Internet of Things

A3 Education Hosts IoT Summer Class with Acer

• By Sri Ravipati
• 06/23/17

A3 Education, an education management and consulting company of 15 California schools, has partnered with Acer America to launch a free, online class this summer that equips students with programming skills to design and build Internet of things (IoT) devices.

The 2017 IoT Summer School is open to individuals ages 5-24 (who have not yet completed high school) and teaches them how to use Acer’s CloudProfessor handheld device (see image right). Tablets, PCs and smartphones can all connect via WiFi, Bluetooth, USB or HDMI to the CloudProfessor — which when combined with the Arduino developer board can be used to program a variety of sensors (i.e. sound and temperature sensors). The device supports teaching JavaScript, Blockly, LiveCode and Scratch programming languages.

Students in the following California counties are eligible to register: Butte, Colusa, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, Sutter, Ventura, Yolo, Yuba, Fresno, Inyo, Mono, Kings, Tulare, Monterey, San Benito, Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Marin, Contra Costa, Mendocino, Solano, Merced, Madera, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo.

Each participant will receive a CloudProfessor IoT starter kit (valued at $349 for the hardware alone). It includes the CloudProfessor, an Arduino, and assorted sensors and cables. Students will learn how to use the kit in combination with the Acer CloudProfessor app to program their connected devices — engaging in computational thinking and computer science skills in the process.  The curriculum begins with teaching the basics of the cloud and works its way up to more advanced subjects, such as robotics and artificially intelligent (AI) technologies.

While the CloudProfessor has been used in schools around Asia and South America, A3 Education is the first in North America to use it, according to information from Acer.

The 2017 IoT Summer School kicks off July 1 and ends Aug. 31. Individuals need to have their own Android or iOS device to take the class. Registration is now open.