What does online life look for the average young Canadian? This was the question posed and then answered in the article Young Canadians in a Wired World. This weeks article began by stating that 99% of students have internet outside of school. At first I thought that it sounded high but when I stepped back and started writing this post I think that it might actually be right. As I type this on my laptop at home and I will post it using my phone after I re-read it from wherever I am that I get cell service.
With this stat it made us pose the question if they have it and are using it out of school why shouldn't we get them using it more in schools? To do this and get the technology to each student it will cost schools a lot of money therefore I think BYOD (bring your own device) is the way to go. This of course brings up some issues as well. Students who cannot afford their own device would have to be supplied one which would still create some costs for the school. Also teachers would may need to learn a variety of devices and how they work in case a student doesn't know how to do something on their device. This being said and after reading the article linked above I believe it would be a really rare case that a student wouldn't know how to do something on their device.
Some strong positives for BYOD could be that students will take better care of the device since it is actually their own and it was not supplied by the school. They won't be able to use the excuse I don't know how to do that since it is not what I use usually. I feel that since it is the students personal device that they will bring it charged and with the charger most days.
Either way you look at it, students having accessibility to internet and devices at school is the important part. Regardless of whether the device is provided or if it is their own but I think it will be better and also faster to implement if it was BYOD.
Another thing with that state if there is internet at home, why not do a flipped classroom ?
ReplyDeleteThe BYOD is a great idea that I think more schools should start incorporating. I uploaded a blog about a podcast I listened to and it is a great pathway to increase learning. If students brought their own device to the schools, something they use on a daily basis anyways, then how would they not be more engaged?
ReplyDeleteI think that whether the school is supplying a device or they embrace BYOD, it will still mean that the teacher will have to familiarize themselves with multiple types of devices. I don't think that it is as much of a problem for us since we have seen and probably used most of the devices that we would encounter, but I think that older teachers who don't have as much experience with technology would probably benefit from a system where the school gives every student the same kind of device. This way they would only have to learn how to use that one type.
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