=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2991/paper07
|storemode=property
|title=Digital innovation in education: Perspectives, opportunities and challenges of educational open data and sensor data
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2991/paper07.pdf
|volume=Vol-2991
|authors=Mubashrah Saddiqa,Rikke Magnussen,Birger Larsen,Jens Myrup Pedersen
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/bir/SaddiqaMLP21
}}
==Digital innovation in education: Perspectives, opportunities and challenges of educational open data and sensor data==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2991/paper07.pdf
Digital innovation in education: Perspectives,
opportunities and challenges of educational open
data and sensor data
Mubashrah Saddiqa1 , Rikke Magnussen2 , Birger Larsen2 , and Jens Myrup
Pedersen1
1
Department of Electronic Systems,
Aalborg University, Denmark,
{mus,jens}@es.aau.dk
2
Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark,
{rikkem,birger}@hum.aau.dk
Abstract. The emergence of digital technologies and data has influ-
enced every area of life, from business to education. Data are important
not only for global economic growth, public services, and social change
but also for education. To address the challenges of the digital shift, the
ability to interpret data and make decisions based on those interpreta-
tions is becoming increasingly important for our younger generation. It
will be imperative for future generations of students to be equipped with
the necessary digital and data skills to face the challenges of a digital and
data society. This paper will discuss the perspectives, future opportuni-
ties, and challenges of using educationally relevant open data and sensor
data in schools to create new possibilities for digital and data innovation
in secondary school education.
Keywords: Open data; sensor data, digital and data skills, digital in-
novation.
1 Introduction
Data and digital technologies are now entrenched in our daily lives. It is therefore
vital for young learners to be equipped with digital and data skills, the ability to
understand data, and a command of digital technology operation [1]. There has
been a rapid increase in openly accessible data sources that can be used with-
out permissions and restrictions, such as open data that are publicly available
datasets about traffic, population, education, the environment, statistics, etc.
[2]. Simultaneously, with advancements in sensor technology, using sensors for
data collection activities is now widely available to schools to integrate into their
curricula [3]. Sensors can play an important role in education [4], particularly
for secondary school students, as students begin to consider their surroundings,
including the various phenomena occurring within those surroundings. Sensors
can provide students with new types of hands-on, real-world experience in their
immediate surroundings [5]. Furthermore, incorporating IoT and sensors in the
Copyright © 2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
74
educational sector can provide students with hands-on experience with digital
technology. It can also aid at the beginning of a process of sustainability per-
ception and attitudinal shift among young students. For instance, authors in [6]
discussed how IoT-enabled energy applications, for example, could be integrated
into school life. The findings show that IoT and sensors can provide educational
and energy-saving benefits by engaging students and providing them with hands-
on experience based on real-world data.
Open data and sensor data can both play key roles in bringing digital innova-
tion to education by engaging students in data collection activities and allowing
them to understand the concept of data via analysis and interpretation in re-
lation to the real world [7, 8]. To build a digital and data-literate society, it is
essential to initiate the acquisition of key data literacy skills early in education
(fifth grade onward). For instance, how data is collected, published, and used
in real life and what data platforms can be used to access educational relevant
datasets. The scant research on the use of open data in elementary or secondary
schools indicates a lack of awareness among educators [9]. Notably, there are
challenges in integrating digital and data technology in schools, such as teachers
being unaware of open data, including its potential as an educational resource,
and the need for skilled teachers to integrate well-suited data into their teaching
assignments.
Previous research studies [4, 10–14] conducted in close collaboration with
Danish public schools identified opportunities for open data as an educational
resource. For example, the use of data from students’ municipalities can pique
their interest, foster discussions, and explain problems in students’ geographi-
cal or social environments, which helps them relate the data to their everyday
lives [10]. Several issues that impede teachers’ use of open data in education
have also been recognized, such as the concept of open data being abstract and
difficult for students to understand and the fact that hands-on data collection
activities are required to grasp the concept of data [12]. To aid teachers, edu-
cational open data domains were identified from the national open data portal,
and an open data interface was developed to assist with educational assignments
using educationally relevant open datasets in a previous study [13]. Addition-
ally, requirement models for curriculum-compatible sensors were developed for
data collection activities and usability of open data interface has been tested by
teachers and students [4, 14].
However, to take full advantage of these publicly available resources, further
research is needed to better understand the value and opportunities of open
data as an educational resource, including how to integrate real datasets into
the learning process. This exploratory paper will explore the perspectives and
future possibilities of using open data in education in a variety of contexts other
than classroom activities based on our previously conducted research studies [4,
10–14]. We will discuss the perspective of open data and sensor data in a broader
view in the following research question (RQ):
75
RQ: (a) What are the future opportunities for open data and sensor data
in an educational context, and (b) what are the potential challenges to realizing
these opportunities?
The following is the structure of the exploratory article. The research meth-
ods for identifying challenges and opportunities are presented in Section 2. Sec-
tion 3 presents the results and in Section 4, the conclusions are presented. Finally,
the limitations and future research are discussed in Section 5.
