BYOD - who has said "not in this school, too risky" !

[mjk]

How do you guarantee that none of the apps on their phones get through your filtering without it being logged or stopped?

 

I work in IT - so I don't guarantee anything!. suffice to say the devices must log into the smoothwall and there is no direct connection to the internet so if the app website is blocked then we are good. So far everything we've been worried about from child protection is blocked (snapchat,facebook,skype). Smoothwall does a good job of this and we firewall all other ports. Luckily the 3G signal is very poor in our school and 4G is non existent so kids tend to use the wifi by choice. The most difficult is when the app replies on Amazon/Google could services and it is difficult to see what app is calling it.

We didn't find the whole experience too difficult and I spend virtually no time clamping down on time wasting apps such as games as I've been able to offload this to the teachers - others may not have this luxury.

[X-13]

So far no complaints from staff/students.

 

Probably because they don't really understand what it means... I would refuse if I had to do it on my personal stuff.

[tmcd35]

Surely the risks of BYOD are a question for SLT/Governor level? I wouldn't want to be seen as holding back progress because support is difficult. Mostly the answers here are not technical ones anyway, they are policy/discipline/policing/teaching issues. I think from a technical stand point you can secure your network with appropriate restricted SSIDs, VLANs, Proxies (transparent or otherwise), and filtering.

 

Pupils using proxy bypass isn't a fault in your network so long as you are doing what you can to block access to restricted sites/material and are actively blocking bypass methods when they become known.

 

Similarly, users ignoring your network and using their mobile providers 3G/4G network isn't something in your control. It's not a fault in your network and there's not really a technical solution to the problem.

 

I've got no problem with promoting and supporting future use of BYOD here, but if/when we go down that root it'd be after SLT and governors have been appraised of these issue and made their own decisions on what policies and sanctions that needs to be put in place.

 

Whenever this subject comes up I can't help asking what the role of classroom teachers and the pastoral support staff is in this?

[TronXP]

Probably because they don't really understand what it means... I would refuse if I had to do it on my personal stuff.

 

I have it on my devices, I use my devices for school work not personal, there is nothing happening on my device which I wouldn't do in school anyway. We ensure that SSL is not intercepted for banking websites. Staff where giving full briefing on the system where we explained what SSL interception does. As I have said BYOD is not mandatory it is a choice, it is there to support school based activities.

[Gibson335]

I see it this way: it's my job to advise, point out the pros and cons, explain, recommend. Ultimate decisions are made by SLT and Governors. The bit I don't like is that even if they choose to ignore all the cons, the buck still stops with me.