What Role Does IoT Play in Combating Educational Inequalities?

Educational inequality can affect people’s access to textbooks, internet access, uniforms, external support, and other factors that impact learning and future success. However, evidence suggests IoT could reduce educational inequality to make opportunities more evenly distributed across affected communities.

What are some compelling examples of the IoT in action? Knowing about them can help tech developers make their products educational and accessible for schools and students.

Making Facilities Managers More Aware of Air Quality Issues

Awareness is crucial for reducing problems and causing lasting positive changes. Studies increasingly connect poor air quality with reduced educational outcomes and find that learners from low-income areas are particularly likely to have more exposure to polluted indoor and outdoor air. For example, one study found that exposure to many types of toxic air during infancy adversely affected educational outcomes when kids started school at age four. 

Relatedly, researchers found that children in low-income neighborhoods were most likely to encounter such toxicity early in life. That polluted air could also affect kids in school, especially if their classrooms commonly keep the windows cracked for better air circulation.

However, IoT air quality monitors are readily available to assist facilities managers in identifying such problems and finding solutions that could reduce educational inequality. Even when dirty air is not severe enough to affect cognitive outcomes, it can distract students, making it harder for them to pay attention and remember what they learn.

Fortunately, IoT-enabled air quality monitors can confirm the extent of a problem, motivating facilities managers and educational administrators to act. Then, even if students live in areas with above-average air pollution, they can breathe easily while learning. Some products support remote monitoring, letting facilities managers oversee multiple locations during a given day and giving them real-time notifications of changes.

Helping Learning Happen Anywhere

Statistics suggest there will be 30.9 billion IoT devices by 2025. While businesses account for many of them, they are increasingly popular in homes, too. This increased accessibility supports equal access to education because it means learning spans beyond school hours. 

For example, companies sell smartwatches and tablets specially designed for kids. Youngsters can download apps and engage in lessons that help them practice math, reading, and other foundational skills. However, true educational equality happens when affected parties have the infrastructure to fully use such products. 

Generally, that means they have consistently available internet access fast enough for users to participate in the necessary activities. It is also essential to remember that teachers or others evaluating students’ performance may never know the full variety of factors combined to cause them disadvantages.

Well-chosen IoT devices can help learners make the most of their outside-classroom time, including when they spend excessive time on the school bus each morning due to insufficient routes in their areas. More school district managers may begin to budget for Wi-Fi on school buses — particularly after the FCC’s funding announcement — as they recognize that the connectivity helps those who lack it at home.

Equipping Students for Challenging Life Goals

Carefully planned educational systems prepare students for aspirations they will face later, such as applying for work, raising kids, and keeping a balanced budget. Applying IoT during some learning activities could boost outcomes and participation rates. 

In one example developed for higher education, researchers made an IoT-based system to monitor learners’ engagement and focus during online lessons. Although the ability to learn at home through the Internet was an improvement for many, others struggled with the change. That was especially true when unexpected events — such as the COVID-19 pandemic — made online lessons the only options during lockdowns. 

Many people have unstable home lives, making online learning an additional stressor, even if they have the necessary technological infrastructure to support it. If IoT solutions help teachers identify students experiencing educational inequality who need extra support during online learning, everyone involved is likely to get the most out of the experience.

Implications of IoT Solutions for Students

This extra support could impact students throughout the rest of their academic careers and onward — for example, when applying for a college or trade school. Even the smartest students can struggle to get accepted into their dream college — in fact, approximately 90% of students with 4.0 GPAs or above and perfect SAT scores do not get acceptance letters from the top 10 universities. Underserved communities that lack access to mentorship and college applications aid could particularly be negatively impacted. However, AI-powered IoT solutions could act as personalized guidance counselors and proofreaders that give more students a chance at receiving a college education.

Once students are accepted to their choice university or trade school, IoT could also benefit these students throughout their remaining academic career. In one case, researchers investigated whether IoT-powered smart laboratories could support engineering students as they attended college. The associated meta-analysis indicated such facilities promote practical and active learning, improving learners’ academic performance. 

More specifically, IoT-equipped facilities enable students to conceptualize things learned in classrooms, gaining valuable real-world experience they can apply while at college and whileworking toward future goals. However, researchers cautioned this approach worked best when educators redesigned their teaching strategies as appropriate to maximize the Internet of Things-linked benefits. 

Taking a Balanced Approach to IoT-Enabled Education

Although IoT can open educational opportunities, those considering applying or offering the technology must remember that some level of educational inequality may persist. That reality is why decisions such as mandating IoT devices for some classes could have detrimental effects by making learners more aware of the various obstacles they face — many of which may be outside their control. 

Applying for funding and specialized programs that make tech more accessible in schools could minimize many challenges. It is even better when well-established tech brands partner with schools to offer their products at discounted rates or come into classrooms to teach people to make the most of them.