byod in education

education

A practical guide that will get you thinking

The Microsoft Brand Guidelines for Education | 27

the microsoft visual identity

BYOD

2 Bring Your Own Device

Bring Your Own DeviceContents



education

FOREWORD .................................................................................................................. 3

AIMS ............................................................................................................................... 4

CHAPTERS ..................................................................................................................... 5

Chapter 1: What is BYOD? .............................................................................................................. 5

Chapter 2: BYOD / 1:1 Models ..................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 3: Policy Considerations .............................................................................................. 13

Chapter 4: Focus on Pedagogy .................................................................................................. 17

Chapter 5: Digital Content .......................................................................................................... 21

Chapter 6: Access and Infrastructure ....................................................................................... 24

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 28

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... 29

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 30











3 Bring Your Own Device education

What’s it all about?Have you ever thought about what happens to the computers in a school between 4pm and 8am Monday to Friday? Or at the weekends? Or over the twelve weeks of the year when the school is shut for the holidays? Have you ever thought about what happens to computers in your house when you are at work or when your children are at school?

The answer is simple – nothing happens. The equipment just sits there, and, apart from the occasional automated update it is stagnant, unused and redundant.

The situation is ironic, as schools these days constantly need more ICT equipment (in particular hardware) to improve productivity, help teachers teach and help learners learn. Many students also sit in classes with powerful little computers in their pockets (their phones) or in their bag (their tablet devices and / or laptops) all of which must often remain switched off during the school day. It is strange that, at such times of austerity, the school is willing to spend valuable resource on calculators and digital cameras.

BYOD or Bring Your Own Device is the simple idea that young people and school staff are allowed to bring their own Internet enabled device into school and use it to help them work, learn and (if appropriate) socialise.

BYOD is an emerging education technology trend that is gaining in popularity in many parts of the world, and one that needs to be treated more seriously by schools and school systems.

This practical guide to BYOD has been written and designed to get you thinking!

Bring Your Own DeviceForeword



Ollie Brayolliebray.com


The aims of BYODA practical guide that will get you thinking BYOD are:• Enhance the understanding of the benefits of BYOD / 1:1 Learning, ICT and technology in the school

improvement process.

• Provide practical information on what needs to be considered before any BYOD / 1:1 deployment.

• Give teachers and school leaders the confidence to embrace BYOD / 1:1 deployment by considering appropriate approaches to learning and teaching.

• Reinforce the importance of infrastructure, policy and safe and responsible use in any BYOD / 1:1 deployment.

• Encourage school leaders and teachers to consider the role of digital content (both procured and freely available).

• Improve advice on how schools and education institutes might tackle some of the common challenges encountered when trying to deploy BYOD / 1:1 learning environments.

Bring Your Own DeviceAims

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“Every turned off device is a turned off child”Professor Stephen Heppell, University of Bournemouth

BYOD or Bring Your Own Device is the simple idea that young people and school staff are allowed to bring their own Internet enabled device into school and use it to help them work, learn and (if appropriate) socialise.

The impact of this very simple concept is three fold:

Firstly, it increases the amount of devices in schools that can be used to enhance learning.

Secondly, it avoids unnecessary spending on hardware resources, and this finance can then be re-directed to other areas of ICT development within the school.

Thirdly, it avoids the ‘doubling’ or sometimes ‘tripling’ up on devices, where a computer is redundant for much of the day because it is either at school, at home or hidden in your pocket.

However, for what may seem like such a simple idea there are a lot of barriers (organisational, pedagogical, technical and cultural) that will need to be overcome to ensure the success of BYOD in schools.

Bring Your Own DeviceChapter 1: What is BYOD?



When we look at how technology has transformed education, it is useful to look at it in a number of stages. Anthony Salcito, the VP of Education Wordwide at Microsoft, describes this from a traditional (industrialised) approach, through the automated and access age, to an age of holistic transformationi.

In many countries across the world, we will move to ubiquitous 1:1 (one computer per child) learning environments within the next 5 - 10 years. Some countries such as Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey and Venezuela are already amongst the early adopters, and other schools systems will follow in a domino type affect.

In a climate where we are very much expected to do ‘more’ with ‘less’, it is likely that many large-scale device deployments will be based around the BYOD model. Preparing for the next educational technology paradigm shift must be seen as one of the highest priorities of any school, state or education system.

However, as we know from failed technology initiatives of the past, the technology itself will not be enough to drive the holistic transformation that is needed within many school systems. Infrastructure, good pedagogical practice, school leadership and teacher professional learning are all key ingredients for success.

For the schools and systems that get this right, BYOD and 1:1 computing has the potential to unlock the wonders of an education future that we are only just starting to imagine, such as data driven personalisation, learning analytics, seamless collaboration, rich meta-tagged content, stage-not-age assessment and technology enhanced reflective practice.

