BYOD – Bring yours!

Pic from http://www.theruckusroom.net/2012/07/byod-the-y2k-for-networking.html

After several years of designing, running and developing its Technological Programme, Belgrano Day School has made a new big step and embraced a BYOD (i.e. Bring Your Own Device) approach to technology at school for 2013. This means learners being able to bring any -yes, any- mobile computing device in to school and connecting it to the internet via the school WiFi connection. May the firewall protect us all!

Now, definitions first. Bring your own device (BYOD) is an educational development and a supplementary school technology resourcing model, where the home and the school collaborate in arranging for students’ use of their own digital technology/ies to be extended into the classroom, and where relevant, the complementary education outside the classroom.

Although we have had a soft launch to this policy at school with some piloting done during 2012 when working on specific projects in different year groups, this year marks the beginning of a progressive implementation. Readiness for this move is essential, and this can be described as meeting the following aspects:

· Being mentally ready, that is, having the vision that its adoption will enhance the quality of the education provided because it is a model of teaching that positions the pupil more centrally and personalises his learning.

· An important number of teachers have normalised the use of the digital in their everyday teaching.

· The school has done its part upgrading its infrastructure and technical support so as to offer all the resources required for the community to work in a networked way.

We have seen a growth of mobile devices connected to our WiFi, on an everyday basis. When students choose to connect to your WiFi that means it meets their standards which is really something in terms of speed and bandwidth.   So many of the devices we expect to summon in this project - hopefully together with tablets and netbooks- were probably already here, but our policy is now to bring those devices out, in public, where they can be successfully used by students and teachers.  As student devices become more mainstream at school, devices will have gone from “under the desk” to “onto the desk”.  

In-service training courses were focused in the use of web based applications to cater for the effective use of personal devices complementing our LMS. I´ve conducted many during 2012, but so far these experiences have taken place with the school´s mobile netbook labs. This trend will naturally grow as teachers and students continue to be empowered to use technology to enrich learning with more devices at hand. There´s a lot of work to do in terms of flipping classrooms and focusing in abilities for the 21st century.

A BYOD approach tries to resemble what goes on outside the classroom, at home, at work, in further university studies. This complex landscape will be a challenge for the school community as a whole . However, it´s what the academic world is showing as the strategy to move forward in this ever rising spiral of technological advancements in education and uncertainty. Diversity of platforms and devices will continue to rule, we are not even close to having a standard, not yet.

We have experienced  that teachers no longer have the sole responsibility of delivering content to students, it just won´t be enough to help them succeed. It´s about meta-literacies, and life-long learning, and being networked and responsible of your digital id.  

I´m facing this with great excitement and commitment, with a couple of aces up my sleeve: flexibility and teamwork.