7 #BYOD Building Blocks for Success

As more and more schools make the decision to embrace student-owned devices for learning, it's important that they incorporate strategies for success. Lifting the ban on devices and inviting them into the school is a start, but it is also important to put building blocks for success in place. To follow are the seven building blocks you should put in place to ensure you attain success.

7 #BYOD Building Blocks for Success

1. Start with pioneers - Incorporating cell phones and other student devices into learning works best when teachers are on board. Find out if you have teachers in your building who want to pilot this work in your school.  Let them set the stage and support others when they are ready.  

After the Cell Phone Ban - NYC Schools Launch #BYOD

The New York City Department of Education lifted the ban on cell phones last spring. For some schools the difference was that students could bring their phones to school, but have them locked up or out of sight. For some of the more innovative schools however, that meant teachers could empower students to harness the power of student devices for learning.  

That's exactly what happened at Harlem's P.S. 129 where 4th grade students in Stacey Nealy’s and Ryann Geldner’s launched the initiative in their school using the devices to better understand Native Americans. Students read information and sent in their reflections via a student response system from their own phones or laptops. For students without devices they were provided a school-issued device or they shared with a peer.  

In an interview with the Hechinger Report, Amy Thiam, a fourth-grader explained, “We are learning and having fun at the same time.”  You can read the whole article here. 

7 Must-Haves for Teaching + Learning with #BYOD #BYOT

Are you allowing students to bring their own devices to learn where you work? If so, you'll want to become familiar with these seven digital resources.  Each resource is followed by a link to more information and advice for use in the classroom. What’s great about all of these tools is they can be used in environments even if students have a regular phone without browser or app capabilities.  

1. Cel.ly - Cel.ly is primarily a free group texting service. Group texting saves time, improves communication, provides documentation of texts, and sets the stage for easily using many other cell phone tools. The Cells referred to in Cel.ly are instant mobile networks. With Cel.ly, you can have open group chat, one-way alerting, or a hybrid where curators can approve messages.
• Ideas for the classroom at this link.
  

#BYOD Toolkit Provides Resources Necessary for Success

As Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) becomes and option for more and more schools, it is important to get the right pieces in place. A good place to start is the BYOD Toolkit which is part of the K-12 Blueprint for implementing successful technology initiatives.  The Toolkit includes case studies, checklists, step-by-steps, program frameworks, forms, and presentations to help in planning and implementing a BYOD program at the school or district level.

The Toolkit allows schools to learn from others with resources such as the sample acceptable use policies below:

Prepping for #BYOD ? Home-School Connection Is Key.

When schools lift the ban on cell phones, they need to decide if they want to embrace the use of student devices for learning. If they do, it doesn't "start" with inviting devices into the classroom. 

It starts in student's homes. 
What better way to help parents understand the instructional value of cell phones than to use these devices to strengthen the home-school connection? 


Cell phones provide a terrific means for connecting with parents. Teachers can begin using phones to develop and strengthen those relationships. This can provide a foundation and help develop understanding around the benefits and value of cell phone use in general and later for use with students. 

Here are three ideas to get started:

Confronting Fears - #BYOD for Students

While most adults understand the benefits of students having cell phones in school to stay in touch with parents for safety purposes, when it comes to classroom use, some have fears. These include concerns over data collection, privacy, being a distraction, replacing personal interaction, discipline, theft, use for bullying, and more. 

The concerns are real and they don't only apply to cell phone use. It's no different when doing many things at first: Crossing the street, using pointy scissors, talking to strangers, swimming, riding a bike, and more. While all of these activities have risks, because of their advantages, rather than banning them, we patiently guide children to do them with care and scrutiny. Personal devices are no different.

Here are some ideas to arm educators with strategies to address common concerns that may arise when students bring their own devices to the classroom.

Homework is Key When Preparing for #BYOD

When schools decide they want to embrace the use of student devices for learning, it doesn't "start" with inviting devices into the classroom. It starts with inviting the use of devices into homework. 

While parents understand why cell phones are important to stay in touch with their children and keep them safe, they may not understand their usefulness for learning. This is no surprise. Students haven’t been given the opportunity or guidance by teachers in doing so.

Rather than simply telling parents about the research and benefits of using cell phones for learning, show them!

Before using cell phones in your classroom with students, begin giving students the option to use cell phones to complete their homework. This gives the teacher the opportunity to allow students to use cell phones for learning without classroom management concerns. It gives students (and their parents) experience in using cell phones for learning. Yet another benefit is that using cell phones to support learning at home enables educational leaders see firsthand how these tools can support student learning. 

To follow are some Ideas for enabling students to use cell phones for learning at home. 

The Innovative Educator named top 10 #BYOD (bring your own device) influencer

Onalytica put out their list of bring your own device influencers (BYOD) and The Innovative Educator was at the top of the list. 

You can see the top ten influencers below and the top 100 here. 

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	PageRank (Normalised)
1	@MaribelLopez	Maribel Lopez	100
2	@MindShiftKQED	Tina Barseghian	75.25
3	@coolcatteacher	Vicki Davis	74.97
4	@NMHS_Principal	Eric Sheninger	60.83
5	@mssackstein	Starr Sackstein	43.17
6	@InnovativeEdu	Lisa Nielsen	35.91
7	@RossCoops31	Ross Cooper	28.06
8	@mluhtala	Michelle Luhtala	22.63
9	@andycinek	Andrew P. Marcinek	21.96
10	@jksuter	Jason K. Suter	21.93