Module 4: Bring Your Own Device

The term Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) refers to the practice of people “bringing their own laptops, tablets, smartphones, or other mobile devices with them to a learning or work environment” (Johnson, Adams, Becker, Estrada, & Freeman, 2016, p. 36).  Educational institutions have observed the increasing tendency of students and teachers to bring their own personal mobile devices to enhance learning. The BYOD initiative in schools addresses this reality (Afreen, 2014). 
                                                                        
A key argument supporting BYOD programs in schools is that they effectively utlilise available resources.  Schuck, Aubusson, Kearney, & Burden (2010) state that, given the prevalence of mobile devices, it is important that educators acknowledge their affordances in education in order to benefit from students’ current use of them. Students are already familiar with the operation of their own devices and so, by saving the time normally required to teach students how to use different types of technology, tasks can be accomplished with greater ease and efficiency (Benham, Carvalho & Cassens, 2014). Furthermore, students have a sense of ownership of their devices, shifting an authority-based learning model to one that is student-central, which has been shown to increase student engagement and independence (Dunn, Richardson, Oprescu & McDonald, 2013). 

Education inside and outside of the classroom is becoming increasingly indistinguishable with the incorporation of personal mobile devices in schools. BYOD makes opportunistic learning possible, where students are able to take advantage of otherwise unproductive periods of time, such as commuting, as an opportunity to continue learning outside of the classroom (Hedin, 2014).  

A benefit commonly cited when discussing the BYOD initiative is the associated reduction in costs to schools. Bradley and Holley (2011) claim that BYOD avoids the need for schools to provide devices as well as training and support, which previous mobile learning initiatives required. However, for the effective implementation of a BYOD program, schools must be equipped to facilitate a flexible range of hardware and software.  Infrastructure needs to be put into place to be able to support the use of a variety of devices.  If student devices are connected to the institute network, policies need to be in place to reduce risks associated with schools exposing their network to threats like unauthorised access, malware and viruses (Afreen, 2014). In addition to this, schools generally subscribe to various software and applications for teaching which often requires licensing from IT industries. These licenses would need to extended to include personal devices (Afreen, 2014).  Therefore, although BYOD enables an immediate reduction in cost to schools, funding needs to be put into infrastructures to ensure long-term effectiveness of the program.

The BYOD movement has also raised concerns in terms of the digital divide, where students who aren’t capable of affording the latest technology are disadvantaged. Although studies have indicated that the rate of smartphone ownership among secondary students are over 90% (Brett, 2011), this isn’t uniform across all schools or countries. Students need to be able to afford to use these devices for their intended purpose and so costs associated with downloads and messaging also needs to be taken into account (Brett, 2011). 

References 

Afreen, R. (2014). Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges. International Journal of Emerging Trends and Technology in Computer Science, 3(1), pp. 233-236.  Retrived from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rahat_Siddiqui/
publication/261136229_Bring_Your_Own_Device_BYOD_in_Higher_Education_Opportunities_and_Challenges/links/54e2dc520cf296663797c13d.pdf            

Benham, H., Carvalho, G., & Cassens, M. (2014). Student perceptions on the impact of mobile technology in the classroom. Issues in Information Systems, 15(2), pp. 141-150. Retrieved from http://iacis.org/iis/2014/101_iis_2014_141-150.pdf

Bradley, C., & Holley, D. (2011). Empirical research into students’ mobile phones and their use for learning. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 3(4), pp. 38–53. doi:10.4018/jmbl.2011100103.

Brett, P. (2011). Students’ experiences and engagement with SMS for learning in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 48(2), pp. 137–147. Retrieved from http://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2011.564008

Dunn, P., Richardson, A., Oprescu, F., & McDonald, C. (2013). Mobile-phone-based classroom response systems: Students' perceptions of engagement and learning in a large undergraduate course. International Journal Of Mathematical Education In Science And Technology, 44(8), pp. 1160-1174. Retrieved from http://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/
0020739X.2012.756548

Hedin, B. (2014).  Exploring opportunistic use of mobile devices for studying in higher education. (Doctrol dissertation). Retrieved from http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=
diva2%3A742758&dswid=-814#sthash.yv9NItrl.dpbs

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., & Freeman, A. (2015). NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. 

Schuck, S., Aubusson, P., Kearney, M., & Burden, K. (2010, March 19-21). Mobagogy – Mobile learning for a higher education community. In Proceedings of the IADIS Mobile Learning Conference. Retrieved from https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/16630/1/2010001447.pdf





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