📱💬BYOD brings its own challenges for schools and students
📌“Students generally can forget their textbook but never forget their smartphone”.
What is happening?"Bring your own device" (BYOD) refers to a technology model that allows students to bring their own devices to school for learning in the classroom. The term "BYOD" was first coined in the corporate world a few years ago, with companies allowing employees to use their personal laptop computers, smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices in the workplace. However, it has since gained traction in the education sector with an increasing number of schools around the world choosing to implement their own BYOD policies.
Why is it happening?It is widely acknowledged that technology plays a huge role in students' everyday lives and should, therefore, be an integral part of their learning. However, for most schools, it is financially unsustainable to provide every student with state-of-the-art technology. BYOD is therefore considered an attractive, cost-effective alternative; recognising that many students already own devices that are superior and more up-to-date than those available in schools.
What do BYOD supporters say?
With the cost of purchasing technology shifting to parents, BYOD programs are clearly cost-effective for schools and require little technical support. However, supporters add that student-owned devices are more likely to be "cutting-edge", and that students are already familiar and comfortable using them, reducing the need for training. Others say BYOD empowers students by allowing them, in many cases, to make their own technology choices. Furthermore, some say student-owned devices offer more opportunities for learning to continue at home; enhance student engagement, and enable students to keep work in one place. Some suggest that students are more likely to take better care of devices that belong to them.
Supporters praise the BYOD model for encouraging a welcome shift toward self-directed learning in collaboration with peers, teachers and online experts. They say that having to navigate numerous device-platforms stimulates new ways to create, collaborate and share work. For teachers, applications exist that allow them to track student progress and encourage better communication with families.
In Conclusion
Many experts say BYOD is "inevitable" and preferable to the "lockdown" approach adopted by some schools — particularly in relation to mobile phones. They argue that schools should be focusing on promoting responsible use of these devices, rather than banning them. As IT director of Queen Elizabeth School in England: "You can't stop students using the powerful computers in their pockets."
Despite lingering concerns about network capability, affordability and e-safety, some describe the BYOD global trend as the next stage in the evolution of schooling: one that will provide students with the skills they will require for life in the technological age.
📌"You can't stop students using the powerful computers in their pockets."
Links
BYOD in Schools – 2013 Literature Review – NSW Education Department det.nsw.edu.au/policies/technology/computers/mobile-device/BYOD_2013_Literature_Review.pdf
ABC- Life Matters – BYOD Podcast
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