2 Research Method
In this exploratory research work, we reviewed our previous work [4, 10–14] to
comprehend and analyze the future challenges and opportunities associated with
the use of open data and sensor data as educational resources. Previously, we
discussed open data and sensor data usage in separate studies [4, 10, 11, 14], iden-
tifying the benefits and existing challenges of open data and sensor data usage in
school education, as well as proposing solutions to these challenges. In this study,
however, we analyzed the overall data collected (in close collaboration with both
teachers and students) in previous research studies to identify future challenges
and perspectives for both open data and sensor data in school education. The
overall data (collected in previous research studies) were categorized into three
broad categories: future opportunities associated with the use of open data and
sensor data in an educational context, challenges in using open and sensor data,
and initiatives to reap the benefits of open data and sensor data in education.
Table 1 provides a summary of the participants and research methods used in
our previous research studies.
Table 1. Overview of the participants and research methods used in previous studies
[4, 10, 11, 14] for data collection.
Research study Participants Methods
Research study 1 [11] 10 teachers and 21 students One-on-one interviews and
pilot test
Research study 2 [10] 10 teachers and 12 students Open discussion, online
questionnaire, observations
Research study 3 [4] 30 teachers and 38 students Focus group, one-on-one
interview, pilot test (in-
door and out door)
Research study 4[14] 39 teachers and 16 students Focus group, one-on-one
interview, pilot test, online
usability test
The following steps comprise the research methods used in this work:
1. Analyses of previous work in educational domain, including the use of open
data and sensor data in tandem.
76
2. Identifying future challenges and opportunities for the use of open data in
education.
3. Proposing initiatives to mitigate the barriers to the use of open and sensor
data in education.
In the following section, the research results are briefly discussed.
3 Results
In this section, the main findings are discussed under the following categories:
1. Future opportunities for open data and sensor data use in an educational
context
2. Challenges in using open and sensor data in education
3. Initiative to reap the benefits of open data and sensor data in education
3.1 Future opportunities for open data and sensor data in an
educational context
Many institutions have already recognized the importance of involving schools
and higher education institutions in open data research [15, 16]. Open data are
an excellent resource for gaining hands-on experience with techniques and tools
for searching, cleaning, and organizing data, whether by hand or with computers
[17, 18]. Open data also impact subject learning, the development of digital and
data skills, and even student motivation to learn by relating the subject to
the student’s environment. For example, Discover Kells3 uses open data from
the National Monuments Service and the National Inventory of Architectural
Heritage of Ireland and provides information about national monuments and
historical buildings. These datasets can be used in history topics to make them
more interesting.
However, to reap the full benefits of open data, governments or educational
administrators must also be involved in incorporating educational open data
directly into educational plans. For example, secondary education plans could
involve an introduction to basic data principles, such as structures, formats, and
analysis. These kinds of measures are critical if we want to encourage students
towards more active learning using open data. Norway4 and the United Kingdom
[18] have already launched projects with a particular focus on data literacy in
elementary schools with positive results. However, when working with publicly
available datasets, consideration should also be given to data privacy and ethical
use [19].
Sensors, on the other hand, can be useful in understanding the concept of
open data. For example, students can collect pollution data near a railway sta-
tion using sensors and compare them to available open data. This allows the
3
https://data.gov.ie/showcase/discover-kells
4
https://site.uit.no/opendatainteaching/
77
students to understand how data are generated and what factors may influence
the data collection process if there are differences between the sensor data and
the open data. These types of activities expose students to real-time data col-
lection activities outside the classroom [20]. They can better understand sensor
data when it is collected in real-time and generally small in size. Using open data
as an educational resource provides students a better sense of their surround-
ings, cities, and country. Sensor data, such as classroom temperature, humidity,
pollution level, noise level, etc., can be shared with other schools by uploading
them to a common platform.
Students can also compare their school data with those of other schools
rather than with those of their immediate surroundings or cities. For example,
they can reflect on why their school’s noise or pollution levels are higher than
those of other schools. Students may develop a wide range of skills through these
activities, ranging from the use of complex technologies and the ability to analyze
and argue to the development of vital skills, such as teamwork, critical thinking,
and discussion. Figure 1 shows how sensor data relate to educationally relevant
open datasets and existing national open datasets.
Fig. 1. The relation of educational open data and sensor data (collected through school
educational activities and made available for other schools) to national open data
(inspiration from [21]).
Figure 1 represents how educationally relevant open datasets, for example,
can be identified and selected for use in education as part of school subjects.
Simultaneously, using sensors, some educationally relevant datasets can be col-
lected locally (in school surroundings) and made available to other schools via a
78
common educational open data platform. They can gain a better understanding
of the concepts of open and private data. For example, sharing collected data
with others or avoid exposing data to others in certain activities.
Without systematic planning, integrating open data as an educational re-
source will not yield the desired results. Systematic planning may include teacher
training, access to additional resources, such as sensors in schools, and a shift
from the traditional teaching methods toward more collaborative and problem-
based learning methods at the school level. A common platform that could re-
late relevant educational open datasets to school subjects and allows students to
share data collected during various educational activities using sensors or other
technologies within or outside school could also be beneficial. These tasks will not
only benefit teachers and students but will also enhance learning environments
and citizen science.
