Ubiquitous Systems as a Learning Context to Promote Innovation Skills in ICT Students

Abstract

The ubiquitous presence of ICT in our lives calls for professionals who have a deep understanding of technology, but who are also able to understand and frame the relevant contributions that are needed from many other disciplines. In this work, we report on our experience of teaching Ubiquitous Systems to ICT students. We argue that a course on Ubiquitous Systems provides an excellent learning context for introducing ICT students to this broader view of ICT innovation, allowing them to explore the valuable and systemic use of information technology in the real-world. Our study addresses 4 main themes that recurrently emerge as fundamental issues in the course design, more specifically: technical scope, selection of project topics, multidisciplinary work, and project organization. We gathered quantitative and qualitative data over 3 editions of this course to characterise the key design challenges associated with each of these challenges. The result is a structured set of insights that may inform others in the design of similar courses, providing a framework to reason about the key design decisions and their effect on the ability to promote advanced competences for ICT students.