Two years ago I had a colleague who attended a staff meeting frustrated with her students using their cell phones in the classroom. She kept taking the cell phones away, but that wasn’t helping the situation. This was the last year at our school for this woman, who had joined the Peace Corps. My principal, who is quite the techie and has taught technology classes before, encouraged this teacher to have her students use these devices in a productive way in class. She was astounded. She simply had no idea of how to do this. At this time BYOD policies were still new but emerging further into the world of education. Since then schools in four states have adopted BYOD policies and more may be following (Lacey, K., 2014).
What exactly is BYOD? BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device and schools are creating policies for staff and students to use their personal mobile devices on school wireless to enhance academic instruction and rethink former cell phone bans in schools (Wainwright, A., n.d. & St. George, D., 2014). Wainwright (n.d.) lays out twenty pros and fifteen cons that come with developing a BYOD policy for your school. Some of the pros include: students have comfort with their own devices, it can be cost effective for schools, students may be more likely to continue learning after school hours, students’ notes can become more organized, students have limitless access to resources, teachers are more connected to parents and students, students have excitement for learning, and it allows for more personalized learning. Some of the cons include: overloading schools’ wireless networks, technology may become a status symbol for students, students may become easily distracted or forget to charge their devices, an increased possibility of theft, some students may not be able to afford devices, and applications may not be universal.
With more and more students bringing their own devices to school, I think it is necessary for every school to have a BYOD policy. Schools that have successfully implemented BYOD policies have explicit acceptable use policies or responsible use policies (Lacey, K., 2014). Students and parents must sign these policies and register their devices with the schools (students may register up to three devices). Students are also taught digital citizenship, which is different per grade level. Further, some schools include training for teachers to learn to use all the different devices they may encounter (Chadbard, E., 2012). A BYOD policy has to be implemented properly and security is critical; however, there are solutions to making a BYOD program successful (Martini, P., 2013).
Though not every student may own a device, I think it is essential to have a policy in place for those that do. Some schools purchase devices for the students that cannot afford devices (Lacey, K., 2014) I believe that having a BYOD policy in place is much more practical than a cell phone ban, especially since students are bringing their devices to school in spite of bans. As teachers we need to work with our students and show the educational value to their devices, rather than putting limits on them. Having an agreement and a BYOD policy will help our students become more successful.
Chadband, E. (2012, July 19). Should schools embrace “bring your own device”? [neaToday]. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://neatoday.org/2012/07/19/should-schools-embrace-bring-your-own-device/
Lacey, K. (2014, June). BYOD success stories. District Administration. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://www.districtadministration.com/article/byod-success-stories
Martini, P. (2013, December 22). 4 challenges that can cripple your school’s byod program [Teacher thought]. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/4-challenges-can-cripple-schools-byod-program/
St. George, D. (2014, September 14). Schools move toward ‘bring your own device’ policies to boost student tech use. The Washington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/stem/schools-move-toward-bring-your-own-device-practices-to-boost-student-tech-use/2014/09/14/4d1e3232-393e-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html
Wainwright, A. (n.d.). 20 pros and cons of implementing byod in schools [Securedge networks]. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/20-Pros-and-Cons-of-implementing-BYOD-in-schools