Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been a part of the leading IT culture for a few years... but it is now becoming more mainstream. Last semester I completed a project focused on the use of Audience Response Devices in the classroom. As part of my project, I actually got a set of "Clickers" working in my room with one class. The time it took me to set up the students with the devices then design the activities to use with the devices was much longer than the activity itself. While using them, two stopped working - fortunately my class didn't need them all so I was able to put that student's name on another device. I could not use the set with my other classes because the set did not have enough devices for all of the students in the class. The more I tried to use them, the more the idea of BYOD appealed to me.
Right now in my building, the students are not supposed to be carrying their cell phones at all. The handbook states that they must be stored in lockers or in their cars. We teachers know that nearly every student is "packing" a device of some kind. Instead of playing the "hide the cell phone" game, why not put the technology that they already have to use? Attached is a video about a school in Texas that has its own BYOT (technology) policy. It seems to be working well for them. They even supply lap tops for students who do not have their own. I'd like to see how well their policies are working after a year - and if they change them at all. What do you think?
Bring Your Own Technology to school
Renee Peterson
My first thought is the one mentioned very briefly at the end of the video: "Students who can't afford to bring their own technology can use the school's." Is this just another way of showing off what you have, or, conversely, feeling bad about what you don't have? I guess the same argument is used for having uniforms in schools. Clothes are a main way children judge each other - who's rich, who's trendy - so everyone should wear the same outfit. Would having personal tech devices in the classroom take this to another level?
ReplyDeleteAnother concern would be texting. The video mentioned that social media sites aren't able to be accessed, and I wonder if this includes texts.
How does a school system afford all this technology in the classroom? If it's in a well funded school district then you'd expect all the students to bring stuff with them, but can kids in poorer areas really afford iPhones and iPads? Wouldn't the teachers prefer to get paid a little more rather than spending $600 a pop on an iPad?
Bill Gates donated a huge amount of money through his foundation last year to introduce more technology into the classroom. In his mind, the technological advances seen in other areas of society haven't been embraced in the classroom. According to Gates, this is a main reason why our schools are falling behind other countries. Anyway, it's an interesting topic - technology itself can't do it all. Education will always rest on quality teachers and strong family support. Technology can supplement an already strong environment for learning.
I think you have some valid points here Stephen. The bring your own tech. opens a lot of doors but also questions as to how this could be integrated smoothly into a school. Texting, sub-par tech and funding are great points you offer and seem to be quite the obstacles in creating an environment to which tech is more abundant.
DeleteI also see great challenges to the argument of providing tech to everyone from the school. Funding, resources, training, and equity are all great questions when approaching tech integration into schools. What happens when one breaks or they forget theirs?
This is interesting! It’s funny that allowing students to bring their own devices to class causes the instructor to take different measures to protect against cheating. The teacher in the clip stated that the students had to put their devices on the back table during test to prevent cheating, using cameras. I think the BYOD trial could be very effective with learning styles, but as long as teachers are prepared for diversity in technique. Ultimately, I agree with Stephen’s statement, “Education will always rest on quality teachers and strong family support"
ReplyDeleteCherelle Johnson
I am all about children bringing in technologies from home! Now hear me when I say this-I teach third grade so my darlings aren't rolling into class with macbooks and laptops. Majority of my children are sporting new iPod touch's and an occasional Kindle Fire. I think that Renee's post and findings are wonderful. I teach a very small county that is fortunate to have lots of technology at our fingertips. Our central office and PTA constantly sponsor grants to help purchase new things for our classrooms. Right now I have 6 classroom computers, 1 iPad, 2 Kindle readers, 3 iPod shuffles and my personal iPod touch and Kindle Fire. It may sound like alot but with 22 pair of hands it really isn't enough for each friend to have one. Please know that I am exceptionally grateful for what I do have but just like my darlings-I would love more! Since implementing these technologies into my Language Arts stations I have found a TON of free apps (I even discovered Oregon Trail-and I was in elementary heaven again).
ReplyDeleteI have also been fortunate to have parents who let their children bring in their technologies to school. When I find an excellent app I send a mass email out to my parents and ask them to consider putting the app on their child's device. It's been great for my class-almost all of may parents will add the apps and the kids come in the next day showing me what new apps their parents have loaded. Since my children are still young I don't deal to much with the cheating issues and texting problems. Keeping my parents involved has also helped me because they always send me new apps when they find them. So far BYOT to school has worked grade in Room 11.
