New educators’ skills needed for IoT implementation in “smart education”
Since Andragogs are supposed to successfully familiarise especially low-qualified participants and those who are educationally distant with digital learning, the first step is to develop an awareness on the part of the Andragogs of how varied and challenging the problems can be on the part of low-qualified and educationally distant participants.
Very often they are dealing with very inhomogeneous groups of participants: besides a lack of motivation and awareness for future-oriented learning processes, multiculturalism, different migration backgrounds, different educational backgrounds, lack of language confidence, educational qualifications, vocational training, missing or insufficient qualifications and professional experience and the resulting disadvantages in the job, on the labour market and in society are the biggest challenges. At the same time, this heterogeneity also offers the opportunity to convey to the participants the importance of vocational / technical qualifications or training. Therefore, Andragogs should not only inform their low-skilled learners about the training and entry opportunities, but also focus on getting to know, learning and using digital tools, the expansion of the so-called ICT skills, in order to not only give the participants better chances in working life and on the job market, but also to guarantee their continued participation in society.
Moreover, it is one of the key tasks of Andragogs to refer to the benefits of IoT in planning and designing training and learning objectives, developping and compiling training and learning contents and implementing it and any follow-up activities including assessing knowledge, skills, competences to the new teaching realities. They will have to consider the IoT-technology to plan sessions more in advance since most of their situative training, mentoring and/ or coaching moments will change. Further, they have to be able to use a specific online platform available and its features offered (e.g. learners’ performance and specific assessment possibilities offered like quizzes, online interactive self-assessment, or communication services and collaboration tools like fora, threats, chats or webinars) and support learners according to their digital skills in using it.
What this implies is that also educators will have to be aware of new needs in training and hence competences to upskill. Starting from usual tasks an Andragog has to perform to some degree at least (like planning a course (unit) and designing training and learning objectives for it, developping and compiling training and learning contents to implementing them and any follow-up activities including assessing knowledge, skills, competences), they will have to consider the technology can come in:
- to plan sessions more in advance since most of the situative training, mentoring and/ or coaching moments might be „lost” not having low-skilled learners in classrooms anymore or this should be covered by technology,
- with features offered (e.g. low-skilled learners’ performance and specific assessment possibilities offered like quizzes, online interactive self-assessment, or communication services and collaboration tools like fora, threats, chats or webinars) also supporting learners according to their digital skills in using it,
- to create (new) training/learning contents in new digital formats (e.g. audio like podcasts, educational videos, Virtual Reality contents, digital serious games, select and inform algorithmes …) adapted to the individual devices in use and to understand how these contents can be of benefit to training also skills which need real-life context or settings, practicing them by repeating them and transferring them into real life or what training format should be used complementory,
- to help related to data/ IT security aspects (not only related to one’s common personal data protection but also including smart devices from outside the own IT system and their communication to the degree necessary for the aimed use).
Most of the aforementioned refer to new digital skills, methodic/ didactic related competences and communication skills which are already with the related tools and systems being implemented in many education systems, including the necessary shift towards appropriate training approaches (like peer learning, Flipped Classroom, task based learning, project based learning etc.). But, there are particularly new aspects related to the communication between machines/ machines to individuals educators should know now, too.
„Die Computerwoche” reports online about IoT security gaps and that „Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) can help by ensuring that only authorised endpoints that are logged on by the user and have been classified as trusted by the IT department can connect. Layering in Network Access Control (NAC) in turn ensures that the devices are truly trusted and meet minimum security criteria. Less trusted IoT devices are segmented into the correct network.”[1]
Further, suggestions refer to subdivide the network: Users bring new devices onto the network that probably should not be connected to the critical infrastructure.; Think Traffic Shaping: Traffic shaping, especially for suspicious data streams, can help mitigate the impact of network attacks and improve connectivity for mission-critical services.; If devices cannot be configured from a central platform, you should work with your staff [and student] during setup. This ensures that the types of default configurations are disabled (ibdem).
Most of these aspects the educators need to be aware of if not even solve themselves, but for some other a strong communication and exchange with the respective IT responible/ department will be necessary.
Communication and didactic aspects when it comes to IoT content and smart devices should not only consider the user, the learner and the skills/ competences one shall learn – the usual considerations -, but with IoT also need to consider more questions related to what smart device learners will use communicating to other smart devices since the infrastructure may give limits to screen size, format types, interfaces etc.
[1] https://www.computerwoche.de/a/fuenf-tipps-fuer-den-umgang-mit-schatten-iot,3544985
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/22/08/53/training-1848689__340.jpg
Summarising these, Andragogs should:
- know the opportunities and risks of IoT,
- know how learning transfer can be secured by IoT,
- know methods to motivate and involve learners – especially low qualified persons – and know how to promote a self-learning culture among them by means of IoT,
- use and promote collaborative and informal learning, design learning materials for smart learning and anticipate missing situational intervention,
- know how to transform feedback and assessment into IoT support,
- be able to structure their own working day in such a way that they can support and accompany the learners in their learning process – as tutor or coach,
- to see themselves as learners who can reflect on and partially change their (previous) trainer behaviour and adapt it step by step to the changed conditions.