MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION

SCIENCES

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS

TECHNOLOGY

P.O BOX 7062, KAMPALA, UGANDA

BACHELOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND

TECHNOLOGY
(BIST-EVE YEAR 1)

GROUP ASSIGNMENT TWO

EMERGING TRENDS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND

TECHNOLOGY
LECTURER: MR. JACOB KATENDE

BY: GROUP A
 GROUP MEMBERS

NO. NAME REG.NO

1 LARRY EKINI 22/U/3300/EVE
2 GANYANA EMMAMUEL 22/U/5059/EVE
3 KEMIGISA ANNET 22/U/3224/EVE
4 RWAKAKAIGA PHILMON 22/U/3795/EVE
5 TUMWESIGYE EZAT 22/U/3911/EVE
6 MUYANJA CHRIS RYAN 22/U/3469/EVE

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HOW CAN THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) BE
APPLIED IN EDUCATION?

Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a dynamic field that has a variety of its
applications in the field of education and learning. The adaptation of digital
tools is not just making education omnipresent but also transforming
traditional systems of education more efficient and inclusive.  Learning
platforms are evolving with live classes, pre-recorded lectures, and problem-
solving capacities all connected to a special server and software personalized
for educational use. The IoT is a complex wireless network of thousands of
devices connected to collect, create, share and receive all kinds of
information. These devices range from biochips to mobile phones to sensors
to a huge system monitoring all of them connected. Everything that is physical
and extends its qualities to a virtual space is a part of the internet of things.

Artificial Intelligence, augmented reality, big data, web-based system, smart

devices, and appliances all fall under this huge category as long as they
operate on the internet and have a software-based device equipped with that.
Keywords: Internet of things (IoT)

Introduction 

The education sector is one of the most adaptive and effective in terms of
deploying IoT devices to its usage, to make education more collaborative,
interactive, and accessible to all. IoT devices give students reliable access to
everything from learning materials to communication channels to good
understanding, and they give teachers the ability to measure student learning
progress in real-time. IoT just enables the shift in teaching methodology from
traditional to digital with several additional benefits and increased efficiency.
This can be used for teaching all the subjects ranging from languages to math
to teaching practical skills like medical sciences with the use of graphics and
animation to improve a better understanding of the subject matter. 

Internet of things in education include the following attendance devices, smart

boards, integrated alarm systems in schools, assessment checking tools,
cameras, school locks, everything can move from the physical world to the
central system-based control world and with automation. 

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Applications of Internet of things in Education

Technology has accelerated the dynamics and scope of learning, IoT is

transforming education to become effectively practical and in certain cases
surpass the boundaries of the institutes. 

1. Automated Attendance Recording

Attendance of students is a concern to the administration of many institutions

and that is an everyday task with no alternative. IoT can help in providing a
solution to this hefty task of recording attendance and calculating it for
various purposes.
 
The use of IoT Biometric attendance or barcode-based devices with the
identity card number of the student can be used to automatically record the
attendance as they enter the classroom. This shifts the concern of teachers to
teaching the students rather than conducting attendance sessions. This feature
can also be used in taking the attendance and lecture count of the teacher, the
school's helping staff can also record their entry and leaving timing using their
id and biometrics so that there is a clear track record of everything.

2. Evolving Methodologies
 
IoT in education, basically indicates the incorporation of digital and internet-
based smart devices for the students and teachers in educational institutes.
Modern-day education institutions are adapting devices like e-books which
can be downloaded and are available with zooming and saving features, and
smart used as a whiteboard to write with a marker and display topic-related
images and graphics to the students. Such devices are connected to a central
server that can control and monitor the syllabus-wise and topic-wise
categorization for the students.

Not just this, voice command systems for teachers, speech-to-text-based

note-taking systems for students, tablets, and smartphones with educational
applications are changing how the traditional schools and educational systems
have always operated.

