Blog Post Week 4: BYOD

Blog Post #4: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

I've decided to blog about the relatively new "BYOD" model that many school boards are beginning to implement.  My school board has been taking baby steps towards implementing the BYOD model over the past few years.  In this blog post I will discuss my personal experience with BYOD and some potential benefits and drawbacks of this model.

My School Board

The following link summarizes Technology Embedded Learning at the school board that I work for in Ontario.  This web page states that over the next three to five years the school board will work to ensure that teacher and student access and productivity is increased and that personal devices become a fully integrated tool for teaching and learning.  Last year was the first year that my school had different wifi networks for student and teacher use.  Before there was essentially one school network that all computers in the school were connected to and one guest network that nobody really knew how to access.  Although there was the creation of a student friendly wifi network there was really no real announcement or unveiling, it was something that was just there and not everyone had equal access. 

This year students have full access to the student wifi on their own devices and students are slowly beginning to bring their own devices to class.  Last semester most students had smartphones or ipods in class and a few students would bring a tablet or chromebook when they knew we were working on something where it be useful.  

I have always been a supporter of devices in the classroom and I've never agreed with "no cell phone" policies that many schools have had in the past.  I try to implement activities where students can use their mobile devices for learning such as group research, tweeting, or contributing to a class padlet.  The biggest issue I see with the BYOD model is that there is little to no guidance as far as how teachers should be moving forward with this in their classroom.  It seems like all use of mobile devices is still up to the discretion of the teacher.  I feel that this sends a mixed message to students about the place that technology has in education.  There needs to be more consistency as the board moves forward with the BYOD model.  

Benefits

One of the biggest issues in technology integration is often accessibility and cost.  There is no way that a high school can afford to provide a device for every student in the school.  Having students bring their own devices is an easy way to overcome this obstacle, students can collaborate and share resources and the BYOD model mirrors the real world (Fingal, 2012).

Another benefit from a cost perspective is that students are responsible to maintain their device which takes some pressure off tech support in schools (Nelson, 2012).  Students are also more likely to become engaged and participate in class activities when they get to use their own device that they are familiar with (Bruder, 2014).

Drawbacks

When students bring their own devices the digital divide may actually widen because some students will have brand new devices while others may have older less efficient models (Fingal, 2012).  This is definitely an issue that I have experienced in my own classroom.  Some students that come from low-income families have older and less capable devices that don't always allow for efficient use.  The way that I overcome this is before I begin an activity that requires a mobile device I will ask if there are any students who would like to sign out an ipad or chromebook from the library.  I will often approach this by saying something like  "If anyone forgot their device today or has low battery feel free to sign one out from the library".  This way I don't centre out students who have older devices or no device at all. 

Another drawback to embracing the BYOD model is the comfort level and technical skill of teachers.  The number one reason for teachers not implementing the use of devices in their classroom is because they don't know how to effectively integrate them (Nelson, 2012).  School boards should provide adequate training in the form of workshops on P.A days to help with this issue.  

References:

Bruder, P. (2014). Gadgets go to school: The benefits and risks of BYOD. The Education Digest, 80(3), 15.

Fingal, Diana. "Is BYOD the answer to our problems or the worst idea ever?" Learning & Leading with Technology Feb. 2012: 5. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.

Nelson, D. (2012). BYOD: An opportunity schools cannot afford to miss. Internet@Schools, 19(5), 12-15. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1153782427?accountid=14694

Responses to week 4 Blog Posts: 

Melissa Taaffe: I agree that the use of technology in the classroom requires an overwhelming amount of time.  As you've stated it is much more than the time needed to learn about technology via professional development, it is in the regular updates on certain technologies.  I currently use a learning management system and an app called remind and I try to use twitter for educational purposes.  At the end of every day I upload all course materials from the day for each of the three courses I teach. I sometimes worry that I put too much time into this and many students may not actually access our LMS.  I'm trying to work on ways to ensure students use the page regularly but it does take a lot of time!  

Laura Smart: It is interesting that we both chose BYOD for our week #4 blog post!  Like my post states the digital divide can actually be widened through the BYOD model in schools because students are using their own devices and there will likely be a wide range of capabilities among their devices.  Ideally schools have some mobile devices available to be signed out such as ipads/tablets or chromebooks.  There are many strategies that can be used to ensure that students with older devices aren't centered out.  There are definitely many considerations that need to be researched to ensure BYOD has a positive impact on student learning.