Smart Objects: Mind Map - Nicole Kiley

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Imagine packing for a trip and having everything labeled for when it’s to be used and why. No longer wondering whether you forgot something or overlooked packing something you needed. This doesn’t have to be a thing of the future. Smart objects are allowing this imagination to become reality. This paper will allow readers to learn what a smart object is, how it is currently being used or can be used, what the downsides are, where this technology is going and the implications that smart objects pose for teaching and learning.

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Wikipedia defines a smart object as an object in a virtual environment that can describe its own possible interactions. Smart objects allow any physical object to contain a unique identifier that can track information about the object. This combination of sensors and unique identifiers allow people with network access to link physical objects with a wealth of virtual information. Some of the technologies that support smart objects are radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, quick response (QR) codes and smartcards. While these technologies are not new, we are finding new ways to use them. RFID tags are tags that are applied to objects for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. RFID tags have two integral parts, an integrated circuit for storing and processing information and a radio frequency signal. Once a tag is applied to a physical object, it allows a person to scan the tag and use decoding software to acquire digital information about the object. QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can contain an alphanumeric text and often feature URL’s that direct users to sites where they can learn about an object or place. The final technology often associated with smart objects are smartcards. Smartcards are a pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits which can process data. These pocket size cards act as mini-computers in an object allowing it to sense location, temperature, color, etc. Using the above technology, smart objects allow a world of interconnectedness. According to the Horizon report, smart objects began to blur the line between physical objects and digital information.

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Smart objects are very popular in Japan where they are used for commercial tracking, logistics, inventory control and advertising. Popularity in other countries is beginning to increase as more people use cell phones to access 3G networks. Smart objects have been in use for point-of-sale purchases, passport tracking, inventory management, identification, and similar applications for quite some time; but the application of smart objects in learning has been limited. Some teachers use smart objects in slide presentations to direct students to websites where the slide deck is hosted or where supplementary information can be found. Andy Ramsden at Bath University in England uses grant money to investigate ways to use QR codes in academic settings. Ramsden has conducted brain storming session at various colleges that have resulted in numerous ideas for QR codes in the classroom or school setting. The University of Gloucester has put QR codes into library books with the renewal phone number encoded. The University of Leicester has used them in equipment rooms where they might be scanned to access a how-to manual. Other potential uses have included QR codes to direct students to RSS feeds or lecture podcasts. QR codes might also be effective repositories of data in problem-solving activities involving role play or alternate reality games (ARGs). In Australia, for instance, a promotional ARG for the movie Quantum of Solace used QR codes to hide clues in the unfolding game. The use of smart objects is numerous, but how to effectively use them poses many questions. How do teachers get software to use QR codes or RFID tags? How do teachers incorporate this technology into their curriculum? How do teachers convince struggling school districts to pay out money for brand new technology? Although these questions cannot be answered overnight, there are numerous websites that help teachers acquire the technology and begin to incorporate it into their curriculum. Web services like ShotCode (http://www.shotcode.com) and Kaywa (http://qrcode.kaywa.com/) let anyone encode QR tags and print them out. ShotCode allows users to try the service free before having to pay while Kaywa allows for free QR coding. Although both sites are aimed at producing QR codes that can be used for businesses, that does not mean their use for education is non-existent. These sites produce tags that can be placed on any physical object; and anyone with a camera-enabled cell phone can take a photo of the tag, analyze it, and decode the information, which could be a URL, an address, a phone number, or something similar. Other sites such as Tikitag (http://www.tikitage.com) and Violet’s Mirror (http://www.violet.net) allow for scannable stickers to be placed on any physical object and when placed on or near a USB scanner attached to a computer the tag is read and the computer performs whatever actions the user has associated with the tag. With these sites in mind, teachers can place QR codes on historical items that would allow students to scan the object in and acquire all of the virtual information associated with it such as what it is, where it’s from, why it’s important. Teachers could also put QR codes on maps that would allow students to obtain an infinite amount of information on the location they scanned into the computer. There is a world of possibilities for smart objects in the classroom, but these possibilities also come with downsides.

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Not everyone is aware of smart objects. QR codes and RFID tags are new to people. As a result, not everyone who sees one will know to pull out a cell phone and take a picture of the matrix to decode it. Also convincing districts to try a technology that so many people are unfamiliar with poses major challenges. Although the technology behind smart objects is not new, it’s not very widespread. Not everyone owns a camera phone, and because many cell phones do not include a QR reader or radio frequency signal, the software must be downloaded. The codes and tags might also take users to websites that do not display properly on cell phones. The other major downside to this technology is its application to smart objects. Although RFID tags and QR codes have been around for awhile using them behind the concept of smart tags is new and not clearly understood. Teachers can’t expect students to be able to successfully use smart objects without considerable support and teachers can’t support students if they don’t understand the technology themselves. The final issue becomes it use. While projects like the one at Bath University are investigating potential uses, the challenge remains to find ap¬propriate and effective curriculum uses of QR codes and RFID tags.