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 3. Safety on Premises

Most institutions lack the infrastructure to detect red flags for theft, abuse,
sexual assault, and other crimes that occur within their premises, nor do they
have a proper contingency plan in case of a disaster or emergency.
IoT can help in solving such issues at a vast level, in case of any intolerable
activity that gets monitored on the camera, immediate action is taken due to a
network system that enables the camera recording to be displayed in security
control room. In case of any fire or short circuit, IoT-based sensors can activate
alarms and the location of the hazard is identified and action is taken.

Unauthorized access to the institution’s premises can be detected by use of

smart door locks via sensors and alerts can be turned on and help can be
called automatically. This will not just ensure safety but a relief in the
management systems which have to face such issues once in a while.
  
 
4. Distance Learning

Storing and formulating data in an application form with special software and
in the form of a sign-in feature of websites is a feature well known to IoT
devices that enables anyone from anywhere to access resources with a user id
and a password which can be provided by the institution to their distant
learners. This can help individuals who cannot be a part of a legit educational
institution but are interested in its educational course. Live classes, pre-
recorded classes, online timer-based assessment questions, and tracking of
time spent on the portal can all help in creating a comprehensive approach for
distant learners.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been the entire course of educational
institutions, making material online, open booklet-based assessment has
made it possible for students attain knowledge online at the comfort of their
homes.

5. Special need Education 

  
With the incorporation of IoT tools and smart devices, the educational
curriculum is being specially modified and classroom environments are being

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made sound and light-sensitive to cater to the special needs of students with
sensory disabilities.
 
For example, they can seek help from a system of sensor-connected gloves
and a tablet to generate verbal speech, translated from sign language which
the teachers can use while teaching the concepts extended to what's
mentioned in the books. 

6. Enhanced Interaction and Productivity 

 
Smartphone-based virtual application-based classes make the students more
interactive. When they can understand more and clearly as mentioned above
they are also able to think beyond the horizons of the classrooms and
communicate and voice their learning and doubts. This interaction-based
learning can in turn make the students keener about participation and
involvement in the assessments, activities, and even self-learning since all
reading materials, assignments can be delivered through their learning portals
such as the Makerere university e-learning environment (MUELE). 
 
They can even revise the taught topic again at their convenience from the
institution’s learning portal and be able to access the material provided by
them. This entire process is well suited for making the students productive as
well as enhancing their abilities.
 
7. Augmented Reality (AR) Systems 
 
AR has its own magic. It can change the way we interact with mobile apps and
other visual graphic experiences. Actually, Augmented Reality is capable of
augmenting computer-generated graphics into the real environment on
screen. It means if you move your mobile camera to space, AR enables you to
see a computer-generated object on your screen. Altogether, it happens in
real time while you view it from your camera. This technique can enable
students to learn in a more interactive environment.

Another aspect of the AR experience is that it includes 25% digital reality and
75% existing reality. It means it doesn't replace the complete environment
with the virtual; rather, it integrates virtual objects into the real world.

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With AR, classroom education can be extraordinary and more interactive, as
AR can enable teachers to show virtual examples of concepts and add gaming
elements to provide textbook material support. This will enable students to
learn faster and memorize information.
 
8. Monitoring 
 
Tracking of student’s progress is made possible through the various online
learning portal whether it’s being used from within the school premises or
from somewhere else, there is always an option to monitor the activities and
time spent by the student on a particular topic. The sensors of the Internet of
Things in education collect data and automatically suggest academic topics of
interest to the students for further learning processes. Task completions like
assessment, quizzes and online tests can be tracked and progress can also be
monitored
 
Devices can also be altered and designed in a way to support certain kinds of
applications and systems only with parental controls and teacher monitoring
features.

9. Gamification

This involves adding game mechanism into nongame environments, like a

website, online community, learning management systems etc. to increase
participation. The main goal of gamification in the education system is to
engage with the learners to inspire collaboration, sharing and active
interaction.

Gamification helps in providing learners with proactive directives and feedback

through game mechanism and game dynamics added to online portal or
systems that lead to accomplishment of learning tasks.

