PerLE: A Testbed for Pervasive Middlewares in Learning Environments

Abstract

Today's classrooms contain an increasing number of smart devices such as displays and smart lighting in the infrastructure. Additionally, many are brought by lecturers and students in the form of laptops, smartphones, or tablets. However, until now, all these devices are not fully utilized for the benefit of the lecture and a better learning experience. While the use of a pervasive middleware is the first step in connecting all the heterogeneous devices and enabling communication among them, the system also needs the right services to utilize this capability. We introduce PerLE (Pervasive Learning Environment), a testbed for pervasive middlewares in classroom scenarios. The testbed has two main goals. First, it enables the evaluation of different pervasive middlewares during lectures. Second, it shows how pervasive services enhance the learning experience of students and help lecturers in holding improved lessons. Therefore, we implemented five different services for a pervasive classroom system together with an application for lecturers and students.