BYOD Guidelines

• Developed by EUN, part of the work of MoE in the Interactive the Classroom Working Group (ICWG) http://www.eun.org/teaching/interactive-classroom-wg

• Provides school leaders and policy makers with information on current BYOD trends / models

• Overview of research, white papers etc.• Examples from European schools and

lessons learned by schools and MoEs in other parts of the world

• Initial recommendationshttp://fcl.eun.org/news/details?articleId=626873

Scope

Definition of Bring Your Own Device(BYOD) or Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT)

Employees or students bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, etc.) to their workplace or educational institution and use these devices to access corporate, institutional and other information, applications and services

In education BYOD implementations vary with the extent to which responsibility for device choice, maintenance and support is shared between institution and students/families

Methodology• Literature review

drawing on the findings of research funded by governments and groups of governments, published academic papers, commercial white papers and more informal online sources

• Interviews with ICWG members, policy makers in national Ministries of Education and regional education authorities, school principals and school teachers

European BYOD drivers• Social drivers: most secondary school students own mobile phones, many have

tablets and/or laptops, most homes have broadband, free wifi is ubiquitous in towns and increasingly common in rural areas. Students/parents expect technology use.

• Technological drivers: Modern smart devices provide users with many useful tools whilst being very compact, convenient to carry and, in view of their functionality, relatively inexpensive

• Economic drivers: Most countries have had recent financial difficulties, in some cases severe, state funded schools’ budgets have been reduced, frozen or at least the rate of increase cut

• Educational drivers: Schools are under pressure to deliver improved outcomes for more students plus differentiated teaching and personalised learning resources and tools to meet the specific needs of individual learners and groups of learners

BYOD in 20 European countries

Mean IT PL ES TR NO CZ FR PT DA LT DE MT HU SK SV SL EN FI ET RO0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Bring Your Own Device permitted / supported

Students / teachers bring their own devices School provides services for personally owned devices

Country / language

% re

spon

dent

s

BYOD in 20 European countries BYOD in 20 European countries

Key messages: essential requirements• Excellent broadband and Wi-Fi able to maintain good service for

large numbers of concurrent users

• Support IT staff and/or contract with an IT support service

• Similar investment in upgrading and maintaining infrastructure is required as for 1:1 computing

• Teacher training, CPD and pedagogical as well as technical support for teachers

• Engaged and informed school leaders to drive culture change and realise strategy aims

Key messages: common objections• Concerns about equality and inclusion most common

• Emerging researcher/educator/policy maker consensus that measures needed to ensure students of all socio-economic backgrounds access similar technology

• Equality a particular concern in countries where education must be provided free, BYOD requiring parents to pay for devices seen as undermining

• Teachers and IT support concerns about loss of control, classroom management and extra work

However, some European educators and policy makers nowsee BYOD in publically funded schools as inevitable

Key messages: different BYOD models• Definitions of BYOD vary and a number of different approaches to

implementing BYOD used in schools

• Often only a single or small number of mobile devices specifically authorised for use in school and/or purchased via the school are allowed

• School defined/supplied device/s approach makes technical and pedagogical training and support easier to manage and culture change easier to achieve

• Where students are more free to choose their own device/s they may also be responsible for their own maintenance and support and have more limited access to school systems

Which model?: control v risk/complexityWhich model: control v risk/complexity?

Key messages: implementing BYODApproaches to implementation vary, including:• Very carefully planned supported top down approach

• Informal BYOD by individual innovative teachers in a few classes, leading to pockets of good practice

• Rather casual approaches where students bring mobile devices to school but changes in pedagogy are not made to take full advantage of this technology to enhance teaching and learning

Challenges: human and resources• Lack of strategic direction from some governments

• Local laws: e.g. free education, mobile phone bans

• Need for more teacher training, CPD and support

• Convincing teachers, classroom management, managing culture change

• Convincing parents and addressing their concerns

• IT staff resistance, fear of losing jobs or control

• Shortage of good practice examples to learn from

• Shortage of apps and resources aligned to local curricula in non-English native tongues

Challenges: technical• Upgrading infrastructure

• Ensuing adequate network capacity, anticipating and coping with demand

• Provision of technical support

• Protecting school and student data and systems

• Safeguarding students and staff

• Local laws e.g. Swiss requirement to track which devices are connected to which content and to store this information for six months

Initial European BYOD case studies• Austria: national initiatives help kick start BYOD in schools

• Estonia: BYOD maximising benefits from infrastructure investment

• Finland: assessment and desire to reflect societal norms drive BYOD

• Ireland: engaged and informed school leaders drive transformation

• Norway: planned BYOD approach maintaining equality of provision

• Portugal: policy makers’ support needed for teacher innovation to grow

• Switzerland: long-term approach needed to achieve change

• UK: as national ICT initiatives end, BYOD seems obvious next step

Quick pointers for schools/teachers• Top 15 tips for teachers getting started with BYOD

• 15 recommendations for school leaders implementing whole school BYOD

• BYOD Snakes and Ladders: a prompter for BYOD strategy discussions

• Technical recommendations

Next Steps• The online version of the BYOD Guide will be developed further during 2016

http://fcl.eun.org/byod