Will Schools be Ready for Bring Your Own Device in 2015

Now that bring-your-own-device is set to take over the corporate world, we can look at the next BYOD frontier; schools. Schools all over the country are thinking about BYOD as a tool for education, but with a few controversies in the way, one of the big questions of 2015 is, will school be able to adopt BYOD?

BYOD isn’t a new concept to the education system, some schools, including Oak Hills Local School District in Cincinnati, Ohio, have been using BYOD as far back as 2010.

According to a Forbes Article written by Paula Felps, Christian Long, administrator of support on the e-learning team at Oak Hills said that BYOD is “definitely very affordable,” and that “the district doesn’t pay for devices, which allows us to use our existing devices as a supplement to what the students may have. So it didn’t create additional costs for us.”

Since BYOD depends on what devices the students already have which means that their BYOD solution needs to cater to all devices. Long says that his district uses Google apps for everything so they can be accessed by all devices.

Studies have been conducted to see whether BYOD would benefit schools or if it would be a distraction to children. In 2010, in an 18 month study educators and analysts concluded that having the devices enhanced student performance.

Not only were the students more engaged in class, but because the students were bringing their own devices, teachers didn’t have to spend time teaching them how to use a new device.

BYOD can also benefit students with disabilities. Students already using assistive learning devices will have access to the same materials as the other students. Students will also have the opportunity to learn the material in the way that is best suited for them, whether it’s watching a video or reading a PDF.

But BYOD in schools isn’t all productivity. There’s no stopping kids using the devices for social activities or gaming when they should be using it for school related activities. Since the devices are their own, there’s no rule against having certain apps or programs installed. It is also hard to monitor exactly what students are doing when they’re on their devices.

It is also a challenge because a lot of families can’t afford to buy their child a device, especially if they have more than one child. Some schools have made devices available in their libraries for students to borrow while they’re at school; the only problem is that they cannot take the device home with them.

As far as we can see, BYOD is the future for classrooms not only for learning subjects in school, but to also learn how to use the devices themselves. In the world we live in, almost every profession will eventually require the use of some kind of device and the younger children at least know how to navigate and troubleshoot devices, the better off they’ll be.

Check out our Free Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Buyers Guide to see what solution works best with education.