An Educational Schoolbag System for Providing an Object Reminder Service

Embedding educational functions into devices in the everyday environment is an important task for advocates of ubiquitous learning. In this paper, we discuss how to add a reminder service to a schoolbag. An educational function would be added to the device to help pupils remember belongings. Reminding oneself of things is a difficult task and reminder services have been an important subject of computer applications. However, most reminding tools are used for business, not education. Most such services use PDAs as terminals and require the user to create the reminder list by him or herself, making it too complex for some pupils to use. The systems also seldom pay attention to helping users learn how to avoid forgetting. In this research, a ubiquitous learning support system that makes use of schoolbags is presented to assist pupils in managing their personal items. With RFID and infrared sensors, a microcontroller embedded in a schoolbag can monitor what has been put in or taken out of the schoolbag and automatically maintain a schoolbag's items list. Such a bag also enables teachers to make up a schedule that specifies required items for given days. The microcontroller then compares the schedule with the items list in the schoolbag and provides a reminder service for the pupil. In addition to the reminder service, which is based on principles of behavior modification, the paper also proposes a series of methods to help pupils form good personal management habits and reduce their dependence on outside machines.