3.2 Challenges in using open and sensor data in education
In this section, we will discuss the future challenges (that still need to be ad-
dressed) that may influence the use of open data and sensor data in educational
activities. Generally, open data research is concerned with the data type, quality,
structure, and design of real-time applications to access and publish datasets.
However, there has been less emphasis on developing tools or applications that
can make these datasets more accessible and usable for students [22]. Access
to relevant educational datasets as an educational resource has been identified
as a major challenge in previous studies [13]. This issue still needs to be ad-
dressed at the national level in the future. A national educational open data
portal that not only provides access to relevant educational datasets from var-
ious cities but also visualizes these datasets in the form of interactive graphs,
could benefit teaching and learning processes in a broader sense. Different cities
publish different themes of open datasets based on their geographical and demo-
graphic backgrounds that can be useful in an educational setting. For instance,
Table 2. Open datasets of various cities in Denmark City.
City (inhabitants) No. of Datasets Main Datasets
Copenhagen (638K) 288 Transport, environment,
districts, education, popu-
lation, tourism
Aarhus (283K) 123 Education, traffic, popula-
tion, bicycles, sensor data,
tourism
Vejle (59K) 99 Floods, education, bicycles
Odense (181K) 30 Culture, education, trans-
port
Table 2 shows the main open data themes of various Danish cities. Each city
79
has different datasets themes based on its historical background, location, and
population. For example, Copenhagen, the largest city with the highest popu-
lation, mostly has datasets about traffic, the environment, noise, etc., whereas
Vejle has also datasets about floods due to its location, as well as other datasets
such as education 5 . This information of different cities could also be interesting
for students both for quantitative and comparative studies.
With access to educational relevant datasets of different cities, students can
further learn how the demands and services of cities can vary depending on their
population and geographical location. In an educational setting, applications
that allow students to access, use, and share their own data (collected during
various educational activities) are also required. Previous studies have also shown
that it is critical for students to have access to up-to-date datasets when working
with real-world datasets [13] and this issue must also be addressed in future
studies.
Another challenge that could affect the successful use of open data and sen-
sor data is teachers’ motivation, instructional design, and training. One possible
solution to motivate teachers could be sharing success stories through national
educational open data platforms. Awareness can also be spread by setting up
small competitions based on data. These would not only involve students but
also motivate teachers to learn more about data-related activities. The associated
learning skills are not achieved simply by using open data in school teaching;
they are also dependent on how open data is used pedagogically, and this re-
quires revision in schools’ curriculum strategies. When working with data and
technology, ethical, privacy, ownership, and legal considerations need to be re-
viewed, such as copyright, authorship, and content. It is also important to teach
students about the ethical use of data when they publish on common platforms
(i.e., use correct information).
3.3 Initiative to reap the benefits of open data and sensor data in
education
The following measures must be implemented in the future to reap the maximum
educational benefits from open data and sensor data use in the educational
domain.
1. Providing schools with access to relevant up-to-date educational data
2. Providing schools with access to curricula-compatible sensors and technology
in an educational context
3. Developing a national educational open data platform that provides access to
existing relevant educational datasets and allows the educational community
to share their experiences and publish data collected through educational
activities
4. Training and awareness programs for teachers
5. Involvement of government or educational administration in open data ini-
tiatives
5
https://www.opendata.dk/
80
4 Conclusion
With the introduction of technology in schools and a push for more accessible
government data, there are many opportunities for better data collection and
analysis in education. One way to assist students in developing digital and data
skills is the use of open data in the classroom as an instructional resource. The
literacy of these skills has become vital in the early stages (e.g., secondary school)
of education to build a strong, informed, and talented workforce that is ready
to face future challenges and opportunities.
The availability of open data has many associated opportunities from not
only a technical or governmental perspective, such as improving public services
and bringing transparency to government policies but also from the educational
perspective, such as using open data as an open resource to help students learn
essential future skills and provide a learning environment that allows students
to relate their subjects with their immediate surroundings. Open data and sen-
sor data also provide students with information that, in some cases, requires
significant time and effort to accomplish a task or draw a conclusion.
5 Limitations and future research
The results presented in this research study are limited to schools (teachers and
students as participants) in Denmark. However, it provides the educational com-
munity an overview of the possibilities, opportunities, and challenges in using
open data and sensor data in educational activities. To fully exploit the benefits
of open data and sensor data, research is needed to discover ways to successfully
integrate open data and sensor data in curricula and develop a common platform
that allows the teaching community to share their success stories and upload the
results of data collection educational activities for others. The organization of
seminars or courses is also required to increase the awareness of and motivation
toward the use of open data among teachers. Lastly, there is a need for govern-
ment or administrative involvement in successfully integrating open data into
the school system.
The value of open data and sensor data in the learning process has not
been sufficiently investigated to date; therefore, more investigations are needed
to reap the full benefits of open data and sensor data in future research. To
successfully integrate open data and sensor data learning into schools and gain
the full advantage of open data opportunities, the initiatives and challenges
discussed above need to be addressed.
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