“It’s BYOD day!” says a girl as she enters Jon Selby’s Senior English Literature class and pulls out her iPhone. She’s happy about it, and so is Selby. It’s Friday, and he has designated this a BYOD (bring your own device) day because it fits well with today’s study of personalized essays.
Selby’s daily agendas, lesson plans, and homework assignments are posted on his website, and BYOD days are listed prominently. From school, home or anywhere between, students can see at a glance when they should plan to bring their personal electronic tools. Smart phones, laptops, tablets, and iPods are used on BYOD days. Students work in small groups and collaborate. That way, devices can help with various functions, and students who don’t have a device aren’t left out.
BYOD has changed the nature of Selby’s classes. “It (BYOD) gives me a lot more flexibility. We can gather more information than we could before,” he said. “Not knowing something doesn’t stunt us anymore. We look up things as we come across questions and move on. It’s part of our daily culture.”
Two years ago, teacher librarian Mark Ray and teachers Selby and Eric Silvey started developing the idea of BYOD at Skyview High School. Last year the program emerged as a pilot in some classes at Skyview, Columbia River High School, and Alki Middle School. Selby and Silvey took the concept and ran with it.
Several things converged to make BYOD happen. Wi-fi access was provided in all Vancouver schools. And, in secondary schools, students were allowed to access the new wi-fi network. Devices became more portable, and more students were using them. School libraries invested in digital resources, making them available virtually everywhere. Two major curriculum purchases made by Vancouver Public Schools included online curriculum and resources, which enabled students to access them from home.
Teachers noticed students were using portable devices for homework and in their daily lives. “Kids were using these devices anyway. When they came to school, they had to ‘power down,’” said Mark Ray, who is now manager of instructional technology.
Smart phones were particularly prevalent. “Kids had them. Instead of treating them as a toy, we now use them as a tool,” said Selby. He also noted that many of his seniors already had laptop computers in preparation for college.
“They are going to be using these tools the rest of their lives. As they transition into college and the workplace, they will use them,” said Silvey. Students are learning skills needed for the 21st century—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.
Students are not allowed to text or use phones for personal reasons in class, and they must follow district guidelines for digital citizenship. “Digital citizenship isn’t rocket science,” Ray explained. “The values for working in a digital world are really the same as in any aspect of life—being fair, being safe, being responsible, and looking out for one another.”
In the classroom next to Selby’s, students in Silvey’s class are using their personal devices to access current information and photos for a project in World Studies. “I haven’t used a textbook since school started this year,” said Silvey. He complements his online curriculum with resources from museums, particularly for Washington State History.
“I had a chalkboard 24 years ago; now I have an interactive smartboard,” noted Silvey. “Everything has changed.”
