As highlighted by the articles in this special issue, the concept of the Internet of Things is becoming increasingly important and understanding both the technical underpinning and wider societal impacts of the Internet of Things (IoT) will be crucial for digital citizens of the future. Building on extensive experience in delivering large-scale distance learning, The Open University has redesigned its introductory computer science curriculum to place the Internet of Things at the centre of students’ experience, in a course called My Digital Life. In this article we present the design of this module, including a learning infrastructure that allows complete novices to experiment with, and learn about, Internet of Things technologies. We also share our experience of having almost 2000 students participate in the first presentation of the course, engaging in a range of activities that include collaborative and collective programming of real-world sensing applications.