In today’s pedagogical environment, the ways learners learn are changing fast. This, of course, creates a number of concomitant effects, not the least of which is that teachers must evolve to keep pace with both the rapid pedagogical developments catalysed by technological innovation, and the social changes that come with it.

One of the most impactful, but least well-understood, of the recent developments reshaping the educational landscape is the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT references the accelerating transformation of our experience by the growing presence of internet-enabled devices in an increasing proportion of our everyday lives – both inside and outside the workplace. The list includes smartphones, tablets, laptops, headphones, lamps, wearable devices—really all machines connected to the web and increasingly interconnected in an integrated, data-sharing network. According to analysts, there will be 26 billion connected devices by 2020, perhaps more.

The ways that being constantly plugged into the internet will impact our lifestyles, pedagogy and relationships remains uncertain. We’re as yet unable to foresee all of its consequences, even just in the world of education, in this discussion. We will take a selective, brief, but careful look at how technology, particularly the IoT, might impact educational spaces, shape teaching and learning experiences, and be harnessed to promote, or used to undermine, good educational outcomes.

Some Benefits

There are many potential advantages to internet-enabled, digitally interconnected learning spaces. Instant access to the wealth of information available online is a clear asset for teachers or students wishing to examine topics requiring use of news coverage, empirical study, or existing literature. Amply armed with such resources, and with the knowledge that students can access all content on their own device, an educator can help tailor lesson plans and learning experiences to students’ particular aptitudes, needs, and interests.

Another clear benefit that might be derived from IoT education is that content delivery can happen remotely, using web conferencing software or messenger apps to expand the scope and settings for teacher/student interactions.

IoT also promises to streamline administrative tasks like taking classroom attendance, which can be done with digital wristbands worn by students.

Even school security can be partly outsourced to smart systems that use facial recognition software to identify unauthorized persons on campus, with security personnel in receipt of the data.

Some Costs

The foremost potential drawback of IoT in education is the disparate social and economic costs that might be incurred by different populations.

Specifically, high levels of technology adoption have great potential to leave less wealthy states and school districts behind. Underserved communities already have a notoriously difficult time keeping up with their better-funded counterparts, and it’s a safe bet that equipping classrooms with IoT will be expensive, at least for the foreseeable future, until implementation is better-able to occur at scale. Transitioning to IoT-driven education risks deepening already problematic levels of socio-economic inequality between communities, thus reinforcing unequal access to the best educational opportunities our society can provide its members.

A less politically charged issue arising from the potential transition to IoT-dominated learning spaces is that, as yet, there is no quick and easy way to make all the different devices used in those spaces compatible with one another. This is because smart devices are made by a variety of different manufacturers with rival proprietary software and other IP, and they do not always prove able to interact well.

And finally, as we were all recently reminded, any complex data network is vulnerable to hacking and other forms of cyber-attack.

Some Promising Research

Although very little rigorous research has been done as yet on IoT uses in education, in February 2018, Curtin University released a study examining the risks and benefits of IoT specifically for students with disabilities in higher education. The researchers’ forecast was cautiously optimistic. They found that IoT potentially offers greater inclusion and customized learning for students with disabilities, given its ability to adapt communication and information delivery to meet the needs of individuals, as contrasted with traditional learning formats that compel individuals to adapt to fixed and potentially inaccessible models or environments.

Like a range of emerging technologies, IoT promises to offer a range of propitious new possibilities for education. But as our society and our learning spaces become ever-more connected, so does the need for continued study and discussion of the emerging effects of The Internet of Things – both inside and outside the classroom – increase.

Christian Golden, PhD, writes about tips and trends in digital marketing and social media for TrustRadius. He is a philosopher by day who loves teaching and digging into the big questions. His extracurricular interests include making music, reading comics, watching (really old) movies, and being in the great outdoors.