Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) refers to the trend in which students/employees bring their own mobile technologies (usually smartphones) into their place of work or study.  BYOD has become increasingly common in recent years owing to the fact that mobile technologies with access to the Internet are now both more affordable and more ubiquitous than ever.  Given the immense potential for learning opportunities made possible by smartphones and other Internet-connected devices, it is only logical to harness and leverage this technology in order to enrich students’ learning.  Improvements in WiFi access has therefore led many educational institutions to implement a clear roadmap for a BYOD initiative.  In my own workplace, this is exactly what we have done. Along with suggestions put forward by Eric Sheninger (2016) in his book, Uncommon Learning, I want to share some of my own thoughts and experiences about what makes a BYOD initiative successful:

1.  Clear Vision & Plan – As Sheninger points out, a consistent focus on student learning and sound pedagogy should be central to any BYOD initiative.  This means that all stakeholders must be on the same page when it comes to having a shared rationale, goals and expectations surrounding BYOD.  Assemblies, PTA meetings and discussions with the Board of Governors, all provide excellent opportunities to communicate what a BYOD initiative means for the school.  In particular, teachers also need support and guidance through professional development workshops, which help them to make the most of BYOD to develop pedagogically sound lessons.  In my own experience, this sort of professional development should be ongoing even after the BYOD initiative has begun.

2.  Sound Policy – According to Sheninger, a sound policy addresses Wi-Fi login procedures, a focus on learning, acceptable use, and absolving the school of any liability for lost, stolen, or broken devices.  It’s also worthwhile getting students involved with this.  On one of our sites for example, the Digital Senate (made up of senior students) put together  this PowerPoint below to guide their peers on how to install CA certificates onto their devices, which keeps their smartphones safe when browsing the web:

[embeddoc url=”https://technologyforlearners.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CA_cert_senate_Urca.pptx”]

On my site, I enlisted the help of our Digital Leaders to put together this quick video to show all their peers about how to install the school’s CA security certificate:

3.  Infrastructure – The IT service team needs to be up to speed on the BYOD initiative and the school’s network should be ready to withstand all of the mobile technologies connecting to it.  This is pivotal to ensuring the smooth running of the BYOD initiative.

4.  Relevant Applications – I have already referenced several quality applications for Flipped Learning, which can also effectively be utilised as part of a BYOD initiative:

– Poll Everywhere

– Plickers

– Kahoot

– TodaysMeet

– Adobe Spark 

– VideoScribe

– Explain Everything

– Quizlet 

– Google Slides 

(As I’m continually coming across new apps that can enhance student learning, this list above is actually an addition to the previous list I wrote for the top 10 web 2.0 apps for the school curriculum).

Where they can be usefully integrated into lessons, getting students to install augmented reality apps like Aurasma onto their own devices, can also help to create engaging and memorable lessons.

With the emergence of Google Cardboard and accompanying apps like Discovery VR, we’ve been able to go further still, by making perfect use of students’ devices for the creation of virtual reality experiences for students.  If used well, these can really enhance lessons by bringing to life the subject of study.

This video below, made by one of our students on her smartphone, shows a typical example of how the app, Adobe Spark can be used to create an educational video:

This second video is an example of how students are using the app, Explain Everything, which is also a great app for students to have on their smartphones:

5.  Technology Events – Lastly, raising awareness of what we actually have available to us in terms of Internet-connected mobile device technology, how it should be used and how it can be used to facilitate learning, is very important.  In addition to running assemblies and events related to Digital Citizenship and E-Safety, an annual Technology Week is a great way to get both teachers and students involved in maximising the use of their mobile devices to enhance teaching & learning.

Shaping school culture begins with effective leadership, which then permeates and fosters positive change throughout the school.  This is because effective leadership influences everyone who works for a school, and everyone of these staff members is either directly or indirectly responsible for students’ learning. For a school leadership and culture to be successful therefore, it needs everyone on board, facilitating educational experiences that cater for students’ interests, innate desire for creativity, and a need for play.  Teaching staff, administration and support personnel must work collaboratively in order to create a learning experience that will bring significant value to students.

I’ve been reading Eric Sheninger’s book, Uncommon Learning, which has given me some great ideas on the topic of school culture, the role that leadership can play and where technology fits in.  According to Sheninger, there are several key ingredients to effective leadership that promote a positive school culture:

1.  Clear vision and communication – According to Leithwood & Riehl (What we know about successful school leadership, 2003), effective leaders help their schools develop or endorse visions that embody the best thinking about teaching and learning while inspiring others to reach for ambitious goals.  In the digital world, leaders can use a variety of communication channels to reach all possible stakeholders.  In addition to memos, meetings, newsletters, and email, messages can be amplified using social media tools such as Google Classroom, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

2.  Allowing for autonomy and ownership – Unprecedented learning opportunities can take place when school leadership gives up some control, allowing learners (teachers included!) to explore their own passions and interests, enabling them to take ownership of their learning, while helping the community to develop growth mindsets.   According to Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck (2007), learners with growth mindsets have been found to be more motivated to learn and exert effort and outperform those with fixed mindsets.  An excellent example of autonomy and ownership in classroom practice is Genius Hour. Genius Hour is most often associated with Google, where employees were able to spend up to 20 per cent of their time working on projects they were passionate about.  Motivated by curiosity and passion, the big idea for Google was that employees would be happier, more creative, and more productive, which benefitted the company in terms of morale and overall performance.  This concept can be transferred to the school system by allowing teachers and students time to explore their own curiosity, and then integrating this time into opportunities for meaningful teaching and learning.