A compelling gamification experience taps into a learner’s emotions and

demonstrates, easily the best activities a learner can complete that can make
an impact on mutually shared goal. As a learners interreact with a gamification
program, they receive immediate feedback on performance and guided next
steps towards new achievements

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CONCLUSION

IoT solutions for education have come up with solutions to enhance the
quality of education across the globe by making it easy to understand and
available to all. IoT implementation in certain institutions is at their own pace
of adoption as it is an expensive investment.  
Of IoT's advantages and vast area of operation, this is worth investing in for
this sector. A lot of educational platforms are recently surfacing and that's
solely because IoT-enabled devices come with features of extended education
at convenient, easy-to-use, and safe platforms for teachers and students.

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 REFERENCES

1. Muskan “Applications of IoT in Education” Jun 09, 2021

https://www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/8-applications-iot-education
2. Shweta Sinha “Augmented Reality in Education: A Staggering Insight
Into The Future” January 2, 2021
https://elearningindustry.com/augmented-reality-in-education-
staggering-insight-into-future
3. Bi worldwide “What is gamification”
https://www.biworldwide.com/gamification/what-is-gamification/#:~:tex
t=Gamification%20is%20adding%20game%20mechanics,inspire
%20collaborate%2C%20share%20and%20interact

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IN WHAT WAYS HAS AI BEEN USED TO ENHANCE
LEARNING

Abstract: In recent years, Artificial intelligence has shown significant progress

and its potential is growing. An application of AI is in the education sector. The
use of various technologies such as Voice assistants, personalized learning,
Augmented reality where real world can be viewed virtually with help of smart
phones has greatly enhance the learning of students in various fields of
education.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence (AI)

Introduction

The 21st century generation has grown up with the privilege of having access
to technology at their fingertips, the arena of education has massively
revolutionized and overturned in this digitally driven world. One such
technology that has slowly paved its way into the world of education
is Artificial Intelligence (AI). While the Academic sector is still assumed to be a
largely human sector, more human than most, that doesn't reduce the
involvement of AI in this sphere. There is still a multitude of ways that teachers
and educational staff can gain from employing this technology.
 
Technology has overturned the world of learning as educational materials
become more accessible to all with the use of smart devices and computers
while also automating all complicated administrative tasks, allowing faculties
to invest more time in focusing on their students.

Applications of AI in learning

Although it's too early to expect our fantasies of getting to see humanoid
robots serving the role of teachers anytime soon, there are a whole plethora of
projects being introduced or worked on which are employing AI for aiding the
educational faculty as well as the students to get the most out of the

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educational experience.  Below are a handful of applications of AI in learning
which are helping in shaping and defining the educational experience of the
present and the future.
 
1. Personalized Learning
 
Artificial Intelligence is being employed for personalizing learning for each
student. With the employment of the hyper-personalization concept which is
enabled through machine learning, the AI technology is incorporated to
design a customized learning profile for each student and to tailor-make their
training materials, taking into consideration the mode of learning preferred by
the student, the student's ability and experience on an individual basis.
Teachers can break down their lessons into smaller study guides, smart notes,
or flashcards to help the student in understanding the concepts. With AI
assisting in generating digital content, learning is proposed to become more
digital and less reliant on paperbacks and hard copies.

AI-powered apps and systems help students in accessing instant and

customized responses as well as in getting their doubts cleared by their
teachers. AI is also playing a role in augmenting tutoring and designing
personal conversational, education assistants who can offer them aid in
education or assignment tasks. For instance, smart tutoring systems such as
Carnegie Learning offers instant feedback and works directly with students.
These education assistants are also attempting to improve their feature of
adaptive learning so that all the students are allowed to learn at their own
pace and at their own suitable time.
 
2. Voice assistants

Another AI component being employed by educators in learning is voice

assistant such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, etc.
These voice assistants allow the students to converse with educational
materials without the involvement of the teacher. They can be employed in
home and non-educational environments for facilitating interaction with
learning material or to access any extra learning assistance. 

