BYOD To Take Schools By Storm

Fremont: BYOD – Bring Your Own Device – has been a trending term off late. Even though it has been adopted by many enterprises all over the world, it playing host to lots of security concerns are turning many others off. Whatever the fate of that might turn out to be, BYOD is making its presence felt in the education sector. Nick Morrison of Forbes writes that BYOD could revolutionize schools’ teaching methods.

Teachers will soon have to get accustomed to students using Smartphones inside classrooms as BYOD in schools seems set on becoming a norm in near the future. From a financial standpoint alone, adopting BYOD is a very appealing prospect for school administrators. Given the rate at which today’s devices are becoming outdated, schools can add to their savings by not having to upgrade and provide their students with the latest equipments each year. Those working on injecting technology into the education system of today strongly believe BYOD is here to stay. Roger Broadie, a board member of Naace–an association for everyone promoting learning with technology in a connected world says, “As more and more kids have phones connected to the internet, it is not helpful to have a lock-down approach, because all they have to do is step outside the gates. We should be developing a culture where they’re self-policing.”

One of the challenges of this system is its possible misuse. While the existence of policies to curtail the websites accessed through school’s network might keep a majority in check, the tech-savvy are likely to get around it. But this can all be countered by making necessary changes as and when needed, to the policies concerning the use of electronic devices in classrooms. The upside of BYOD system is, students become quickly interested in the material and it invokes a greater participation from them. BYOD will not replace the school’s desktops and laptops just yet, but what it will do is force teachers to radically change their methods for the betterment. Paul Hynes, Vice Principal of George Spencer Academy in Nottinghamshire, which was one of the early adopters of BYOD in the UK says, “It is only a matter of time before the bringing of Smartphones to schools for learning becomes compulsory.”