“Internet of Everything” creates huge opportunities for higher education 
The "Internet of Everything" has great potential for students, teachers and administrators, improving experiences and outcomes across a variety of disciplines. Electronic textbooks, for example, can be monitored and tracked, and based on usage data, selected chapters rather than the whole books can be purchased. Teachers can monitor in real-time student engagement, performance, retention and outcomes; administrators can view the entire campus operation of networks, improving safety and security. However, costs, implementation and cyber-security will be ongoing challenges.

C-Level View | Feature

Page 2 of 3

From IoT to IoE: More Ways for Institutions to Connect to Everything

Another example is related to textbooks. When we were using traditional hard bound and paperback books, it was very difficult to gauge where, when, and what students were reading, in the course material, as well as what content was being skipped. And it was hard to find out, without testing, which concepts were not being understood by the students. With our ability to track and monitor electronic textbook usage, we can get data on these things in real time. This not only helps inform and improve the teaching and learning process, but it also helps us to utilize our resources in much more efficient ways. One of the benefits of this is that we now can purchase just selected chapters and content from books versus having students pay for the entire book.

Grush: Are there different levels of use of the IoE, such as faculty versus administrators? And are there differences in how IoE is used, by discipline?

Melton: As an administrator, using the IoE, you are looking at a holistic view of the entire campus operations of networks, teaching, learning, and services. You are not usually looking so much at a particular course — you are concerned with a whole program in regards to its alignment with student performance, retention, health, and safety. For example, one of our campuses noticed an increase in calls regarding safety and security issues. So, the administrator pulled data (on demand and now in real time through IoE) from not only their internal cameras, but from external community surveillance sensors, law enforcement data, and other connected sources, including campus mobile devices that could help provide insight as to the 'what', 'when', and 'where' of incidents and how campus security systems and safety procedures were working, or not working well, overall or in selected areas on the campus.

A faculty member using the IoE would more likely be concentrating on the lesson at hand and on what specifically is going on in their classroom — especially in the areas of student engagement, performance, retention, and outcomes. An example from a science lab showed us how the instructor could monitor lab use with IoE applications, both to track and improve student learning and to keep up on supplies.

And yes, there are differences in how these technologies are being embraced and utilized in the disciplines. The STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) are at the top in terms of adoption, with the medical field being early adopters. I'll give you an example from a physical therapy lab, where there are IoE wearables such as smart shoes, clothes, and sensored adaptive devices. There are even innovative sensored therapy floors now, that can share data on how, when, and where clients are walking — allowing therapists to track progress with their therapy. So, therapists and their student interns can identify problems quickly, using real-time data from these smart floors and wearable medical devices. Also in the medical field, we were fortunate to have helped evaluate and pilot several of the first smartphone and mobile phone-based blood pressure cups — not merely adopting the technology for use on our campuses, but providing a test bed and feedback for the technology’s development and validity out in the field.

I can add that even my own shoes, clothes, smartphones, earphones, and my watch are now keeping track of my follow-through on commitments I've made to exercise, getting fit, and eating healthy — when I don't keep it up, my shoes and devices will send a message to my phone to get up and get moving!

I'll give you an intriguing example from physical education: I have a smart basketball. It will coach me by talking me through what I need to do to improve my techniques. And, when the ball is communicating with me, it is also letting the instructor know how I am doing in real time, so my human coach can immediately intervene.