Investigating the Status of Internet of Things Development in Schools based on the Future Research

After the occurrence of the World Wide Web, the Internet of Things can be the next revolution due to the significant increase of the Internet, and this structure seeks to create a bridge between the real and virtual worlds, which has the ability to create an integrated network of billions of objects with the ability to connect wirelessly to each other to exchange information. So Considering the importance of internet of things in today's schools, the current research was conducted with the aim of investigating the status of internet of things development in schools based on the future research. 

This research in terms of purpose was practical and in terms of implementation method was quantitative. The research population were education managers and planners and officials of universities of Tehran city in the academic years of 2021-2022, which 281 people of them were selected as a sample by cluster sampling method. The tool of the current research was a researcher-made questionnaire of internet of things development in schools based on the future research with 26 items, which whose data were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis and one sample t-test in SPSS-26 software. 

The findings of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the internet of things development in schools based on the future research has 26 items in 7 components of removing time restrictions (with three items of connection per hour, unlimited use and offline use), removing location restrictions (with four items of use in any place, use at school and home, use without special equipment and ability to use a computer), reducing infrastructure costs (with four items of sharing of training, direct transfer of training, eliminating special infrastructure facilities and direct connection to the system), knowledge management (with three items of knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and knowledge distribution), professional competence (with three items of cognitive competence, knowledge competence and skill competence), information technology (with three items of information flow automation, easy access to information and changing the shape of the organization) and effectiveness of educational system (with six items of efficient education, behavior patterns appropriate to time, talent-oriented appropriate to future needs, matching school input with future expectations, satisfactory educational process and providing satisfactory educational services appropriate to future needs). In this study, the factor loading of all 26 items was higher than 0.40, the factor loading of all 7 components was higher than 0.50, their average variance extracted was higher than 0.60, and their Cronbach and combined reliability was higher than 0.70. Also, the results of the one sample t-test showed that the average of all 7 components significantly was higher than the assumed average of the society (P<0.001). 

Considering the importance of internet of things in schools and since the amount of all its components was slightly higher than the assumed average of the society, it is suggested that based on the questionnaire of the current research design and implement efficient and practical programs for the internet of things development in schools based on the future research.