6 Steps for Increasing Student Access with BYOD More than 900 middle and high school students in Edina, Minn., bring their own personal devices to school. Although that represents just 20 percent of the student population, it’s the equivalent of more than 30 labs coming to school each day. These are “labs” that Edina Public Schools didn’t have to purchase or support, but that students can use for learning. The district’s successful “bring your own device” initiative, dubbed “Go Wireless,” began with a less-than-successful effort to launch a one-to-one computing program. (Read “How Edina Public Schools Moved from One-to-One to BYOD.”) Students, parents and teachers all have responded positively to the district’s adoption of the BYOD model: The district’s IT team and other staff members learned plenty of lessons along the way. One: Define the Goals Why do you want to have a BYOD program? Two: Prepare the Infrastructure The infrastructure for wireless coverage and density needs to be in place and tested before a district begins BYOD.
#BYOD - Criteria for Implementation Success #byodchat #edchat #BYOD - Criteria for Implementation SuccessCreative Commons Copyright ShareAlike-Attribution-NonCommercial This past week in a conversation, I found myself saying, “Wouldn’t it be neat if there was a rubric or list of criteria for implementing a BYOD program? That way, you could just share that with campus/district leaders so they could be aware of what was needed from 3 different perspectives: Teaching & Learning, Policy and Procedures, and Infrastructure & Administration.” That sigh isn’t unlike the sigh educators give in response to their increasing awareness that crafting a strategy to implement BYOD is important given the following statistics: In light of the facts above, it’s obvious that BYOD is an initiative whose time has come...and, in spite of fears--such as inappropriate social media usage by teachers and students--that may derail it: So, how do schools “get ready” to implement BYOD? The following list of criteria summarizes the work of various online resources on BYOD. I.
Forsyth schools BYOT: An idea whose time has come Technology becomes more embedded in all aspects of society. As a father, I see this firsthand with my first-grader son. The gift he wanted the most this past Christmas was an iPod Touch, which Santa was kind enough to bring him. Then there is his younger sister, who will regularly ask to use my iPad so she can care for her virtual horse or dress Barbies in creative ways. As I download all of the apps, the majority of their time is spent engaged in games that can require thought, creativity and collaboration. My point here is that many children are accessing technology outside of school in a variety of ways. As society continues to advance in innovation, technology and global connectivity, schools have been stymied by relentless budget cuts. The world of education is often defined by the “haves” and “have nots.” There are many well-respected educators whom I admire who feel that BYOT has no place in schools. Key components of a successful BYOT initiative include the following: Links:
BYOD Policy vs. BYOD Learning Environment There is a big difference between having a BYOD policy and a BYOD learning environment. The former lays the foundation for a BYOD learning environment but it by no means guarantees it. In order to shift from a school with a BYOD policy to a school with a BYOD learning environment, mindset shifts need to occur organizationally: All of these require professional development and a systemic mindset that such an environment is desired. The good news is that if you have a BYOD policy, there is a good chance you have pockets of BYOD learning environment– those teachers that only need the policy to be in place and they take off running with the possibilities. This is the foundation for professional development. While schools and districts continue to look at BYOD, it is imperative to see the policy formation as just one step. Image: Personal Learning Environment, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike (2.0) image from adesigna’s photostream
How to Launch a Successful BYOD Program Erin Scott By Katrina Schwartz As more schools start to integrate their own mobile learning strategies and Bring Your Own Device policies, one school district in a suburb of Houston has managed to come up with what appears to be a successful BYOD program. Katy Independent School District (ISD) has a student population of 63,000 students and 56 schools – elementary, middle and high schools. In 2009, Katy began a three-year plan to change instruction in the school district by promoting a standardized toolbox of web-based tools dubbed “Web 2.0.” “Part of this education we’ve going through for the past three years is helping our teachers to understand when it’s appropriate to use this and when it’s not.” But first, the school district needed to understand the ins and outs of mobile learning. “Mobile learning is all about changing instruction. Schad stressed that the teacher’s role in a mobile learning classroom changes significantly.
