Presentation from the 12th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning about a BYOD project at a New Zealand secondary school

1. Embedding BYOD into
Classroom Practice
Associate Professor David Parsons
Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

2. Jam Tomorrow
“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam
yesterday – but never jam today. It MUST
come sometimes to 'jam today', Alice
objected.”
– Lewis Carroll, ‘Through the Looking Glass and What
Alice Found There’ (1871)
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortytworoads/746233407/

3. BYOD
• The Bring Your Own Device revolution
is changing the very nature of teaching
and learning, and disrupting the
traditional roles of teachers and
students
Image: http://www.securedgenetworks.com/secure-edge-networks-blog/
bid/78530/4-Tips-for-BYOD-on-School-Wireless-Networks

4. BYOD Widely Accepted
• 35.2% of New Zealand secondary
schools, 20% of intermediate schools
and 6.9% of primary schools already
operate a BYOD policy
• 75.7% of those surveyed supported the
idea of BYOD in schools, 14.3% were
still undecided, while only 1 in 10
surveyed did not support the idea
• (Adobe, 2012)

5. The Project
• First New Zealand state school to
require parents to provide devices for
their children (iPad2)
• 2 years completed
• Started with Year 9 (13/14)
• Now percolating through the whole
school

6. Infrastructure Investments
• (out with the) Old
– specialist computer labs
– lease of computers
– technical support
– maintenance
• (in with the) New
– ultra-fast broadband and wireless
– teacher devices
– professional development
– management software

7. Beyond Infrastructure
• Common vision teaching and learning
• Willingness to embrace change
• Stakeholder support
– board of trustees
– parent body
• Good pastoral system
– software
– contracts
– sanctions

8. Teaching & Learning Concepts
•
•
•
•
Flipped classrooms
Project based learning
Flexible physical spaces
SAMR model
(Ruben Puentedura)
– not very deep, but
popular with teachers

9. Learning spaces
• Education as a journey through
different environments (Scott Morris)
– the cave (independent, reflective learning)
– the campfire (listening to and absorbing
knowledge)
– the watering hole (informal learning,
discussing, creating meaning with others)
– the mountain top (presenting, publishing
and demonstrating understanding)

10. Generic Device Use
• Digital media (multiple literacies)
– enhancement
• Food Technology - videos of cooking
• Science - photos of experiments in
lab book
– transformation
• Technology - student created
videos of demonstrations
• project based learning - creating,
sharing, reinterpreting

11. The role of social media
• Students are already ‘living’ on social
media
– does/should the school reach out through
such tools?
• Educational social media tools
– Facebook v. Edmodo?

12. Challenges of device use
• Internet connectivity, speed and
coverage
• Historical issues - lack of preparation
– not prepared for the flipped classroom
• Basic digital skills
– efficient web searches, appropriate sites.
• Finding the right app
– trouble with Flash and iCloud

13. Some conundrums
• Should non iPad owners be required to
share with iPad owners to use apps?
– how does this make them feel?
• Should valuable digital resources on
the ‘wrong’ platform be abandoned?
• Which applications should be
consistent?
• What are generic areas of digital
literacy?

14. BYOD for Specific Subjects
• Mathematics
– games and on-line resources
• Physical education,
– performance analysis
• Dance
– Ubersense slow motion video analysis for
sports, used for dance
• Languages
– video and analyse role play

15. BYOD for Specific Subjects
• English / Drama
– mind maps used to analyse
action, storyboards and characters
• Sociology
– Wikipedia is not enough
• Music
– composition, virtual instruments, sheet
music

16. BYOD changes…
– student activities
– how work is presented
– how teachers provide feedback
– how work is showcased to the world
– how students collaborate
– how staff collaborate
– the role and nature of home learning

17. Lessons Learned
• The new ‘normal’
– 1-to-1 devices are ‘normal’- what next?
• Some boundaries are clearer
– when to use the device, and when not
• Some boundaries are more blurred
– tools from life or tools from school?
• Not just flipped
– a more fluid model of teaching