Education-based strengthening of the European universities, companies and labour force in the global IoT market

The project's origin was to continue the success story of the IOT-OPEN.EU project funded by E+ KA2 in the years 2016-2019. New technologies, new partners and possibilities that appeared since 2019 drove us to submit the following proposal. Also, rapidly changing technology and demand for new, integrated study programmes were major reasons for the application. Offering our students the most recent technologies and effective, eye-catching learning tools (e.g., remote lab and online study modules) is a great contribution to strengthening the future of the European labour force. The collaboration of European partners with similar development levels brings a synergy effect and facilitates the sharing of best practices and approaches for IoT teaching. Moreover, the application for this project was driven by the observation of rising competition from Asian countries (mostly China) and the US. Europe needs well-qualified engineers in the areas of Internet of Things, Embedded Systems, low-level programming, green and efficient computing and digital systems design. Therefore, it is HEs’ duty to participate in this competition with the help of UE funding.

The project's implementation was expected to add long-term value to the European labour market, particularly concerning the digital transformation-related labour force of modern engineers, with a focus on green and sustainable engineering in the field of IoT. The tools and materials implemented introduced a new quality in participating HEs and beyond: blended and inverted learning models in HE education, representing modern and innovative learning and teaching approaches. Thanks to the remote-oriented approach using open and distant labs and MOOC study modules, IoT training has become more inclusive and available to a wider audience. By implementing a standardised, flexible curriculum, common coursebooks, shared technical documentation and teaching materials, an open MOOC platform, and shared remote access to hardware, along with digital integration services, we aimed to promote interconnected HE systems on both organisational and technical levels. The participation of industrial partners brought mutual benefits to academia and business, involving SMEs in the development process and knowledge transfer.

This project covers the implementation of a comprehensive IoT course. In detail, it is composed of the flexible IoT curriculum for Bachelor's and Master's levels, classical study materials (coursebooks, in-classroom presentations), MOOC modules for online study and a set of modern teaching tools such as blended learning, a remote laboratory with real hardware (with cross-European integration services) and a distant learning platform. Project implementation included a variety of dissemination activities, scientific papers, conference presentations and a whitepaper on video recording and MOOC implementation best practices. The consortium also managed its integration through regular online and a couple of in-person meetings, as well as the development of new collaboration tools. A successful piloting of the outputs was conducted with a group of internal and external stakeholders: students, the general audience, secondary level pupils, business representatives, teachers, tutors, and media (social, Radio, TV). Our results are published online for all stakeholders mentioned above and are gaining increasing attention: not only have participating HE bodies integrated the curriculum, but external academic bodies are also using it.

Concrete outputs include: -Flexible IoT curriculum composed of 10 modules: 4 for beginners/bachelors, technical; 6 for masters for IoT system designers (as Wiki and PDF) -In-classroom materials, in the form of two coursebooks, published as hardcopy and digital (with ISBNs) in two forms: PDF and interactive website: --The Blue Book “Introduction to the IoT”, ISBN 978-9934-37-137-0 (print), ISBN 978-9934-37-138-7 (pdf) is 418 pages, --The Green Book “Advanced IoT Systems”, ISBN 978-9934-37-176-9 (print), ISBN 978-9934-37-177-6 (pdf), is 305 pages. --DLP presentations -10 MOOC modules and platform (https://edu.iot-open.eu) --Self-paced and blended learning model. -- 7.5h total length of videos recorded and 96 video lectures, quizzes and self-study components. -VREL NextGen IoT remote laboratory: --Brand new software based on the React framework https://iot.aei.polsl.pl (SUT) and https://vrel.cs.rtu.lv (RTU) and mobile lab. --71 lab nodes, 4 technologies (ATMEL/AVR, STM32, ESP32, NS): ---motherboards, proxy electronics, networking and monitoring services --The Yellow Book “VREL NextGen Laboratory Guide, 2nd edition”, 390 pages long. ---Integrated with VREL NextGen. --Integration services MQTT brokers All tested and piloted.