Internet of Things (IOT) in Agriculture
Learning about technology and product development by doing
Getting technologies to “fit” a specific problem requires inventors understand both the problem context and the specifics of new potential technologies. GEMS Learning developed a full day workshop focused on hands-on learning with internet of things technologies to address problems in agriculture.
Inspiring students with the potential of technology in agriculture
Information communication technologies have the potential to address complex problems in agriculture globally, but getting the technologies to fit the specific context often hinders broader adoption. The Internet of Things (IoT) Bootcamp was designed to engage groups of students in hands-on learning with both identifying challenging problems in agriculture, understanding how internet of things technologies collect and send data, and evaluating whether or not such technologies can actually generate their intended impact.
Bootcamp Curriculum
Workshops were delivered at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and in Lilongwe, Malawi to nearly fifty learners. The workshop started with activities on problem identification. Students identified problems ranging from irrigation management to post-harvest food storage and processing. Then, the workshop takes students in small groups through each step of the data flow from the point of sensor data collection through to storage in a database in the cloud. After developing potential application areas and learning how IoT technologies work, students developed proposals for how they could advance specific product ideas with IoT to address the problems.
