Research Article
From Mobile to Wearable System: A Wearable RFID System to
Enhance Teaching and Learning Conditions
Souad Larabi Marie-Sainte,
1
Muna S. Alrazgan,
1
Fatiha Bousbahi,
1
Sanaa Ghouzali,
1
and Wadood Abdul
2
1
Information Technology Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University,
Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia
2
Department of Computer Engineering, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University,
Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence should be addressed to Sanaa Ghouzali; sghouzali@ksu.edu.sa
Received 26 February 2016; Accepted 7 April 2016
Academic Editor: Miltiadis D. Lytras
Copyright © 2016 Souad Larabi Marie-Sainte et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Over the last decade, wearable technology has seen signifcant developments, making it possible to enhance our lives. One of the
areas in which wearable technology can cause large changes is education, where it can be used to make educational experiences
intrinsically motivating and more relevant to youth culture. In this paper, we focus on the use of wearable technology to improve the
educational environment. Te quantity of electronic assets used in the learning environment is rising, which presents a managerial
problem when these devices are nonfunctioning. Terefore, we present a mobile application to solve this problem. Te suggested
approach consists of creating a mobile application named classroom clinic (CRC) to help faculty members and students locate the
closest maintenance technician via wearable radio frequency identifcation (RFID) technology and to provide fast responses to the
problems alerted to in the classroom, thereby avoiding any disturbances or delays during the lecture. Moreover, this application
allows the maintenance service to efciently manage any malfunctions of classroom electronic devices. To evaluate the CRC
application, a pilot study was conducted at the College of Computer and Information Sciences, female campus of King Saud
University, with 15 faculty members and students and 5 clinic members. Te results showed high usability rates and generally
positive attitudes towards using the app.
1. Introduction
Te world is becoming more educated and technology is
driving the change to make our lives easier, safer, healthier,
and more convenient. One of the areas in which technology
is having an incredible impact is wearable technology. Wear-
able technology refers to mobile and lightweight advanced
electronic devices that are incorporated into clothing and
accessories. Tese wearable devices are designed to provide
means for gathering quantitative information regarding the
wearer’s everyday activities and surroundings. Over the last
decade, technologies such as augmented reality and ubiqui-
tous computing have enabled large advances in the feld of
wearable technology.
A growing collection of wearable devices is appearing
in the marketplace. For example, the Sony SmartWatch has
become commonplace, allowing users to organize notifca-
tions, check their email, and perform other productive tasks
using a basic interface. Jawbone UP is a wristband device that
allows users to monitor their physical activity, including the
number of steps taken and the number of calories burned.
Google Glass is one of the latest technologies; it enables users
to see information regarding their surroundings. An example
of successful testing of wearable technology in the GCC is
the use of Google Glass to track trafc violations in Dubai
[1]. Moreover, the Dubai Police Department is planning to
use Google Glass to detect criminals using facial recognition
sofware installed on Google Glass [2]. However wearable
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Mobile Information Systems
Volume 2016, Article ID 8364909, 10 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8364909