Edge AI Platform for Practical Learning in Introductory Course on Smart Building Technologies

Buildings are crucial infrastructures that significantly impact our quality of life. In the past decade, there has been a wide use of smart building technologies, including the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud/Edge Computing, and Big Data, to integrate different systems within the buildings, improve user comfort and productivity, and reduce costs, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of Smart buildings, limited courses focus on the interaction of different technologies. Additionally, these courses usually do not provide practical learning opportunities, leading to ineffective learning experiences. This paper presents our work on developing the course structure for an introductory course on smart buildings that not only introduces different technologies but also incorporates practical learning. In particular, we have developed an Edge AI platform and leveraged it to design a practical learning assessment component for effective learning of smart building technologies. The efficacy of the developed Edge AI platform and its impact on the learning experience has been evaluated using comprehensive student feedback. Our evaluation shows positive student feedback and improvement in learning compared to traditional programming assignments. Finally, based on our experience, we have also discussed several lessons learned that can be used to improve practical learning in the future.