Architecture for Integrating Real Objects with Virtual Academic Communities

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new concept that allows objects to be connected to Internet. This connectivity allows the emergence of new forms of interaction between objects and people. In educational environments the IoT could be applied to improve teaching and learning experiences. This paper proposes a new architecture for integrating objects available in educational environments with virtual academic communities (VAC). This new architecture is based on the paradigm of layered architectures and architectural styles such as REST. The proposed architecture consists of four layers: hardware/communications, messaging, services, and application. Test of the proposed architecture were made through the implementation of a case study, which was focused on practical classes of a typical digital electronics course.