We hope that within this eBook we can start you on your journey of working towards this future.

The big picture (educational transformation)

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Education TransitionsFUTURE

HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATION

ACCESS AGE Now - 3 years

AUTOMATION AGE 90’s - Now

TRADITIONAL Industrial Revolution

NUI, Natural Language, Immersive learning, anywhere anytime connectivity

Data driven personalisation, elevated technology, integration, rich content

1:1 student to technology advice, ubiquitous digital learning

Traditional paradigma replicated with technology... move to digital

Lecture based, content controlled by educator, content and assessment model



By its very definition, BYOD includes a variety of devices, and should not be confined to just laptop computers, tablet, hybrid or smartphone technology.

BYOD may include the following:

Laptop computers are portable computers that can be used with or without the Internet (eg: Windows 8 Ultrabook).

Netbook computers are portable computers that gain most of their functionality through the Internet (eg: Classmate PC).

Smartphones continue to blur the lines between actually being phones and being powerful Internet enabled devices that link to the Internet through wifi but also cellular networks such as 3G and 4G (eg: Windows Phone 8).

Tablet Computers fall somewhere in between laptop-like computers and large smartphones, all are wifi enabled but some also allow for 3G and 4G connectivity.

Hybrid Computers are touch screen computers that also have a keyboard. The computer can be used as both a tablet and a laptop. Sometimes the keyboards are detachable (eg: Dell’s Windows 8 XPS Duo 12)

Why go BYOD?Generally speaking there are three main reasons why you may decide to develop BYOD within your school or education institution. These reasons are described below and overleaf.

Student familiarityIf you own your device it is very likely that you will know how it works and what it can do. In short, this means that, from a learning perspective, you lose less time getting students to understand and wrestle with the hardware and gain more time on focused learning.

The Device

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Bridge between formal and informal learningMost people agree that one way of improving education is to progress towards a model where students can access learning anytime and anywhere. This is one of the components of holistic education transformation mentioned previously. One of the barriers to this adoption is that many students perceive there to be a difference between learning in school and learning at home.

This is not always helped by the fact that on-line learning content within formal education is often confined to the domain of the school network and therefore often the school computer lab.

Cloud computing and cloud storage (including services like Office 365 for Educationii) has started to change this. Learners can access their content and a range of online tools from any Internet enabled device.

Cost and sustainabilityThe adoption of BYOD obviously also includes the possibility for cost savings and we should not be ashamed to admit this. In the modern world we simply have to do ‘more’ for ‘less’. In most cases BYOD has the potential to quickly convert your school into a 1:1 Learning environment, where there is an average ratio of one Internet enabled device for each learner.

However, it is also worth noting that most schools that have been successful in BYOD have often found that their actual costs have not really been reduced. They do, however, have extra resources available to redirect towards network configurations, staff professional development and other technology projects. These efficiency savings can also be used to fund devices for learners who are not fortunate enough to have their own device or who are not allowed to bring it into school.

The important thing to remember here is that BYOD can improve learning and may reduce costs. For other cost saving ideas for education see our popular eBook on ‘Cost Savings in Education’iii .

education

KEY qUESTION:

How will you ensure that all members of your learning community (staff, students and parents) understand the advantages of 1:1 learning and BYOD?

!

The Device



Instead of talking about BYOD some educationalists such as Professor Stephen Heppelliv (University of Bournemouth) talk about BYOB which means Bring your own Browser. In this model, emphasis is not on the device itself but on the device’s ability to access and browse the Internet.

The advantage of this type of model is that young people have got a degree of choice as to what device they can use to help their learning, but the browser is the key to being able to access their learning. Windows 8 devices are ideal for this type of concept because there are so many manufacturers who produce devices (at various price points) for Windows 8. Windows 8 come pre-installed with Internet Explorer 10, which is a fast modern browser. For more information on Windows 8 in Education see our popular ‘Windows 8 in education’ eBook .

Windows To GoOne other interesting feature of Windows 8 is ‘Windows To Go’. In a nutshell ‘Windows To Go’ enables Windows 8 to boot and run from a mass storage device such as a USB flash Drive. You are literally Bringing your own Browser (although you obviously need a PC to run it on).

The basic idea of ‘Windows To Go’ is simple. Schools need to be able to manage the workspaces on which their applications are being used, but students and teachers may not want their personal computers managed for them by their schools. Borrowing an idea from virtualisation, ‘Windows To Go’ creates an environment that can be managed separately from a user’s personal environment.

With ‘Windows To Go’, both students and teachers can use the school or education authority workspace when the ‘Windows To Go’ thumb drive is plugged in and operating. It is also important to realise that ‘Windows To Go’ turns your PC into a Windows 8 machine even if you have Windows 7 running at home or on the machine that you have it running on. What is nice about this is that the experience between home and school can again become more unified.