Stephen provides some great points about the challenges of BYOD. Jessica also provides great optimism about this too. I see this as a great experiment as to how one can effectively integrate tech into the classroom. Sometimes, even with all the funding and gadgets a district can see some poor results. One example is a district in Oregon where a family member works. They went all out Apple and the big purchase was the iPads for all. This included textbooks that are digital. They also sold/trashed all their other print books(big mistake). So with all the tech in the world in their hands they find out that when students need to do homework at night, they have to fight for the computer for the following from each family member: Facebook, email, games, internet browsing, etc... just so they can read their textbook online. The family computer is being fought over in many households at this point.
ReplyDeleteThe BYOD is a great experiment that has promise and even more obstacles to overcome. It's easy to be greatly skeptical or optimistic for good reaosn with this but ultimately I think it depends upon the case-by-case scenarios. The stakeholders vary greatly by area and each one should be evaluated accordingly. Of course, this doesn't always happen properly but the BYOD is a nice attempt at trying to approach the lack of tech problem for education.
I think the BYOD to schools sounds like a really great idea. There are plenty of lesson plans that you can make in order to incorporate more technology. Technology might help increase student engagement but there needs to be traces of traditional education left in school. I find that students do not always have the basic skills that they need to be successful in the classroom. I think in order for technology to be useful the students need to learn how to research and how to read textbooks. I think the skills will be a lot more useful for their future and I think the technology can aide in learning these skills.
ReplyDeleteI also have to agree with the concerns about the different school districts that can actually support this sort of program. Wealthier areas will have no problem with incorporating personal devices in the classroom but the poorer areas will. There is also the concern of how parents might feel about their child being asked to download apps. Some parents will have no problem providing the technology and everything that goes along with it but how do you deal with the students that want to participate in the program but do not have the support of their parents? It is a pretty sticky situation and I feel that if the school systems are able to provide students with similar technology to what the students are already using it might be a better way to go.
The school that I just did my student teaching in was in the process of implementing this into instruction. The video makes it seem great, but I'm sure that school was very careful about how they were going to make it work. Students are smart and will find a way to break the rules. I remember when I was in high school we used to use proxies to get on to facebook. Everytime a proxy got blocked, we just found a new one.
ReplyDeleteAllowing students to have their phones will encourage them to be texting during class. This is more dangerous than note passing. Once students are texting, it might be impossible to get their attention where it's supposed to be. There's also no way to block the games that they already have downloaded.
I think theoretically, this would be an awesome idea. But realistically, I think it's only encouraging behavior that teachers work so hard to prevent.
In my opinion, this is a great idea for many of the reasons everyone has mentioned. Allowing students to have access to and use new technologies in the classroom is more important now than ever with the growing number of devices and apps. Coming from, and having worked in, an inner-city school system where the majority of students are on free or reduced lunch, I can say that the system has provided many new technologies, and they would probably get better use if students were allowed to bring their gadgets from home, or even allowed to use them on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteAs for texting, cheating, and social media - it will happen either way! As Kelsey stated, students will find a way to get to the sites that they want, and they are surely texting in the classroom now. I do not think that allowing students to bring their own devices would create any further problems. In regard to using tablets, mp3 players, and cell phones for cheating purposes, they are irrelevant. When I was in middle and high school the technology available to us was TI-83 calculators to which several of my classmates would store information to use on tests. My point is that nothing is avoidable. It is better to embrace the changes and to teach the children how to use their devices for education than to continue to block them out. The more educators know and teach about the educational capabilities of these devices the less likely students are to use them for mischief.
The first thing I think of is how this technology is used in Universities. As an undergraduate years ago, I never experienced having laptops on every desk or the use of phones in the classroom. As a graduate student, I notice that almost everyone uses a laptop and phone in class. I believe this technology in the class room can be great in a class room, but is also so easily abused. Technology can easily become a buffer between a teacher and a student. I believe this buffer is evident at the graduate level. If technology is a distraction at the Graduate level, how could it not be at the lower levels of our education system. Although I prefer to remove technology from the classroom, I am not sure this is a possibility at the present time. So at this point, much like Saadia was saying, educators need to embrace technology and accept the downfalls of their abilities.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience teaching in an inner city middle school, we did not utilize or promote the use of electronic devices. Because the curriculum was so tight and state controlled to perform on state standardized tests, anything but a basic literacy computer program was avoided. It was unfair to expect students to reach their potential in such an environment. Had we been more creative and opened a curriculum through a medium of technology that these students could better relate to, I think we would have had more success as educators.