Smartobjects Hackathorn
- 1. Smart Objects in Higher Ed emerging technology By Connie Hackathorn
- 2. Technology Overview Smart objects • RFID: Radio Frequ ency Identification • QR Codes : Quick Res pons e • Smart Cards Time-to-Adoption • 4-5 years
- 3. RFID Radio Frequency Identification: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a type of automatic identification s ys tem. The purpos e of an RFID s ys tem is to enable data to be trans mitted by a portable device, called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and proces s ed according to the needs of a particular application.
- 4. QR Codes Quick Response Codes: QR codes are two-dimens ional bar codes that can contain any alphanumeric text and often feature URLs that direct us ers to s ites where they can learn about an object or place (a practice known as “ mobile tagging” ). Decoding s oftware on tools s uch as camera phones interprets the codes , which repres ent cons iderably more information than a one-dimens ional code of s imilar s ize.
- 5. Smart Cards Smart Cards: A Smart card looks like a credit card but carries information on a digital chip on it. It has embedded electronic circuitry which enables information to be passed that can either open hotel doors, give entry to bank accounts and even allow access to satellite channels on a receiver. It is likened to a simple computer where an intelligent card can pick up, store and process data.
- 6. Potential Audience Target Audience: For the purpose of this presentation, the potential end-user would be an adult learner, age 18+. They would be in college/ university or in industry. On the lower end of the age scale, assimilation would be more seamless than on the higher end of the age scale due to the level of comfort with new technology. In asynchronous learning, acceptance and ability to adapt to new technologies in the learning process would be key.
- 7. Intent of Learning Integration Intent of Integration The intent is to utilize smart objects, more specifically, QR codes to provide sensing mechanisms that allow students and teachers to connect in ways they cannot now. Although adoption is 4-5 years out, the technology may continue to grow and evolve to where students can interact in what feels like a face-to-face encounter – allowing for greater in-depth engagement.
- 8. Content and Context Content and Context It is in the s ens ing capacity that potentially reveals promis e in the thought that s omeday, compu ters in all us es or facets might create a s tronger hu manis tic connection than enables the us ers to imitate what comes natu rally. It is in this context that clas s rooms may actu ally feel as thou gh there are clas s mates next to each other – where convers ation and interaction reaches beyond the compu ter s creen. The ability to affect content will be totally reliant on how advanced QR codes become between today and the time of adoption. Given the rapid advances in compu ter technology, there is hope.
- 9. RFID Other Applications RFID: RFID tags come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some examples are: • Hard plastic anti-theft tags attached to merchandise in stores. • Animal tracking tags which are implanted beneath the skin of family pets or endangered species are no bigger than a small section of pencil lead. • Embedded within the fibers of a national currency. RFID systems are rapidly becoming the preferred technology for keeping tabs on people, pets, products, and even vehicles. Also, the tags can be read from a distance and through a variety of substances such as snow, fog, ice, or paint, where barcodes have proved useless.
- 10. QR codes Other Applications QR Codes : • In Japan, where they are us ed for commercial tracking, logis tics , inventory con− trol, and advertis ing. • Their popular− is climbing in Europe, the United States , and ity Canada as people in− creas ingly us e mobile phones to acces s 3G networks . • In England, a grant-funded venture led by Andy Rams den at Bath Univers ity inves tigates ways to us e QR codes in academic s et− tings . As other ins titutions have s igned on to the effort, Rams den has conducted “ idea factories ” (brains torming s es s ions ) at thos e campus es , res ulting in a number of propos ed us es for QR codes , including putting them into library books with the renewal phone number encoded (Univers ity of Glouces ter) or putting them in equipment rooms where they might be s canned to acces s a how-to manual (Univers ity of Leices ter). Some s ee potential in us ing QR codes to direct s tudents to RSS feeds or lecture podcas ts .
- 11. Smart Cards Other Applications Smart Cards: • Dish Network - to enable access to channels • Banks – to store and access bank accounts/information. A debit card would be a good example • Hotels – to enable access to rooms • Military • Universities – to store information about library, food, residential halls, etc. of students • According to www.wired.com, Cisco launched a consortium for Smart Objects where “Smart objects are objects in the physical world that - typically with the help of embedded devices - transmit information about their condition or environment (e.g., temperature, light, motion, health status) to locations where the information can be analyzed, correlated with other data and acted upon. Applications range from automated and energy-efficient homes and office buildings, factory equipment maintenance and asset tracking to hospital patient monitoring and safety and compliance assurance.”
- 12. Issue in Implementation • Security – Smart Cards can be vulnerable to fraud • Privacy - RFID specifically creates ethical/privacy issues, infringing on rights and presenting a “big brother” environment. • Potential IT challenges – Cost of implementation specific to the application the smart object is used – including human and budget resources. • Policies must be in place to use with new technology tied with IT directives. • Training – Critical processes and procedures must be in place for faculty and student in order to ensure implementation is successful • Mindsets or mental blocks to something new – related to age or paradigm of learner • Cost of Technology - RFID tags are not widely used in consumer products because the price of the tags is still prohibitively expensive. However, as companies push for enhanced means of tracking products and profiling consumers, the increased demand and production of RFID technologies will drive down prices. Other smart objects may mirror this.
- 13. Conclusion Implementing new technology like smart objects into higher education will present not only new challenges, but new opportunities to expand our learning and teaching potential. As technology grows exponentially, the applications that are affected will continually be perfected to alleviate issues related to them. Technology is ever-evolving.
- 14. Websites/Resources http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7046.pdf http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/DEC0004.pdf http://www.educause.edu/blog/llarsen/BigBrotherDilemmaNotes/16 http://www.wired.com http://epic.org/privacy/rfid/#introduction