[Sorry for the title ... I've lost count of the days!]
For those of you who haven't been following, my district has embraced a BYOD policy starting this school year. At the moment this means that kids can use their own personal devices FOR their learning.
Since I haven't posted in a while how this is going, I'd like to give a tiny update: all is well!
Yes, there may have been a few transgressions and a couple of lost devices, but by-in-large, it seems to not be an issue on the student behavior side of things.
The really cool part of it all is seeing teachers embrace this "new" tool for learning opportunities. Today, I had the pleasure of watching several 8th grade students using their phones or laptops to video scenes that they had story-boarded to produce anti-bullying PSAs for their Language Arts class.
Besides the use of personal devices, I was most impressed with how the students were working collaboratively to produce their video. They were making decisions together, everyone's voice was important and they shared responsibilities. They probably didn't even realize the importance of their teamwork at the time, because they were having so much fun!
Since I mentioned one of the main C's in the 4 C's, this assignment also embodied critical thinking, creativity, and communication. Students were analyzing their shots to make sure the message they were trying to send was captured. They were devising a story and actions that would have the most impact.
For me, it was a good day! I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow....
So what happens to the students who don't bring a device. Is the school providing one for them to use or are they just out of luck? I am curious because my district is in year three of a 1:1 program where all students 6-9 (with 10,11,12 coming next year).
ReplyDeleteWilliam, as of now, we are not providing, past the computers available within the classroom or labs. However, in the example I provided above, kids worked in groups, so there wasn't a need for 1:1. We are hoping to have a drive for donated devices. Unfortunately, with economic times, we are struggling to maintain district owned devices, so we will be hard-pressed to purchase additional for 1:1.
ReplyDeleteOur approach has been to allow it if kids have it, use it for group work, provide opportunities to use district devices after hours. It's not perfect, but we are learning and feeling-out the needs and opportunities.
I love it! My class recently complete project using 20 different options ( a traditional choice board) to create a product displaying the content and the students did an amazing job. I showed students how to create a complete website including text, graphics, videos, sound bites..etc using a simple phone. Others used vuvox, glogster, flip video, empress or, etc to complete the project..there were " written" options such as a news story, so even if you didn't have resources, you could be successful. With that being said, between student devices , my classroom iPad, a laptop and 3 desktops, no one was empty handed in classes of 30. The BYOD has helped tremendously! So many possibilities!
ReplyDeleteJudy.. very awesome! Thanks for sharing.. goes to show the possibilities!
ReplyDelete