For security reasons, if you are running ‘Windows To Go’ then you will not be able to access the local files on your hard drive. But in reality of course this doesn’t really matter. Once you have ‘Windows To Go’ up and running you can sign into it with your normal Microsoft Account. This means that you can access all of your normal Windows 8 Apps, software and cloud storage (via Office 365 education and / or SkyDrive) that have been approved by your school’s network.

Whatever type of device you decide upon you will need to give your deployment and funding model some serious thought. We discuss both of these things, along with some considerations for dealing with different devices, in the next chapter.

BYOD vs BYOB

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Bring Your Own DeviceChapter 2: BYOD / Models

“Today, your cell phone has more computer power than all of NASA back in 1969 when it sent two astronauts to the moon.” - Michio Kaku, Author


Bring Your Own Device

Unfortunately, although BYOD sounds really simple in practice in reality it is actually a lot more complicated. There will obviously be some technical issues involved in any BYOD deployment, but the main challenges will always be pedagogical.

Dealing with different devices One of the pedagogical challenges of BYOD is how do teachers manage and direct learning if the software and hardware specifications on student owned devices is different? Different schools often tackle this in different ways.

One way is to reinforce standardisation and specify that if a student is going to bring in their own device it must be a specific brand / model. However, a more modern and flexible way that really embraces the original concept and philosophy of BYOD is to allow students to bring in their own device as long as they are Internet ready. As mentioned in Chapter One, Windows 8 devices are ideal for this as there is so much choice at a variety of price points available

on the market. However, no matter what the device is, the learner experience is unified by the Windows operating system and Internet Explorer 10.

By adopting the latter approach, and by limiting the content consumption and content creation tools to those available within the browser, you can provide an inclusive, technology rich learning experience for your student’s, and at the same time give them the flexibility to drive this experience through the personalisation of their own hardware.

Hardware specificationHardware specification is important, but this should not be your starting point for any BYOD deployment.

The first thing that you need to ask yourself is ‘what do you want you students to be able to do with their devices?’ and ‘what do you want the learning to look like in a 1:1 BYOD environment?’.

For example, do you want your students to mainly use their devices for accessing content (from the

Internet or from procured resources)? Do you want your students to be able to take photographs with their devices? Do you want your students to be able to type on their devices. Do you want your students to attach peripherals (eg: a keyboard or a projector)? etc…

Once you have worked out the answers to these and other questions you can then start to consider the minimum hardware specification that you will need to implement your vision.

Chapter 2: BYOD / Models

Models

KEY qUESTIONS:

How will staff change and adapt their learning and teaching approaches to maximisethebenefitsofeverystudent having their own device?

What do you want your students to be able to do with their devices?

What do you want the learning to look like in a 1:1 environment?

What will be your minimum hardware specification?

!



Funding BYOD projects may seem quite straight forward, as students just bring their own devices into school. However, it is important to remember that some students may not have a device and some will require guidance on what to buy. There are also other considerations around insurance and warranty.

Some possible models of funding may include:

School procurement (outright) of devices that are then given to the students to own, maintain and look after. This should normally include an up-front warranty payment to cover the cost of the device for its predicted length of service.

School procurement (subsidised). Some schools have created a hybrid of the above model where students pay a small cost to buy the device from the school (eg: 25% of the total cost of the device). By doing this, students may feel that they own the device more that just being given it – this, in turn, means they are more likely to respect and look after it. Shape the Future, an initiative led by Microsoft (in partnership with Intel and RM Education in the UK), is one possible way to help

supply 1:1 tablet and laptops to UK state schools with possible savings on individual devices from around £120 to £200.

Leasing is when devices are ‘borrowed’ from a third party or manufacturer. You pay a fee each month to borrow the device. At the end of the leasing period there is normally the option to buy the device or you may even be given it depending on the terms and conditions of your leasing arrangements. Examples of leasing include RM Educational Leasingvii.

Free-for-all is when students are just allowed to bring in their own devices. In this model they would normally be expected to meet the school’s minimum hardware specification and security protocols. Schools and education institutes should also consider taking out appropriate insurance for pupils’ owned device in schools.

Whatever model you go for, making sure that you have the right policy and procedures in place will be very important. We will discuss this in more detail in the next chapter.

Chapter 2: BYOD / Models

Funding models

KEY qUESTIONS:

How will you fund your BYOD / 1:1 project?

How can you make your project sustainable over a short period of time?

!


Bring Your Own DeviceChapter 3: BYOD / Policy Considerations

“Most of what we call management consistsofmakingitdifficultfor people to get their work done.” - Peter Drucker


However you decide to implement BYOD in your school you will have a number of policy considerations to take into account. Some of these considerations are detailed in this section.

