BYOT: Is it Better to Have a Personal Device or a School Device?
In Sharon Springs Central School every student from grades 7-12 is given a school owned and monitored iPad. These iPads help expand the ability of the classroom, projects, and other work throughout school year. These iPads are an amazing tool in the classroom and at home but also have a downfall for some students that do not follow the rules. In order to prevent inappropriate activity and other things such as websites like Wiki answers and Yahoo answers, the school installed a filter onto every every iPad given to the students. This filter was designed to be a good tool to prevent the iPads from being turned into a toy. While this filter does sometimes work how it was designed to work, it also blocks a lot of things that interfer with school research. This filter is something that gets in the way of some students and doesn't affect others. During my brief classroom research I discovered that about half of the class either use or would use a personal device if they had access to it. As I interviewed students, the kids that were for personal devices had reasoning such as, personal devices have less restrictions, easier to transfer data to different places, school iPads are too outdated and slow. On the other side some students argued that school iPads were better because they came preloaded with textbooks and apps that would otherwise cost you money, this makes everyone equal without singling anyone out, and makes it easier for school to control and monitor activity during school. From a teachers perspective it was a bad idea allowing personal devices because they cause more distraction during the day, and the school would still be responsible for things posted on social media during the day. But with school monitored iPads they can control this a little better. I also asked students what their thoughts on lessening the restrictions on the iPad were. Almost every student agreed that restrictions should be based on grade level. As the school year progresses, good behavior and good academic standings should grant access past certain restrictions. Most also agree that games should be limited or restricted all together, that they can be a distraction to school work.
My research suggests that most students prefer a personal device over school devices. Do you think that the use of personal devices hinders or expands the learning capability throughout the day?