BYOT Network Privacy, Equity, and other BYOD Concerns Big Ideas Digital Tools Erin Scott As the Bring Your Own Device movement continues to gain momentum, allowing students to use their own devices (mobile phones, laptops, tablets) in school, administrators and educators are figuring out how to iron out concerns and issues that crop up. One of the biggest issues educators continually bring up is equity. “Especially at the middle school level, not having a device and needing to find a classmate to share with results in further issues (selfishness, resentment, etc.),” writes Kevin, a commenter to a recent post about Katy School District’s BYOD program. But proponents of BYOD contend that students who have devices should not be prohibited from using them as a solution to the equity issue. “The BYOD environment is fluid and policies should be as well.” Another set of concerns, according to a CoSN report, are around potential safety and security risks. “The challenge is giving [kids] a sense of a digital footprint,” Cannon says. Related
SCHOOLCIO : BYOD Strategies 1/31/2012 By: Proponents of “bring your own device” (BYOD) programs like them for a lot of reasons: budgets keep dwindling, students already bring devices to school, and technology isn’t getting cheaper. “People are saying ‘It’s happening in the real world. Let’s mirror that in our schools,” says Lucy Gray, project director ofthe Leadership for Mobile Learning (LML) initiative at CoSN, the Consortium for School Networking. But this article isn’t meant to convince readers to try BYOD. Universal Content The tech team at Lake Travis (TX) Independent School District began planning for BYOD last year by discussing it with administrators, principals, and the cabinet. The most affluent families provide devices for their children, low-income families are given devices purchased through the latest bond package, and middle-income families can purchase or lease devices at a discounted price, which Casey arranged with various vendors. Essentially, BYOD at New Canaan is about respect. When Kevin J.
BYOD Questions to Consider The buzz in 1-to-1 right now is about BYOD — Bring Your Own Device — and it’s not a fad and it’s not going away. There’s a convergence of factors causing it including: Hardware is diverse and at price points that are more affordableSchools are hyper budget consciousThe “cloud” (previously called The Internet, the Web and the Information Superhighway) is ideal for core apps which are free or inexpensive with such as Google (although be sure to use GAFE), and ZohoParents are realizing that a digital device is necessary for learningSchools want to be sure students possess 21st Century skills But BYOD upsets apple carts right and left. But then there are the students. They grow and develop and move to the next grade level and out the door to college and to life. In order for BYOD to work well there must be a strong partnership between administration, Board members, teachers, technology, students, and parents. Have you visited a BYOD school or district?
Creating a Robust and Safe BYOD Program Until recently, student electronic devices, from cell phones to iPods to laptop computers, were the forbidden fruit in schools. But with technology budgets languishing and such devices becoming more powerful, affordable and omnipresent in students’ lives, district technology leaders are now eyeing a welcome educational harvest through bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs. Lucy Gray, project director of the Leadership for Mobile Learning Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), has studied early BYOD adopters. “I’m stunned by the number of school districts opening their minds to this approach,” she says. High school, middle school and even elementary school students in a growing number of districts are being encouraged to bring in the very electronic equipment they were once admonished to leave at home. To hear Wilson and other tech directors tell it, these devices are more than welcome. In the 180,000-student Fairfax County (Va.) Building Network Capacity Early Reviews
Learning at Your Fingertips: Cell Phones in the Classroom - ASCD Annual Conference 2012 Paulina Malek Although Kevin Thomas admits that cell phones can contribute to problems—including classroom disruption, cheating, and cyberbullying—he believes the benefits are far greater than the challenges. "It's about ethics. It's not about technology," he said. In the session "Using Cell Phones in the Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Classrooms," Thomas, professor at the Frazier School of Education at Bellarmine University in Kentucky, discussed the potential benefits of mobile phone use in the classroom. Mobile features such as texting can also provide a variety of possibilities for student learning. Another phone feature, the digital camera, allows students to create their own multimedia stories. Thomas described a 7th grade social studies class who accessed the National Archives and Records Administration using their cell phones. The project allowed students to develop better thinking skills and gain a deeper understanding of the Constitution, said Thomas.
6 Reasons EdLeaders Should Let Kids Bring Devices to School Bans on student use of mobile devices exist for some good reasons—kids use them inappropriately at school and there are safety and security concerns. So why bother considering a change? There are six reasons to consider BYOD. Digital natives learn and live with technology. More BYOD resources: