Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs might seem like the perfect solution to your school’s desire to stay up-to-date with the latest educational tools with little added cost to your technology budget—but beware! Don’t view BYOD through rose-colored glasses. Without proper planning, such programs can be riddled with hidden obstacles. Consider these three stumbling blocks while your school ponders implementing a BYOD program.
1. Security Problems
By allowing students to use personal devices while accessing your school’s wireless network, you potentially expose every other school-related account—some containing sensitive information—to spyware, malware, and pure student curiosity. Some clever programmers-to-be will try to break your system, simply because it’s there.
Possible solutions:
- Consult with your IT team and consider a security system based around role-based access control. Such a system can limit permissions by certain types of users, helping prevent student-classified users from accessing administrative areas of the system.
- Mandate that every device—Apple, Android, or Windows OS—has current antivirus software installed and running. Paid and free security apps are available, including avast!, McAfee, and AVG. All security updates for the device must be downloaded and active, too.
- Realize that mobile devices that use personal data plans instead of the school’s wireless plan won’t be protected by the school’s wireless firewalls that block distracting (and dangerous) websites. Establish proper use policies and consequences for those who are caught misusing devices.
2. Bandwidth Requirements
Your infrastructure must fundamentally change to accommodate modern wireless needs, especially in a BYOD environment. Evan Marwell, CEO and founder of nonprofit EducationSuperHighway, told the Stanford Business School that while 97% of schools have broadband Internet, the typical school only has the same amount of access as the average home—with hundreds of people trying to use it, instead of three or four. He continued:
"If you really want to make digital learning a reality, every school needs at least 100 megabits. Some need more, some need less. Right now, though, the average school has 10 megabits. And there is definitely a digital divide issue. For example, only 20% of the schools in the country are even capable of getting a 100-megabit pipe. But if you only look at schools in affluent areas, that figure rises to 75%."
Possible solutions:
- Determine exactly what your BYOD program covers. Will teachers expect students to watch online videos on each personal device, or play them over a projector for all? Will students take tests on their devices? Will users access many Web-hosted applications, or use downloaded apps for work? All of these scenarios alter how much bandwidth will ultimately be required to facilitate—rather than hinder—learning. The State Educational Technology Directors Association offers recommendations on required bandwidth per user, based on activities.
- Talk with your IT team and upgrade your bandwidth to the speed that you need now, but realize you’ll probably need even more as technology advances in the coming years. Leave room for future upgrades as you make this one.
3. Public Perception
While it may seem every student has the latest and greatest gadget, not every family can afford devices capable of carrying out a BYOD program. If you implement BYOD without accounting for 100% guaranteed participation, you’ll be setting up your program for possible failure.
Possible solutions:
- Establish a loaner program of devices. Such resources are wise for BYOD programs in general—you never know when someone’s tablet will die! Make sure no child is “left out” of classroom activities.
- Some parents may feel that a BYOD program will publicly declare the “haves” and “have nots,” in a manner of speaking, when their child isn’t able to bring a device (and must borrow a school tablet) or doesn't have the latest and greatest tech available. Discover how your school community will receive a BYOD program and what unknown hurdles await the unwary by surveying your families well before implementation.
Third party survey companies—like the customized survey packages that ISM designs and offers—can guarantee confidentiality and encourage honest responses.
If you’re considering implementing a BYOD program at your school, consider sending faculty leaders to ISM’s Summer Institute for our workshop, Train Your Faculty in Blended Learning. Teams of teachers will master the flow from face-to-face to online experiences and back again, enhancing both your students' experience and your teachers’ efficacy wielding this new tool in their classrooms.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads Vol. 12 No. 3 Technology in the Classroom at St. Margaret's
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads Vol. 11 No. 7 Four #EdTech Blogs to Bookmark
Private School News Vol. 13 No. 5 Give IT Some TLC
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 28 No. 8 Technology and Your Faculty's Professional Development
I&P Vol. 27 No. 16 Keep Ergonomics in Mind When Integrating Classroom Technology
I&P Vol. 35 No. 3 The 21st Century School: Curriculum and Technology
