Courses, Content, and Tools for Internet of Things in Computer Science Education

Smart devices are everywhere, yet the Internet of Things revolution is still in its infancy. In the Internet of Things (IoT) everyday objects share data over networks, with or without human intervention. Teaching IoT entails selecting among many technical and social topics, such as hardware, networking, data storage, data analysis, data presentation, human-computer interaction, platforms, embedded systems programming, web technologies, ethics, privacy, and security. In addition to the many variations on each of these topics, other challenges for computer science educators include connecting and integrating hardware and software, finding adequate physical space and infrastructure, preparing instructors and teaching assistants for the content, and implementing realistic security measures. This report considers four major approaches computer science educators are using to integrate IoT concepts and courses into their curricula, summarizes the choices and challenges related to teaching IoT, and describes some tools that allow new IoT teachers to get started.