Buzz-Boarding; practical support for teaching computing based on the internet-of-things

In this paper we discuss the challenges of educating students in emerging technologies such as the Internet-of-Things. In respect of this we present an innovative approach (Buzz-Boarding) to supporting laboratory based teaching of these newly emergent science and engineering skills. The approach is based on a novel modularised learning toolkit (both physical and virtual) which is described in this paper. The primary aim of this work is to arm universities with the means to support the acquisition of these key skills by students in a motivating and effective way. A secondary aim is to support the wider effort of teaching computing in pre-university schools.