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With the downsides of smart objects in mind, we also need to consider where this technology might be going. QR codes and RFID tags can store quite complex information in a small package. And while this technology is currently very low key, as awareness grows about how useful it is, we can expect to see smart objects in more public venues and more widely used in the classroom. According to the article, 7 Things You Should Know About QR Codes, the authors see their use growing considerably. They believe that commercial packaging will display codes with detailed nutritional information or links to web sites where users can play the latest product-associated game or register for updates or coupons. For the classroom, the authors anticipate growth of smart objects as well. QR codes on student tests could help ensure anonymity in grading. Posted next to artwork or in musical or theatrical programs, QR codes might lead students to open forums where they could join in com¬munity discussions about what they’ve heard or seen. In scientific endeavors, QR codes could take the place of printed labels; attached to lab work, samples, or medication options, they could preserve confidentiality of participant names. The more research I conduct on smart objects the more use I could see for them in my classroom. Smart objects would allow me to broaden my students’ horizon beyond the confines of the four walls of the classroom. With a simple scan, students could be directed to a wealth of information that they might never have known. Technology is playing a much bigger role in the lives of my students and allowing them to blur the virtual world with the physical world could open numerous doors. This linkage between the physical world and virtual world provides on-the-spot access to descriptive language and online resources for objects and locations.

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The above linkage has major implications for teaching and learning. The blurring of the worlds supports experiential learning, where it is brought out of the classroom and into physical experience. Smart objects offer expanded teaching opportunities that allow students to create and contribute content to what they are learning. 7 Things You Should Know About QR Codes provides some excellent examples of how smart objects could be used to enhance learning. In history projects, students might research information about local sites, write up what they have learned, generate QR codes for their content, post the codes at key destinations, and tour the sites where a network of information from other students has been posted. This activity would allow students to move outside the bounds of the school and into city centers, historic neighborhoods, and manu¬facturing districts, where learning becomes a matter of explora¬tion. Because much of the information in QR codes is browser-based, students engaged in study abroad can use the codes to read websites in their native languages or turn a local destination into a foreign-language lesson. The authors state that the greatest importance of QR codes lie not in their specific use, which may be su¬perseded by newer codes and interpreters, but in the opportuni¬ties they offer for moving away from keyboards as input devices in learning environments. Smart objects allow for students to broaden their horizon and really become a part of what they are learning. Students move from active listeners to active participants who play a major role in their education and understanding of different subjects. A perfect example of this is a project called ThinkeringSpaces. This project is the brainchild of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design. It combines physical and virtual components to produce an environment where physical objects, like books, can become smart objects. This allows readers to go from active listeners to active participants who can watch a recorded interview with the author, pull up other readers’ reviews or leave his or her own review. LeapFrog Tag is a smart objects project aimed at very young children. LeapFrog has created a pen-shaped device that allows kids to interact with specially printed books and other material. These children can listen to the story, hear words pronounced, and play games by tapping the pen on the pages. For years, educational research has shown that students who interact with learning and become active participants learn and retain far more information than the traditional way of learning. These two projects are perfect examples of how smart objects allow students to become the active participants that all educators say is best for learning. These projects show that smart objects have very positive implications on teaching and learning.

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I recently watched an episode of the Big Bang Theory on CBS. During this episode, a character by the name of Sheldon is packing for a vacation. Sheldon attached RFID tags to all articles of clothing. When asked what he was doing, Sheldon responds that he is simplifying the task of packing. He informs his roommate that by running a wand over the article of clothing it will send information to his computer allowing him to cross reference them against destination, anticipated activities, weather conditions, duration of trip, etc. Most people would chalk this unusual TV encounter up to a script writer, but for once I have to say that TV is very real. The positive implication of smart objects transcends fiction and reality. Smart objects allow for simplifying packing on TV shows to drawing students into the learning in a normal everyday classroom. With further knowledge and expansion, smart objects can become a very real and useful thing in schools by allowing teachers to take a step back and really involve students in their own learning. Although smart objects have a long way to go to actually becoming everyday learning opportunities in classrooms, fully understanding them, their uses and their implications is always the first step.

Works Citied
7 Things You Should Know About QR Codes. EDUCAUSE: 7 Things You Should Know About..., Retrieved
June 12, 2009, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7046.pdf
IIT Institute of Design. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from ThinkeringSpace Web site:
http://www.id.iit.edu/ThinkeringSpaces/
Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., and Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin,
Texas: The New Media Consortium.
LeapFrog. Retrieved June 09, 2009, from LeapFrog: Tag Web site: http://www.leapfrog.com/tag/
QR Code. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_codes
Radio-Frequency Identification. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from Wikipedia Web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rfid
Smart Card. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartcards
Smart Objects - Horizon.K12. The Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, Retrieved June 10, 2009, from
http://horizon.nmc.org/k12/Smart_Objects
The Big Bang Theory. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from CBS Television Web site:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/

Emerging Technologies 2009