Developments for Smart Classrooms: School Perspectives and Needs

This paper presents results of a focus group that gathered data from principals of several public schools in Catalonia regarding the educational impact of Industry 4.0 technologies. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn from qualitative analysis with a view to improving smart classrooms via educational innovation. Results show that the schools see development and implementation of technology leveraging Industry 4.0 as necessary for future classrooms, always based on knowledge and pedagogical principles. Furniture, lighting, acoustics, and air quality are parameters that need to be adjusted in a smart classroom. Technologies such as internet of things, artificial intelligence, and big data make it possible to automate these adjustments, with a risk that the economic cost of such developments could create a gap between schools. Further research in other contexts or countries could report slightly different results. Nevertheless, this paper offers a qualified perspective from school principals about what industry should work on in order to develop smart classrooms, and why.