?" students with special needs will be able to use this technology to improve their learning experience. Students with ADHD could have devices that sense various activities in the brain and help in training them to stay on task. Robert Lutz's article, "Implications of the Internet of Things for Education," also touches on its uses involving students with special needs, giving the example that visually impaired students could have an identification card that "when registered by a computer, automatically increases font size."

Not only does IoT have the potential to change the way we teach our students, it can also change what we spend our time teaching. In the article, "Beyond Online Classes: How the Internet of Everything is Transforming Education," author Dave Evans explains how the concepts that we teach will shift from delivering information (something that will no longer be necessary when that information is constantly available at our fingertips) to spending more time teaching students how to interpret and analyze that information so that they can extract knowledge from the data.

Evans also explains that distance will no longer limit learning. With the increased connectivity and ability to monitor any object or place with a number of different sensors, virtual field trips will actually be able to provide an experience that is close to physically being in that location. The current line that we experience between the digital and physical world will continue to blur until their integration feels almost seamless.