Gary Stager titled his recent blog post, BYOD- Worst Idea of the 21st Century. While I'm not so sure that I can go THERE...I do have some very strong opinions on BYOD and why I don't feel that it is the best solution for education.
The larger point that everyone is avoiding when discussing this topic is: what is best? What is best for learning and engagement? What is best for project-based learning? What is best for a learner paradigm? What is best for an instructional paradigm? What is best for IT to monitor and protect the students in an era where lawyers are screaming for us to protect them? What is best for teachers to integrate? What is best for students to utilize? What is best for professional development to be effective? Of utmost importance, what is the best solution for leveling the playing field and eradicating the digital divide?
Let's look at one specific scenario, downtime in the classroom. Our school has to keep over 1100 laptops functioning for both students and faculty. When anyone has any issue with a laptop whatsoever, it has the potential to negatively impact the learning process for minimally 1 student. If a teacher pauses to try to help a student with a laptop issue or the issue is with a teacher laptop, then everyone's learning is negatively affected.
How will this be addressed in the classroom when students are bringing in all manner of devices with a myriad of problems? Such as:
1. I don't have a mind map program
2. I don't have a music editor
3. That piece of shareware won't run on my version of operating system X.
4. My computer doesn't have java installed on it.
5. My computer won't pull a DHCP address.
6. My phone doesn't have unlimited texting
7. I don't have a phone.
8. I don't have a laptop
9. I don't have a tablet.
I could go on, but obviously I won't. How much time will be wasted as an educator is trying to work a project through every brand/model/configuration of computer/phone/tablet brought into the classroom? Educators do NOT have time to waste when politicians are pushing standards, standards, and more standards into their classrooms.
Data:
This week, our freshman class finished up a home technology survey that I asked them to take. I'll share just a couple of the results with you.
1. Out of the 266 freshman students that responded to the survey, 17% of them told us that our school-assigned MacBook was the only working computer in their household. Most of these students come from economically challenged families. Are we going to make sure students in a BYOT initiative that can't afford their own devices are provided with the best tools that anyone else in the classroom can afford to have? More on this in a bit.
2. Out of the 266 students that responded to the survey, 17% of our students told us that they do not own a SmartPhone.
Are we just going to toss these students a $299 netbook and tell them, "this is good enough for project-based video creation" while Timmy over there brings in his MacBook Pro loaded up with Final Cut Pro, or Johnny has his Sony Vaio with Sony Vegas Pro 11 video editing suite on it? Will the learning be equal for all involved in that scenario? Is the potential there for all students to have projects of similar quality?
If we are serious about educating ALL of our students, then we MUST address the digital divide that exists in our schools and districts and remove it. Let me know when we start telling students that the school won't be providing textbooks anymore. You can bring in your own. I'm sure they will all be adequate.
Lastly, if I'm faced with BYOD, or no tech integration, obviously I'm going to support a BYOD initiative. As I posted on Twitter (which seems to have ignited a small firestorm) the bigger question is: what best enhances student learning? Our students deserve the best solution for their technology enriched education, not the most convenient one for politicians and accountants.
I apologize for the rant if I've offended anyone. I get passionate about equality in education and see BYOD/BYOT as a major obstacle to that end.
CH