It's a bit business orientated, but worth a read: BBC News - BYOD: Bring your own device could spell end for work PC
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It's a bit business orientated, but worth a read: BBC News - BYOD: Bring your own device could spell end for work PC
interesting that forward thinking schools are already at the cutting edge of this new development.
I'm a huge believer that BYOD is the way forward, but not as a total replacement for the desktop PC. For a lot of things within business and schools certainly, but at the moment licensing restrictions and ensuring that devices are capable of running all the apps they need to (and getting them installed) are where I see issues.
Terminal services/App-V/XenApp etc solve this issue for some applications, but CAD/CAM etc are still issues. XenClient and similar client-based hypervisors are one interesting avenue to help get around this issue and will be interesting to see them develop!
the question is whether PC use in schools mirrors that of the growth of PC market in general, do you plan for extending the use of the PC desktop into other areas of the school significantly or do you renew what you already have and invest more in management and usage of BYO mobile devices or school provided tablets and notebooks. Repeat that for netbooks in trolleys, is that something that will grow as fast as it did a couple of years ago or does something else resembling more of a personal plus use of BYOD cover the areas where those would have been used previously.Quote:
Originally Posted by Soulfish
Most of the sales growth and innovation is happening in personal devices, and existing tools will be extended to cater for their usage. And new tools will be sought by IT to manage and integrate. It's here that investment in server-based computing and deployment software can cover a lot of bases by presenting apps and desktops across devices, while not completely taking over what is a personal device. Whether laptop, netbook, tablet or smartphone.
So while BYOD will not totally replace the desktop pc, it could well at some point down the line relegate pc's and IT suites to niche use for only those situations where you need the grunt and screen size of a desktop. It might already be doing that in some schools.
Adding it to existing provision is the way forward for sure, I remember a survey at a Uni that said students still want fixed PCs as much as (if not more than) BYOD. Not everyone wants to lump kit from home in education but giving the choice and offering flexibility is where the value comes in :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Soulfish
There was a very interesting discussion regarding Mobile Devices & BYOD at the Wi-Fi Mobility Symposium a couple of weeks ago. They mention education a lot too. :)
http://vimeo.com/35703040
Quote:
Panellists from Aruba, Aerohive, HP, and Ruckus discuss BYOD, mobile devices, and management at the Wi-Fi Mobility Symposium on January 25, 2012
I rambled about BYOD in schools a week or 2 ago, over here, giving my overall thoughts on the value of BYOD and the way we as techies often seem to put our fingers in our ears and go 'la la la, i can't hear you' when this sort of thing is brought up.
Whilst I think this is going to supplement education as it stands, it'll be a long while until there's the chance that it'll replace the way we do things at the moment in schools. Its another tool in the belt of education, rather than a replacement.
However, at the same time, we shouldn't get into the 'well business is doing it, why aren't we?' mindset. Schools aren't businesses. They aren't there to mimic a business either, producing worker drones. Whilst we should provide up to date technologies, we should do this based on their educational need, not based on what the office buildings of the world are doing.
businesses are doing it because employees aka consumers are doing it. you could say they are reacting, this isn't a case of schools copying what's happening in business. Anyone who works or studies in a school is a consumer also.Quote:
Originally Posted by localzuk
if anything providing identikit locked-down ict suites or issuing locked down devices with the same OS and choice of applications but in a different form factor sounds like it could be more akin to the 'working drone' mentality, than accommodating folk who want to bring their own device.
BYOD does work in schools.
We replaced all teachers laptops with classroom desktops - much more robust and easier to maintain.
If teachers want mobile devices they bring their own, and plenty do. So far they have brought in imacs, ipads, android tablets and traditional laptops. Overall it has been positive (papercuts webprint isn't too popular though). We've extended this strategy to 6th form and next year they will be required to bring in laptop/devices. The lower school can bring in devices if they want, some do but not many.
With the advent of web-based apps for a lot of tasks all you need is Internet anyway so letting students do that on their own device makes sense to me.
The cynical side of me sees BYOD partially being pushed by the big VDI vendors who make a lot of money out of Citrix \ VMWare View licenses and associated storage hardware. Do you gain much by putting that same locked down desktop to another device if the whole thing is meant to be about flexibility? Maybe from a home access point of view but then there's still a lot of issues around software licensing.
As with any new "disruptive" technologies look at both sides of the coin then see how it can add to your existing provision rather than jumping on the latest fad and throwing away everything you've ever known hoping it'll be the panacea :p
I can't help but thinking that BYOD instead of standard equipment is a bit of nonsense put forwards by people who don't need and don't understand specialist working environments, and wireless/vdi/etc vendors who have a vested interest in anything that will increase spending on their tools.
Having said that, I don't see the problem with allowing people to BYOD in addition to standard provision.
Weve had BYOD for sixth formers and staff for the past 2 1/2 years and its been a great success.
Utilised with the net, a well populated VLE, Citrix, email (OWA) and HAP its a very good solution.
Looking to continue a rollout with younger students, however we are considering the more political circumstances of encouraging BYOD, like muggings and charging of the devices.
*edit - I dont believe it will ever replace our current static desktop offerings, due to the specific nature of some software etc such as photoshop or sibelius for example, but as an additional offering, we havent had any issues.
What do you class as 'standard provision' ? 1:1 ratio - that is never going to happen in my school. But if a few 6th form classes can use their own equipment for doing what is done 99% of the time (word processing, internet) then it frees up that standard equipment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roberto
I agree that BYOd would be a fantastic addition in schools - it will always be an addition, as we are duty bound to provide access to everyone. Unless the government are willing to step in again and offer free devices to the poorest students.
Can't give you the numbers as I don't have them to hand, but we don't have any complaints about a lack of IT resources at my college.Quote:
Originally Posted by CyberNerd
Well quite. This is where supporting them as an addition makes sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by CyberNerd