Revindicating the Y in BYOD

"If mum lends me her tablet, is that BYOD, too, Ms Andy?"

This came from a 10 year old student, and however simple the question might seem at first sight, it's quite tricky to answer. Even more so if you´re trying to make a strong point out of the fact of the YOUR part of the acronym.

What does YOUR device mean exactly? Do we need to revindicate the Y? This young mind had definitely hit the point.

After a full three month term of using school owned tablets in all years in Primary, I think I'm beginning to draw some conclusions on the whole BYOD programme, which is happening only in the last years (Y5 & Y6),  and in its impact in every day life at school.

The fact the device is personal brings a richer experience.

We started using the mobile devices in reading sessions, once a week. Of course the school had its own lot of tablets to share with those students who couldn´t or wouldn´t bring theirs. And so the first hurdles popped up. Quite significant skills like making annotations, margin notes, even bookmarks became meaningless when using devices from the "public" school cart. 

And on the other side, those bringing their own devices not only became experts in using their own reading apps, and dictionaries, but also started developing other important abilities related to keeping track of their learning; such as self reminders, highlights and customized explanations, among other things.

Even using their own picture gallery proved an asset as the whole thing became integrated beyond simply reading into blogging, book club activities, even dowloading other books or stories related to the topic or author. So without really meaning it, we created a gap between the owns with their big Y and those using the schools´ devices.

Teacher planning is paramount. No big wonder in this statement. Yet...

Even if I´m a big fan of a student centred approach for the classroom, I strongly believe that it´s the teacher´s responsibility above all to set clear goals and make full meaning of the devices. Why? Well, to make sure you´re ever going to get closer to those aims. It´s also true that kids make wonders when using technology, creativity unveils and almost anything that they do will certainly motivate them and teach them something. But does it match the original intention for that particular learning session? 

So I´ve seen fabulous lessons with mobile devices that got carried away, not complying with anything but pure magic. Yet, as teachers we hold the responsibility of guiding students´ production towards a clear aim, which needs to become clear to them as well sooner or later. I like John Dewey´s quote that goes "We do not learn from experience.... we learn from reflecting on experience."

Take a look at this webpage from Edutopia for more advice on mobile devices in action.

Another important aspect lies on the motivational side and the essence of our 21st century students. So far, the BYOD policy the school has implemented hasn´t been on the way. On the contrary, I believe having one written down, to share with parents and teachers has brought down quite a lot of prejudice and hesitation on what was accepted and what was not as part of the programme.

Let´s wait and see what happens in our next term with the Ys in the non-standarized-multi-platform environment that we are building in our classrooms.

As the image says, I do not expect peace and quiet, but we are learning here!