Development and Use of IoT Boards for Online Labs

The COVID-19 pandemic plunged academia into a virtual learning environment. Internet became essential in delivering lectures, tutorials, and labs. Implementing experiential learning activities in engineering education became a challenge. This paper presents an approach that allows students to develop experiential learning skills related to IoT in an online lab environment and describes an approach to teaching IoT communication technologies using two electronic boards. These boards allow students to learn IoT concepts such as sensors and interfacing, to develop application using IoT communication technologies, and to run applications on several platforms. The paper describes these boards and their use in labs focused on smart systems, and in advanced-level labs.