10 things to consider when changing your school to BYoD.

1. • Christine Wells
10 Tips for Starting BYOD

2. 1. Do your research
• Spend time researching what other schools have done. Which devices do
they use/recommend?
• Find out what local schools are doing. Can you share sources or ideas?
Can someone there advise you?
• Ask other schools about their digital citizenship guidelines.

3. 2. BYOD & Digital Citizenship
• The emphasis must be on the learners
bringing their OWN device.
• They will take responsibility for its care,
not your school.
• They are responsible for insuring it, not
your school.
• A digital citizenship contract with
guidelines is essential. Teach your learners
to navigate social media and the internet
responsibly.

4. 3. Make sure you have a stable infrastructure
• Your wireless internet connection should
be stable and reliable. If it's not, workflow
will be interrupted and frustration will
follow. You will also have to resort to old
school teaching methods.
• You will need a Learning Management
System so that teachers are able to put their
resources in a central place for learners to
access.
• You will also need knowledgeable staff
who are able to manage/fix the systems you
have.

5. 4. Keep parents informed and up to date
• Keep parents posted on the progress that you
are making towards going BYOD. You can do
this in your newsletter.
• Hold an information evening so they are able
to ask questions and voice any concerns.
• Invite them to a meet the home room/form
teacher event.
• Parents need to know that they are involved or
at least aware of the transition to BYOD.
• Discuss digital citizenship with parents.
• You may use social media with your classes.
Advise parents why you are doing this and the
benefits it has.

6. 5. Recommend a preferred device
• We recommended the iPad but said other
devices were also ok. This has meant that
we have had to spend time making double
copies of resources so that they can be
opened on all devices.
• We have also had to recommend website
equivalents of apps that we use.
• One device to rule them all would have
been better. You can probably work out
our preference!
• We also have a rent to buy scheme and
spare devices in the library that students
can borrow on a short term basis.

7. 6. Give your staff their device in plenty of time
• Make sure staff have ample time to
get to know their device before
teaching with it.
• We had ours 5-6 months before we
started teaching with them.
• We started out by getting familiar
with apps that we would use in our
personal life.

8. 7. Have regular professional development
• For about 6 months our staff met weekly to learn
how to set up basic administration apps and then
subject specific apps.
• We learnt a lot from each other and it was fun
trying out new ideas.
• We also met each term for curriculum planning in
our subject area. We had to reassess the way we
taught.
• At the end of the first year we reviewed every unit
and updated most of them. Our teaching had
changed from when we first planned our units. We
were more confident about using apps other than
Pages and Keynote and wanted to include new
ones that we had discovered.

9. 8. A PLN helps a lot!
• Many of our staff members joined Twitter and follow like minded
teachers. This has become our Professional Learning Network.
• This has helped us to find out about new ideas and read about the ways
that other BYOD schools are doing things.
• We can also share what we are doing and encourage others in making
the transition.

10. 9. The goal is to transform learning
• At first you will probably start by
digitising what you already do, this is
what we also did.
• As you get more confident think about
ways that apps/websites can be used
creatively to demonstrate learning. For
example, Mematic may sum up a
character's behaviour in a novel. Pic
Collage can be used to label and
collate camera shots and angles.
• The goal is to transform learning not
simply to do it digitally. Throw out
those worksheets!!

11. 10. Have a positive attitude
• This is essential. Learning how to do something
new when what you've been doing for years is
fine can be a big challenge. Some of our staff
were reluctant to begin with but most are now on
board and enjoying teaching with a device.
• Teaching and learning is changing and if we don't
adapt, we'll be left behind.
• Many of our staff have found it the most exciting
time in their career and have taken on a new lease
of life with their teaching!
• The learners are far more easily engaged and most
enjoy using their devices. Our results have
improved and the quality of work is much better.

12. Finally...
• This is by no means an exhaustive list but it will get you thinking and
on your way.
• We are still learning too, so this presentation will be added to and
revised as time goes on.
• Good luck and Just Do It!