HoosStudying; Examining Factors of the Acceptance of IoT-Based Campus Tools Amongst Ghanaian University Students 26 views

This thesis examines the design, implementation, and sociotechnical implications of Internet of Things (IoT)-based campus tools in higher education through two complementary projects. The technical project, HoosStudying, is a prototype real-time study space occupancy tracking system developed for the University of Virginia. The system integrates a millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar sensor with an ESP32 microcontroller and a cloud-hosted web application to provide students with live study room availability and historical usage analytics. By deliberately avoiding privacy-invasive sensing methods such as cameras or audio recording, the system achieved between 90% and 96% binary occupancy detection accuracy across two tested rooms while maintaining full-day system uptime. The STS research paper expands on the technical project by examining the factors that shape Ghanaian university students' acceptance of IoT-based campus tools by drawing on the frameworks of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework. The paper also analyzes a pilot survey of students across multiple Ghanaian institutions, which finds that while students express broadly positive perceptions of IoT tools' usefulness and ease of use, institutional transparency, trust, and policy awareness represent significant barriers to adoption. Together, these projects demonstrate that technical competence is a necessary but insufficient condition for the successful deployment of smart campus technologies and that sustainable adoption requires institutions to treat students as active stakeholders through transparent data governance and responsive communication practices.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

Internet of Things; Higher Education; Milimeter-Wave Radar; Ghana; Privacy

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering Technical Advisor: Keith Williams STS Advisor: Travis Elliott Technical Team Members: Yasir Babiker, Saugat Lamsal, Ava Lipshultz, Nina Pournaras

English

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2026-05-08