Questions about the Pastoral side of BYOD for students

[pete]

If you've got an established BYOD setup for students (that students are actively using), would you mind responding to the following?

 

1) How did you manage student expectations? By which I mean:

 

"Lessons 1,2,3 I can use my Chromebook, Lesson 4 Mr Bloggs insists I use pen & paper, despite all my notes being on the Chromebook, WTF?"

 

 

2) How clearly do staff communicate "this is cool for my lesson, this is not?"

 

Is it handled the same way calculators might be in Maths (use for this lesson, not in that one) or......? Was there any direction from SLT / discussions at staff meeting on how they might proceed?

 

 

3) What did you need to do to balance Education (learn stuff the best way) vs Security (malware on the device) vs Safeguarding (inappropriate self-created content on the device getting into the wild, for example).

 

How much extra work has BYOD created for your Child Protection Officer?

 

 

4)Did you cover related topics in form periods- i.e basic device security, content on devices, use in lessons, expectations from staff and students?

 

 

5)Pupil responsibility for devices. Do you treat the devices as exercise books? Are students expected to keep the devices in a usable state if they've elected to use them for school work? Is this enforced?

 

 

6)How did parents respond to the initiative? Were they given the chance to provide input? Has it caused "keeping up with the Jones" problems? How much strife does KidA knocking KidBs tablet off the desk and breaking it cause?

 

cheers

[DPrince]

1) How did you manage student expectations?

 

We don't give any impression or guarantees as to usage/expectations. We just provide the service. In truth we haven't really covered our academic areas much; concentrated on our boarding and communal areas.

 

2) How clearly do staff communicate "this is cool for my lesson, this is not?"

 

Staff are encouraged to allow usage where it is available. The prevalence of SEN students using laptops and other devices is starting to force the issue for us anyway.

 

 

3) What did you need to do to balance Education (learn stuff the best way) vs Security (malware on the device) vs Safeguarding (inappropriate self-created content on the device getting into the wild, for example).

 

Nothing very much - all the work is done by the BYOD solution/firewall. I think a couple of policies had to be adjusted.

 

 

4)Did you cover related topics in form periods- i.e basic device security, content on devices, use in lessons, expectations from staff and students?

 

No.

 

5)Pupil responsibility for devices. Do you treat the devices as exercise books? Are students expected to keep the devices in a usable state if they've elected to use them for school work? Is this enforced?

 

No - pupils own the device, and so they're treated very much as their own devices. We offer limited support (we repair laptops etc. where we can, but on a best endeavour basis). If a student's laptop breaks or they lose it then this is a matter for them and the teacher.

 

6)How did parents respond to the initiative? Were they given the chance to provide input? Has it caused "keeping up with the Jones" problems? How much strife does KidA knocking KidBs tablet off the desk and breaking it cause

 

Parents were not asked to provide input - we offer it as a service among many others. Uptake has been strong, and will continue to grow, I suspect. I'm sure its usage will start to embed into the day-to-day lessons as time moves on.

[Garacesh]

I can't really 'help' her per-se as we don't have a BYOD set up, but I'd still like to contribute.

 

3) What did you need to do to balance Education (learn stuff the best way) vs Security (malware on the device) vs Safeguarding (inappropriate self-created content on the device getting into the wild, for example).

How much extra work has BYOD created for your Child Protection Officer?

I'd be interested to learn about this, too. Provided that the BYOD internet connection still goes through the schools filter, then I'm not initially envisioning much of a problem. I may be wrong, though.

 

5)Pupil responsibility for devices. Do you treat the devices as exercise books? Are students expected to keep the devices in a usable state if they've elected to use them for school work? Is this enforced?

Given that It's bring your own device I wouldn't have thought there would be a problem with that? If a kid breaks their laptop/phone/tablet/toaster/garden shed then tough luck, should have been more careful.

 

6)How did parents respond to the initiative? Were they given the chance to provide input? Has it caused "keeping up with the Jones" problems? How much strife does KidA knocking KidBs tablet off the desk and breaking it cause?

I would imagine this would be a real problem. Kids already get mocked for not having the latest £40 trainers.. I can see a huge problem with £180+ tablets!

I used to be 'the bully victim' when I was at school. No way in hell I'd have brought something expensive in.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Garacesh