BYOD

Hello!

I attended an NCCE convention and noticed that there was a lot of talk about BYOD or Bring Your Own Device. More and more students are bringing iPads, tablets, laptops, or smart phones to school and the rationale was to put to educational use the devices that students were using already.

The positive side to BYOD includes:
1. Students already own them, so the school does not have to provide them.
2. Students are also responsible for any problems that may happen. It is a personal device, not a school one.
3. Students know how to use it already.
4. It provides a 1:1 student to device ratio.

The job of teachers is to educate students that these can be learning tools, not just a device to text or play games on.

Of course, we know that there will always be problems with students having their own devices. I would expect that schools have filtering software installed for student protection, but teachers must teach students about internet safety and proper use of the internet, dangers of cyberbullying, and being safe with social media.

Are you ready to adopt a BYOD policy? Do you have a policy in place to help protect the school in case of misuse? If your students are bringing cell phones to school, what is your policy on this? These are things that we need to think about before we find ourselves in a sticky situation.

Check out the BYOD policies that other schools have and see what kinds of things they include.

If you already have a BYOD policy for your school, I would love to see it and compare with the one I am working on for my school.

Have a great week.

Audrey