Traditional methods of learning are slowly being discarded in the case of

higher education environments, with various universities and colleges offering
students voice assistants rather than the traditionally printed student
handbooks or complicated websites for assistance with their campus-related
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informational needs. Voice assistants supply answers to all common questions
regarding learning needs as well as for them to be customized for the
particular schedule and courses of each student. This helps in reducing the
requirement for internal support as well as cuts down the expense of printing
college handbooks that are only temporarily used.
 
The employment of these voice assistant systems breaks the monotony and
fetches an exciting prospect for the students.

 
3. Aiding administrative tasks
 
Teachers don't just battle the educational duties but are also handed the
responsibility of handling the classroom environment and dealing with a
variety of organizational tasks. Non-teaching duties which include evaluation
of essays, exam papers grading, paperwork, personnel-related issues etc. Since
educators are also involved in non-educational activities, AI systems have been
a crucial aid in dealing with back-office and task-related duties such as
grading tasks, facilitating personalized responses for students.

Alongside educators, the administrations have also been enjoying the AI

benefits by employing intelligent assistants to aid in various complicated
admin tasks such as budgeting, arranging student applications and
enrollments, and managing courses, HR-related topics, expenses as well as
facilities.
 
The AI-powered systems add to the efficiency of educational institutes,
reducing their operating costs and offer facility management. Using intelligent
AI-powered systems can greatly improve the efficiency of many learning
institutions, lower their operating costs and give them greater productivity

4. Breaking barriers 

Artificial intelligence tools and devices have been aiding in making global

classrooms accessible to all irrespective of their language or disabilities. These
programs are all-inclusive. 
 
For instance, Presentation Translator is a free PowerPoint plug-in that
develops subtitles in real-time of what the teacher is saying. This also helps aid
the sick absentees as well as students requiring a different pace or level when

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it comes to learning or even in case they wish to understand a particular
subject that is unavailable in their school. Barriers are being torn down like
never before.
 
5. Personalized learning
 
Adjusting learning based on the specific requirements of individual students
has been the priority of educators for years, yet AI will enable a differentiation
level, that is highly strenuous for teachers who have to handle 30 students in
every class.
 
Many companies like Content Technologies and Carnegie Learning are
presently developing intelligent instruction design and digital platforms which
adopt AI for offering learning, testing, and feedback to students from low level
learning to college level that offers them the challenges they are prepared for,
detects knowledge gaps, and redirects to fresh topics whenever suitable. 
 
6. Smart Content
 
AI revolutionizes the education industry by adding fresh approaches for
students to achieve success. Smart content is a pretty popular term among
teachers, institutions, students, and educators as it makes learning
simpler. Smart content simply implies varying types of virtual content that
include digitized guides of e-books, video conferencing as well as video
lectures.
The learning experience is enhanced by robots by developing customizable
learning interfaces and digital content that applies to students of different
grades, from low level education to high learning institutions.
 
An example of one such platform is Netex Learning. The platform enables
professors to develop, manage as well as update digital content in a single
location. It also encourages students with a high-impact learning experience
by enabling microlearning, skills mapping, as well as content
recommendations
 

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Conclusion 

Not so far in the future, we can expect Artificial Intelligence and machine
learning to occupy an integral place in all educational experiences. AI has
started to prove its advantages and power in a wide range of educational
areas, and it remains to be seen how the technology will empower and
enhance overall learning outcomes for all. 

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REFERENCES

1. Bhumika Dutta “AI-Based Learning Platforms in the US” Apr 21, 2022
https://www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/top-10-ai-based-learning-
platforms-us
2. Mallika Rangaiah “Application of AI in Education sector” Jun 21, 2021
https://www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/4-major-applications-artificial-
intelligence-education-sector
3. George Terzopoulos and Maya Satrazemi “Voice Assistants and Artificial
Intelligence in Education
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3351556.3351588

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