The Internet of Things and “Industry 4.0” will profoundly change the world that we live in and the jobs of the future. It only makes sense—as parents, teachers, and software architects—that we make sure to consider how we are preparing the coming generation for these changes and career opportunities. As a tech-savvy parent who is raising two “digital-native” children (ages 14 and 11), I have seen firsthand how this upcoming generation interacts with technology. I have coached Lego Robotics; taught Arduino, introductory Linux, Minecraft server, and modding classes; and tried to get kids engaged in creative programming activities. But until now I haven’t been able to find a teaching architecture that ties it all together with a specific goal and purpose.
This session will discuss my experiences over the past six years as a parent-teacher of technology to this digital-native generation and will present, with live demos and live digital natives (kids), an IoT teaching platform based on Chromebooks, Linux, NodeJS, Arduinos, Raspberry Pi, NodeMCU, MQTT, Minecraft, Unity, and Node-Red.