Exploring the Internet of “Educational Things”(IoET) in rural underprivileged areas

In this paper, the design and development of an Internet of Things (IoT) educational mobile learning tool for primary school students in rural underprivileged areas of northern Thailand will be presented. This is aimed at providing effective learning activities and utilising the large number of under-used tablet computers which are still available in schools from the government´s discontinued “One Tablet PC per Child” (OTPC) policy. During previous studies, we found tablet computers had the potential to enhance students´ engagement and learning performance. However, most rural schools were lacking internet connectivity. Our aim is to design and develop an effective solution for students in rural underprivileged areas of Northern Thailand which will provide them with a mobile learning platform and an application which works with the existing schools´ tablet computers. In this paper, we will outline the literature review in the area of mobile learning and Internet of Things (IoT) technology in education, discuss our preliminary study of the use of tablet computers by primary students in under developed areas and demonstrate the design and development of a mobile learning platform which addresses the provision of a reliable, low-cost, sensing WiFi device and child-friendly mobile application.