BYOD for Crowther students

Times Reporter 

 

The picture of the traditional classroom is changing; soon students won’t be seen hunched over their books. Instead they will be seen looking at their handheld electronic devices, which will become the new normal. 

At the beginning of the school year Crowther Memorial Junior High (CMJHS) Grade 7 and 8 students were given laptops as part of the one-to-one pilot project. The idea was to integrate technology into the learning environment while enhancing learning.  

“Our plan has sort of shifted a little bit in that what we’re going to do for next year for the incoming students into Grade 7, and the current students in Grade 7 going into 8, we’re going to say to kids, ‘look BYOD, bring your own device,” said Linda Tucker, associate principal at CMJHS.

Tucker said there are two reasons for the shift in thinking. One reason is most students have some form of technology that they carry with them to school every single day, whether it is a cell phone or an iPod or some other form of a handheld electronic device.

She said what research is telling them, and what school administrators are reading and hearing, is that a student could pull out their laptop from their bag, plug it in, turn it on, make sure it’s charged and wait for it to load up and sign in, or they could pull out their handheld device and have that technology in their hand immediately. Another reason for the shift in thinking, said Tucker, is that students will have more ownership over their device, which generally means a little more care and usability as well.

The school has found that the laptops they are using, though new and wonderful, don’t have technology as good as what the students have on their cell phones in terms of recording things, using iMovie, taking pictures and making videos instantly. 

“So what we have learned is that this (the laptops) is outstanding, this is wonderful for kids as a tool but what could be even better is students using their own device and integrating their own devices every single day into what we’re doing in education,” said Tucker. 

“We’re encouraging students next year to bring your own device to school and if students do not have their own device then of course they will be able to rent a laptop from us just like this year, take it home with them and use it for everything they need.”

Other districts across North America are beginning to go the BYOD way as well, and Tucker said it is just a little bit more instant and real for kids. 

She said it is the seamless integration of the technology that the kids have in their hand. It would be a lie to say the students will never go on Facebook or Twitter or other sites they shouldn’t be on, but it comes down to educating them about global citizenship and being good users of technology. 

If students are using time in class for the wrong reason, then there will be a discussion and possible action taken. Part of the school continuing with the initiative is building their capacity around good technology use and appropriate use. 

“As a district there has been group of us many of us teachers and administrators who have sat a whole year doing some research on digital citizenship, and next school year we are looking at presenting a policy on digital citizenship as a district to all of our schools,” said Tucker. 

There are security filters at the school and software that is monitoring sites students are on. In some cases the computer technician would inform administration, who would then look into the possible misuse of computer time along with parents, who would check it at home and confirm if their child had been on a site they shouldn’t be on. Tucker said there have been times where they have said to students they will be randomly checking computers and computer history. 

“There have been a couple of times when we have suspended computer usage because of the inappropriate site. September was an influx of some challenges but as the year has progressed and we have those intentional dialogues, those intentional discussions around the meaning of this (the laptops) and the purpose of this, it has gotten so much better,” said Tucker. 

She said at the beginning of the year staff started to question what had they really gotten themselves into, but all of the students and parents had signed a contract and she would pull out that contract and remind them of what was agreed upon.  

Next school year Tucker said she won’t mind if students work off of their iPhones. Over this past school year there were students who had laptops but would write up an essay on their iPhone and email it in to the teacher. The teacher can then bring it up on their laptop and check it. At the end of the class work will also need to be submitted so that teachers can know that their students are actually working and not texting or playing games on their devices.  

For 14 teens this is their life. Times have changed since many of us were kids, and in order to be effective teachers and provide the level of education we hope our children can obtain, it is up to the facilitators to embrace the new way of the world and find ways to teach while doing so.

“Nowadays from an Alberta Education point of view…there’s an expectation from every curriculum that there’s meaningful integration of technology and the curriculum is our job, so we have to integrate it. It’s not longer a matter of I’m a techie I like to integrate, it’s (now) a you have to,” said Tucker.  

“The whole purpose behind the laptop or the BYOD is really truly about enhancing teaching and learning. That’s what it’s about, that’s the bottom line is enhancing what is already happening.

“Technology also levels the playing field in terms of special education. By that I mean if you have students who come to school who really struggle with writing or reading by using technology they are able to represent their learning in different ways.”

Tucker said some of the teachers have experimented with putting the lesson orally on a staff project so that a student can click on it and listen to it as much as they need to, or blow up the text so that they can read it more clearly than in the past.  

As technology grows, so does the need to follow the trend and start teaching kids now some of the skills they will need to use this technology in the future.