Bring Your Own Device

 

By: Livia Dremin

        Today, facts are at our fingertips with the internet in many peoples pockets. If access to knowledge is that easy, why shouldn't students have that access at school? The Bring Your Own Device model is a relatively new method that allows students to work from a laptop, cell phone, or tablet at school that is either their personal device or a loan from the school. Aside from the general concerns that come with students using  devices at school, such as they will be distracted in the classroom or find ways around banned or restricted sites, “Gadgets Go to School: The Benefits and Risks of BYOD” sheds light on some of the benefits of students bringing their own devices or borrowing them from the school. Students can use their devices to for research, “participate in audience response systems,” “assignments can be stored in the cloud”, and games can be used to teach physics and math. (Patricia Bruder) Students would not be limited to conducting research at school, they would be able to do so at home, especially if the school district offers hotspots to students who do not have internet access at home.

        Before mobile devices existed, students have been learning the traditional way from printed books and their teachers’ lectures. In “BYOD or not: A Comparison of Two Assessment Strategies for Student Learning,” students who just recently started with the BYOD model appeared to underperform in their work while traditional learners excelled. However, “the BYOD approach demonstrated a valuable benefit on the students' long-term transfer of learning” and students “exhibited a steady growth on learning outcomes and subsequently scored higher on the learning retention segment of the study.”  (Pao-Nan Chou) It seems that if students stick with the BYOD model they will excel past traditional learners because of the benefits of BYOD. While the traditional way has strong roots in many peoples learning history, using the BYOD method also has its benefits.

 Works Cited:

Bruder, Patricia. “Gadgets Go to School: The Benefits and Risks of BYOD.” The Education Digest, vol. 80, no. 3, Prakken Publications, Inc, 2014, p. 15–.

Chou, Pao-Nan, et al. “BYOD or Not: A Comparison of Two Assessment Strategies for Student Learning.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 74, Elsevier Ltd, 2017, pp. 63–71, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.024.

Tan, Samuel. "Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in Schools – Considerations." Colour My Learning. Accessed 24 May 2022. https://i7a3x6u3.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BringYourOwnDeviceToSchool21.jpg.