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BringYourOwnDevice Anita T. Padgett Hampton District One Instructional Technology Coach September 11, 2013

Many school systems are now incorporating personally-owned mobile devices such as laptops, iPads, tablets, and smartphones into the learning experience and as a way to address one-to-one computing mandates within tightened budgetary constraints, and enrich collaborative learning.

BYOD: • Also known as the Bring-Your-Own-Technology (BYOT), this trend is gaining momentum nationwide with much support from parents and students. • Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit group, reported that 60-70 percent of parents of K-12 students would be willing to buy a mobile device to support learning. • And 56 percent of high school students say that it would make it easier to learn if they were allowed to use their own mobile device at school.

BYOD Tour – Forsyth County Schools • https://fcschoolsga.eduvision.tv/Default.aspx?q=N1VVbOR2eYMQ8pyp1eIlbw%253d%253d

http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/cms/lib3/GA01000373/Centricity/Domain/33/BYOT/BYOT.pdfhttp://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/cms/lib3/GA01000373/Centricity/Domain/33/BYOT/BYOT.pdf • Let’s look at some suggestions for beginning BYOD.

10Key Components of a Successful BYOD Initiative • Treat students like 21st century adolescents. Many of them own and use these devices outside of school. If we can focus the use on learning, then why would we not allow them to bring these tools and use them in school? • Begin to change the way students view their electronic devices by changing the language used to refer to them. Students need to fully understand that electronic items are tools for learning. Teachers should make consistent efforts to refer to them as mobile learning devices.

Develop appropriate support structures that align with current Acceptable Use Policies. • Provide professional development and resources to teachers so that they can be successful in implementing mobile learning devices. • When using these devices in the classroom, the teacher must ensure that there is a specific learning outcome connected to the device.

Ensuring equity is important and we must be cognizant of those students that might not own a device. Determining those that do not in a confidential manner is very important. If using mobile phones, teachers can easily pair students up. • A BYOD initiative can actually supplement what a school might already have in terms of technology and increase access. For example, let's say a school has a laptop cart with only 20 devices because that is all that could be afforded, but there are 25 students in the class. Student owned technology could then be utilized to close this gap.

Promote use of student owned devices for learning during non-instructional time. At SFHS, one can now routinely see students using their devices during lunch to conduct research for projects, complete homework assignments, and organize their responsibilities. Additionally, we have seen a dramatic reduction in behavior issues. • Unacceptable use is dealt with accordingly based on a school's discipline code. This should not be considered different than any other infraction.

Lastly, it’s the pedagogy, not the technology. Technology should always be at the service of pedagogy. The power of integrating technology into the classroom is the power it has to redefine the relationships in the classroom and reorient them toward a more student-centered approach to learning

http://thejournal.com/Articles/2011/11/09/7-BYOD-Myths.aspx?Page=1http://thejournal.com/Articles/2011/11/09/7-BYOD-Myths.aspx?Page=1 • Let’s look at a few myths related to BYOD.

Myth No. 1: BYOD deepens the digital divide.The digital divide exists whether we allow students to bring the devices they own to school or not. It is illogical to prohibit those students who have devices from using them in a desire to achieve a sense of equity rather than to provide devices for those who need them. Tim Clark, district instructional technology specialist with Forsyth County Schools (GA), explains that in his experience with BYOD, “Students who do not have personal technology devices have greater access to school-owned technology tools when students who bring their own devices to school are no longer competing for that access.”

Myth No. 3: BYOD will cause students to be distracted. Teachers across the globe are finding that with the right strategies and building blocks in place, learners are much more engaged in connected classrooms. Strategies include incorporating technology into learning plans and updating learning goals to meet the needs of today’s students. Building blocks include working with students to determine responsible use policies, permissions, holding one another accountable for inappropriate use, and having clear consequences in place. Teachers that put the right strategies and building blocks in place report a dramatic decrease in discipline and behavior issues. As students discover how to learn with their devices, they are able to extend their learning beyond the school day and often choose to continue participating in online discussions and collaborative activities for academic purposes. This advantage encourages them to become more self-directed, motivated, and reflective about their learning.

Myth No. 4: Teachers need to become experts in all the technology students own. Recently, in response to an article describing ways to support students in BYOD, a reader who goes by WAHS SBTS made this comment: “I am a technology resource teacher. A lot of teachers are very nervous and technology resource teachers a little nervous about being expected to be literate in using a wide variety of platforms we have never even seen. To just say that students are expected to provide their own support is a little naive.”Clark explains how it works in his district and others. If teachers are introducing an activity with school software or hardware, then they are expected to know how everything works. Because of this learning curve, teachers resort to focusing on one process and one product. When the students bring in their own devices, then they are now the experts on the technology, and they can help each other. The teacher is then able to focus on the educational uses of the technology.

Myth No. 5: BYOD will result in students engaging in dangerous activities. Our students are living in a digital world with ubiquitous access to technology. Not only is trying to ban kids from connecting digitally a futile effort, it also doesn’t prepare them for the digital world in which they live. “Without BYOD, at the end of each school day, students leave school and immediately turn on their devices and explore the web, often unsupervised,” explains Clark. “By banning devices, we close the door to authentic dialogue of how to use technology appropriately and prevent students from developing strategies for internet safety.” Instead of banning and blocking, schools need to work with students to create responsible digital citizens and have necessary consequences in place when there are violations, just as is the case in real life. When we address the problem, rather than blame the tools, we move toward creating responsible students.

Making BYOD Work in Schools – Three School Districts That Have Figured it Out • http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/12/making-byod-work-in-schools/

Suggested Rules: • No downloading apps while at school. • You are responsible for your device. • You may not charge your device at school. • Make good choices.

References • http://impulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BYOD_Bring-Your-Own-Device_K-12.pdf • http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=825 • http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/12/making-byod-work-in-schools

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