3.  Collaboration – Empowering teachers to work and collaborate toward a common goal makes them aware of their responsibilities and the important role each one of them plays in the work (Hughes & Pickeral, 2013).  Again, this requires allocating time specifically for this purpose.  Well planned collaborative workshops can be a great way for teachers to share ideas about professional practice.

4.  Modelling – Initiating sustainable change requires educators to model the same expectations that they have of others.  This is true of teachers and leaders alike.  Setting a direction and helping people implement a change are imperative for the successful implementation of any initiative.  Eric Sheninger (2016) makes a very valuable point in his book ‘Uncommon Learning’, that we should move away from telling people what to do , and instead take them where they need to be.  Accoording to Sheninger, ‘if you want change, model it.  Modelling the way is one of the best things a leader can do to move others down a different path to initiate and sustain change.’

5.  Promote Risk Taking – The right culture encourages teachers to try new strategies and activities in the classroom.  In such an environment, teachers feel they have the autonomy and support to be as innovative as they want.  The same is true for students.  As Branden (1994) states in ‘The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem’, students who feel empowered are more confident and exhibit more self-esteem.  Confidence can increase a person’s ability to think and cope with basic challenges.  Self-esteem can increase feeling worthy and the ability to assert one’s needs and wants.

6.  Support – Time, professional learning, infrastructure, and resources are all areas of support that help to create a positive school culture.  Teachers need time for example, to innovate, try new things, and learn.  In particular, schools need to consider ways to free up teachers from meaningless meetings and instead use that time for professional development.  My own experience of this is through the delivery of workshops, which I always strive to make as fun and engaging as possible.  After all, what we feel we remember, which is why attaching emotion to learning is so impactful!  As professional development time with teachers can be short (usually, a training workshop lasts just one hour), I believe there are three key elements to making workshops for teachers successful:

– the core idea must be presented as simply as possible

– the training must allow for creative expression

– at least one new skill must have been acquired by the end of the session

In other words, fun & engaging PD workshop = easy to grasp + allows for creative expression + provides new skill(s)

Concluding thoughts…

Shared vision, effective communication, autonomy, collaboration, modelling, risk taking and support all contribute to a transformational school culture, which leads to greater levels of teacher satisfaction and student achievement.

Flipped learning is a pedagogical model in which the teacher delivery during in-class time is flipped with the homework elements of a course.  As a type of blended learning technique, students can watch relevant videos at home, which have been prepared by the teacher, while using their in-class time to focus on exercises, projects or discussions.

My own transition to a flipped learning classroom has been a gradual, organic process.  Although I still believe there is a place for the traditional (“sage-on-the- stage”) teaching approach, I’ve come to recognise the many advantages of a flipped learning model.   Sharing relevant tutorial videos with students and colleagues, both from my own YouTube channel and links elsewhere on the Web, enables me to spend more time as a facilitator of learning.  This simply means that learners spend less time passively listening at the beginning of the lesson and more time engaged in activities to develop their skills.  By doing away with the traditional classroom, which is very teacher centred, it also means that I have extra time to provide valuable one-on-one assistance to students who need it the most.

According to Eric Sheninger (2016), author of Uncommon Learning, there are two main components associated with the flipped learning approach:

1.  Students watch lectures and consume other forms of content outside of school at their own pace whilst communicating with peers and teachers using online learning tools.  In my opinion, this point about students working at their own pace cannot be understated.  The ability for students to pause, rewind and fast-forward a tutorial video means that they are in a much better situation to assimilate new learning.

2.  Students apply what they have learnt during in class time with assistance from the teacher.  As there is more time freed up during the lesson itself, there are more opportunities for small-group work and one-to-one contact with lower-performing students.

In order to make the lesson time itself more engaging while integrating formative assessment, there are many web-based tools that can complement the students’ main in class activities:

– Poll Everywhere

– Plickers

– Kahoot

– TodaysMeet

In addition, there are also some fantastic tools out there for students themselves to become authors, teachers and collaborators, working together to teach content to each other.  Some of the best of these tools include:

– Adobe Voice 

– VideoScribe

– Explain Everything

– Quizlet 

– Google Slides 

As well as giving my students opportunities to use these tools, I have used each one of these applications myself as a medium in which to share information with students for them to learn at their own pace.  As Sheninher himself states though, ‘pedagogy always trumps technology’.  For digital learning to be implemented effectively, we should focus on pedagogy first and technology second.  When integrating technology, we need to remember that it is less about the tool and more about what students can do with the tools handed to them.

That being said, with all these web-based tools and other digital applications available, it makes sense that a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or 1:1 technology initiative can radically enhance the flipped learning model.  By providing students with access to their own device, it can bring out the best of what flipped learning has to offer.  According to Sheninger (2016, pp. 117),

The flipped classroom is an excellent first step in making students’ in-class experiences more active, more student centred, and more meaningful. Combining the best aspects of the flipped classroom with the power of 1:1 technology would allow for an even more radical reshaping of the classroom. School should become a place where students can learn at their own individual paces, become active creators instead of solely passive content recipients, and learn in an environment that they “own”, which adjusts rapidly to meet their learning needs and interests.