Erasmus+ project: IOT-OPEN.EU

Innovative Open Education on IoT: improving higher education for European digital global competitiveness

Project Reference Number: 2016-1-PL01-KA203-026471

The project has a duration of 36 months. It starts 01.09.2016 and ends on 31.08.2019

The European Commission has recently announced the Internet of Things to be one of its flagships for growth and for the Digital Single Market, because it has the potential to enhance Europe’s competitiveness, and is considered to be an important driver for the development of an information-based economy and society. However, there are still no efficient instruments available for the emerging Internet of Things industry to inform higher education institutions about its needs and expectations regarding the learning outcomes, while a large number of well-trained professionals in the field of the Internet of Things is an essential requirement for a secure, safe and privacy-preserving deployment of this spectrum of technologies in Europe.

The IOT-OPEN.EU project offers students and teachers an array of possibilities to discover how digitalisation of education can bring significant quality improvements and make learning outcomes more relevant to the labour market needs. The project introduces virtual remote laboratories and open e-learning materials within one innovative multidisciplinary teaching module on the Internet of Things. It will allow students from Bachelor’s to Master’s levels and adult learners to experience capabilities of the Internet of Things devices both in theory and in practice. Via the remote online laboratory, students will get access to various hardware and smart devices connected to one another across different European universities and powered by intelligence to deliver new services and applications. E-learning materials will provide free access to Internet of Things education for everyone, regardless of geographical location, gender, financial or social status. Standardisation of the Internet of Things teaching module will make it easy to introduce it into curricula of educational institutions across Europe, opening up the Internet of Things career prospects to thousands of people – professionals, VET students, technology geeks, secondary school pupils, and university students.

The educational module produced as a part of IOT-OPEN.EU project will be developed and delivered in close cooperation with the Internet of Things industry representatives, involving dozens of tech companies into the preparation of the teaching materials and their validation. An External Advisory Board comprised of the Internet of Things, electronics and embedded systems SMEs will provide regular feedback to the partnership in order to efficiently juxtapose industry needs on transnational level and compare them to the current educational offer. As a result of the project, the European Internet of Things industry will benefit, as the teaching module will tailor the learning outcomes to the industry needs, improve qualifications of engineers, supplying labour market with better specialists. The project will also have significant impact on the quality of education in Europe, introducing innovative digital learning instruments.