From banning to embracing – my thoughts on allowing student owned devices in our schools

Right now there is a GREAT discussion happening in my highschool regarding allowing/banning students to bring in student owned devices.   Our high school principal sent an email to our staff inviting them respond/discuss their thoughts of the following video showing a student owned device pilot project in Osseo Schools.

http://nwtv12.img.entriq.net/htm/nwtv12flashplayer.htm?articleID=8217

The following is my response to our staff:

Dear Staff,
I appreciate the responses from this thread and value all of your ideas and concerns.  In my honest opinion, I truly feel that we can no longer ignore these Internet enabled devices.   Students are walking into your classrooms with Google in their pockets – we should harness this opportunity – not ban it.

The 2010 Horizon Report indicates we have 1 year or less to adopt these technologies in our schools.  It is coming, it is here, its not going away.  As I think of my own use of my smart phone – it is an integral part of my business communications. As we think of preparing students for their future – these devices are going to be the primary way students are connected to people (family, friends, coworkers) as well as personal/professional email, calendars, social media applications.  In the 21st century being connected also means using these devices to create, learn and share  information.  If interested, the new term coined for this type of learning is mlearning.  (Let me Google it for you!)

Budget.  I can honestly say for the past 10 years the term 1:1 has been discussed numerous times in various committees.  But, to develop a budget to support an initiative as well as SUSTAIN it is very complex and fiscally not possible… at least not yet.  Financially, it makes sense for students to bring in their personal devices.

Access.  Did you know that our HS has less than a 2:1 ratio?  For every 2 students we have 1 computer/laptop. We have added labs this summer and added computers to address class sizes.  It is still not enough.  As you continue to integrate technology into your classes the demand for access is rising.  I realize their may be concerns of have/and have nots. However, I really have to wonder how many have nots we have? I just purchased an iPod touch for my youngest for Christmas for about $200. It has full Internet capabilities – including access to Google Apps, Moodle, as well as a wealth of other useful tools(aka APPS).

As for obstacles I see three issues when moving in this direction.

• Current Policy.  Right now our policy bans this technology in our classrooms. Here is an etiquette guide to give an example  of what other schools are looking at. There may be new discipline issues that will come with these devices too, but look at the amount of discipline time we are spending just trying implementing our “Ban” policy.  I would like to take an uneducated guess and say that 90% of our detention, parent calls, frustrated students, incident record keeping could disappear if we allowed these devices in our schools.  We should be teaching students how to appropriately use them – not ban them.  This is a skill that will be very important for them, when they graduate and go to college/workforce.
• Bandwidth/Wireless.  Adding an additional 300 devices might affect our Internet bandwidth.  We will need adjust it and it will cost $.  We also need to think about increasing the wireless access (add more access points) this is also an added cost.
• Teaching will need to change – Teachers are going to need to create lesson plans that are endpoint independent.  If you have a classroom of Smartphones, iPods, iPads, netbooks and laptops – how you will have your students complete the lessons will change. At this point, We will still need our labs for writing, specialized programs, and testing – but is the lab necessary for research and other web-based applications?  Teacher will also need to think about how they assess student learning.  If students are given tests that can be easily Googled, is it a relevant assessment to their learning? Cheating is always a concern, but if teachers develop more authentic assessments and/or project based lessons – cheating  can decrease immensely. An added benefit will be that students will know the content better and it will be more meaningful to them.

I look forward to continuing this conversation with you.  I think easing into this environment is a great idea and I think a pilot is very appropriate. I will also be willing to serve on any HS committee/group that are wiling to look at this further.

I would like to leave you with an excerpt from Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk blog post Rules for Pod People and a Proposal for Banning Pencils, in which he compares the reasons for banning iPods with banning pencils:

1. A student might poke out the eye of another student.
2. A student might write a dirty word with one. Or even write a whole harassing note and pass it to another student.
3. One student might have a mechanical pencil making those with wooden ones feel bad.
4. The pencil might get stolen or lost.
5. Kids might be doodling instead of working on their assignments.