The Internet of Things in CS Education: Current Challenges and Future Potential

Smart devices are everywhere, and the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution is only in its infancy. In the Internet of Things, everyday objects share data over networks, with or without human intervention. Self-driving cars, sensing thermostats, door locks, pet feeders, light bulbs, wearables of all kinds, and smart materials for manufacturing all belong to the new Internet of Things, applying sensors and cloud computing to allow for object-to-object communication. As computer science educators, we will soon be teaching students how to develop and maintain IoT technologies. This presents enormous challenges and even greater opportunities. How will we integrate IoT concepts and technologies into existing curricula? How will we handle the mix of software and hardware topics that most IoT projects involve? How will we deal with the legal, social, and ethical issues? How will we choose from the growing number of IoT industry standards? What kinds of equipment and lab spaces are optimal for small, medium, and large-scale programs, and how will we budget for all this? What are the opportunities for interdisciplinary studies? How will we leverage the enthusiasm students feel when they create projects that go beyond text, beyond graphics, beyond virtual reality, and into the tactile, three-dimensional, realm of moving real-world objects? In this working group, we study and document the current state of IoT education and interview educators with IoT teaching experience. We will then make recommendations to help educators integrate IoT topics in computer science curricula.