The Take-Home Internet of Things at DeVry

Mailed to students upon enrollment, our IoT Kit¹ can’t help but bring back memories of Erector sets and engineering kits that many played with in their younger years. But, what’s in there is serious business and all about learning. It functions as a personal lab for students to physically practice the lessons they’re learning online and/or in the classroom.

“It’s basically a lab kit students would have and be able to use without depending on physical laboratories at a brick-and-mortar location,” Karagiannes says. “They have the kit throughout their time at DeVry and it has all the equipment they need to get hands-on in their courses.”

In their research, the team found that an increasing number of DeVry students are conducting their studies online. The goal: Design an equally good education experience for online and classroom learning, which the IoT Kit helps to accomplish.

“This is an opportunity for faculty and students to be on the same page and it helps deliver a more unified curriculum so that students aren’t getting variations between courses,” Karagiannes says. “We’re really happy with the way things have gone in terms of the kit we selected and how students are responding to it.”

How did creators decide what to put in the kit? “We looked at the different courses that were in the new tech curriculum and at what labs traditionally would be offered in these courses. How could they be modified and focused around a particular microprocessor or sensor?” Karagiannes says. “We aligned the curriculum to get a fixed number of devices so we’re course dependent, not curriculum dependent.”

Microprocessors, sensors, lights, a travel router for networking … there’s a lot going on in the kit and early testing with students has shown they use it both for school and for projects outside of their coursework.

“Once they learn to use the devices in there, they are very self-motivated to make up their own designs, create their own solutions, and explore additional possibilities,” Karagiannes says. The kit also creates savings for students who formerly needed access to a greater diversity of equipment. “We’ve taken those classes and designed labs around the kit that make use of it,” he continues. “We were able to narrow down what was going to be in the kit and come up with a really efficient way for students to have this laboratory environment at home.”

The IoT Kit puts real-world hardware in the hands of DeVry students, but an equally critical component is Microsoft Azure, a virtual system that allows students to work without fear of, well, messing things up. “It’s an independent platform that allows students to work on real software with a real server while not using their own computer, or one in a lab,” Karagiannes says. “They can mess up, then just reset and do it again without creating problems.”

Yet another way EIS students are offered flexibility in their academic pursuits: Our Undecided Option.² Students taking this flexible academic route will choose a learning path after earning 30 academic credits. It’s basically a chance to get their feet wet while gaining knowledge they’ll need whatever degree they ultimately decide to pursue.