BYOD Programs are on the Rise!

BYOD programs allow students to bring their own electronic devices to school and use them in the classroom. I remember struggling over what to do about cell phones when my students first started sneaking them into class. Eight years ago there were no smart phones much less tablets, kindles, tablets or iPads. Cell phones were considered distracting because students could use them to text each other. In 2006 I purchased my first smart phone, a "SideKick." I wowed my students by instant messaging a cousin who lived in Oslo. By the end of that school year smart phones were the rage and our school had to decide what to do with them. At first we continued business as usual. Phones were not allowed at school, and teachers were to confiscate them if found. Seven years later BYOD has become a great way to engage the students in their learning.

In his article Report: District Use of Social Networks up 44 Percent over 2 Years  Joshua Bolkan lists these as the key findings of a study conducted by the Center for Digital Education and National School Boards Association:

• Nearly all respondents, at 94 percent, reported that their district allows teachers to use Web 2.0 tools, up from 82 percent two years ago;
• Logging a six-percent increase since last year's survey, 71 percent of those surveyed reported that their district had a "digital content strategy" featuring tools such as digital textbooks, Web 2.0 tools, educational games or simulations, video, or audio;
• The biggest obstacle in preparing for upcoming Common Core online assessments, according to the survey, is a lack of computers, at 32 percent;
• Twenty percent of respondents said they didn't know what the largest challenge for online assessments was, while 19 percent said they lacked technical support and expertise and 17 percent said their district doesn't have enough Internet access or bandwidth for the assessments;
• Only nine percent of respondents reported having no bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program in their district, with 41 percent reporting a current implementation and 50 percent saying they were either planning or in the process of implementing one; and
• Among deployed BYOD programs reported, 84 percent included grades 9-12, 72 percent included grades 6-8, 58 percent included grades 4-5, and 44 percent included grades preK-3.

Read more at http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/04/17/report-district-use-of-social-networks-up-44-percent-over-two-years.aspx#EDOUabhZIx7EeAS6.99

Using Students' Devices to Teach

My 6th grade students loved being able to bring their own electronic devices into my classroom Normally students were required to keep their electronic devices turned off and kept in their lockers, so it was a treat to be allowed to turn them on and show them off to their friends.

The trick to effectively integrating the devices into the lesson is to get students to learn content through these devices and not just play with them. One writing lesson that proved very effective utilized texting and blogging. Students were paired in teams of 5. One student would start a story and text it to another student who would add a sentence to the story and pass both sentences on to the next student. Students with tablets would use the class blog to write their story one response at a time. Students who did not have cell phones or tablets used the classroom laptops to join in the story writing. The resulting stories were shared with the class. I was able to address several ELA concepts and learning modalities. Best of all, the kids had fun!

This article from the New York Times advocates the use of student owned devices in the classroom.

New York Times Article