John Ogbonoko MSc Dissertation 2015/16

Creating a Computing Laboratory and Library Resources for Teaching Internet of Things: A Case of the Raspberry Pi Home

Supervised by F.Ciravegna

Abstract

As billions of Internet of Things ( IoT ) devices continue to connect and communicate to create new products and services, the need for graduates with requisite skills or expertise in the field is also on the increase globally. Nigeria at the moment, does not have a full grasp of the technologies, theories, methods, applications of   IoT  upon which the fourth industrial revolution rests. If the country must play a major role in this field, then the need arises for the review of the computer science curriculum in Nigerian universities to reflect the teaching, research, and assessment for and of learning aspects of IoT .

This work sought to address this gap by studying current theories, knowledge, and methods of IoT , particularly with a view to developing teaching and learning resources that will promote IoT  education in the country's universities. The resources developed entailed two manuals to form parts of an IoT  module; course manual and laboratory manual. These manuals were developed to meet the requirements for teaching.

The work further involved the design and implementation of three systems as case study examples in home sensing using Raspberry Pi and Python programming language. It was around this that the laboratory manual mentioned above was developed in order to expose students to the practical aspects of the IoT  module. The systems were; home surveillance using motion sensing with email notification, temperature and humidity sensing with LCD display, and gas detection with SMS text message capability. The systems were also evaluated for performance as to provide a guide to the students on how best to evaluate the exercises in the laboratory manual. The resources so developed from the dissertation will be deployed for use in the Nigerian university where the author is an academic staff and if possible, extended to other Nigerian universities.