Ownership and InsuranceAs suggested in Chapter 2 of this eBook, you will need to make some decisions on the ownership of your student devices.

In pure BYOD deployments, the devices are student/family owned, but in reality things are not always this simple. It is important that if you purchase the devices as a school you have procedures in place to transfer the ownership to the student/family. You should also consider insurance for the device, both in school and out of school.

Before introducing BYOD into education, many institutes run parent briefing evenings to make sure that everyone understands their role within any deployment. These evenings can also be useful to facilitate the signing of devices over to students/families.

Responsible UseYour school should already have a policy on ICT acceptable and responsible use. However, with the introduction of BYOD it is very likely that you will need to update or adapt your policy. You need to be clear about what is, and what is not, acceptable on a school’s network, and behaviour that is expected of young people, along with any sanctions that your institute will use if the rules are broken.

As well as formal procedures, it is also useful to work directly with young people so that they can create their own rules around device use (and this should also include the use of social media). Schools that have worked with students to co-create acceptable use policies have found that they are more likely to be adhered to in the long run.

The important thing to remember about any acceptable use policy is that there is absolutely no right or wrong way to write one. Your policy needs to reflect your organisation, who you wish to communicate with and what you feel comfortable doing.

Also, as well as including BYOD in your institute’s ICT policy, you should make sure that it is included in your Learning and Teaching Policy – after all, why are we doing this in the first place if it is not to improve learning and teaching?

As mentioned above, BYOD is also likely to lead to increased use of Social Media in your school or institution, so it is also worth including this in your emerging policy. For reference, one country that is very progressive in the development of Social Media Policies in schools is Australia, in particular Victoria. They have provided some good social media guidance on their website ( justice.vic.gov.au/socialmedia)viii

Policy Considerations


Chapter 3: BYOD / Policy Considerations

KEY qUESTIONS:

What procedures will you put in place to insure your student owned devices?

Will this be the responsibility of the students / families or the school?

How will you make sure that your BYOD project is inclusive?

!


If you go for a pure BYOD roll out, there will be some students who do not have a device or whose device does not meet the minimum specification of your institute.

For 1:1 learning to be successful, you must ensure that there is equality of access. This means that you are likely to have to put systems in place to ensure that students/families who do not have their own device can be provided with one, or are provided with some capital funding to purchase their own device. It is important that you have clear guidance on this to ensure that children are not deprived of their digital entitlement, but also to make sure that the model you are proposing for your school is financially sustainable in the long term.

Some schools, for example, allow students to sign a range of devices out of the school library in the same way that they might sign out a book or game. The library (or learning centre) can also double up as a location where you can get your devices serviced or get training on a specific piece of software or an App. In the most successful examples these ‘service desks’ are run by senior students.

Shape the Futureix (already mentioned in chapter 2), an initiative led by Microsoft (in partnership with Intel and RM Education in the UK), is one possible way to help supply 1:1 tablets and laptops to UK state schools with possible savings on individual devices from around £120 to £200. What is great about this particular programme is that the hardware comes bundled with some great education software such as Microsoft Office Professional and Kodu game maker.

Network accessWe discuss network access, safety and security more in section six of this eBook. However, it is very important that you have a clear network policy on what devices you are going to allow and when you are going to allow devices to be connected to your school network.

Equality of access



KEY qUESTIONS:

How will you make sure that your BYOD project is inclusive?

What will you do about the learners who do not have their own device?

CouldyourschoolbenefitfromMicrosoft’sShape the Future Initiative?

!


This is an area that is often over-looked the most during any BYOD or 1:1 deployments. It is, however, the most important aspect of any large technology deployment like this. By creating a policy related to continuous teacher professional development, you will formalise the training within your staff team.

Professional development should include both technical and pedagogical training. It should also include a blend of face-to-face (expert and/or peer led) and on-line learning. Staff should be given as many opportunities as possible to share ideas and learn from each other’s practice.

Microsoft Partners in Learning (PiL)x is a 10-year-old, almost 500 million dollar, global initiative aimed at improving teaching and learning. Since 2003, it has led the way in partnering with education professionals, helping nearly 8 million educators and reaching more than 190 million students in 114 countries. At the heart of PiL is the Partners in Learning Network, an online professional development community that helps educators

and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so that students can realise their greatest potential. For more information on PiL join the online discussion today at www.pil-network.com

The focus on Learning and Teaching is really important in any BYOD project, and this is discussed in more detail in the next section of this eBook.

Teacher professional development



“Staff should be given as many opportunities as

possible to share ideas”



Chapter 4: Focus on pedagogy

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power needed inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” - J.K. Rowling, Writer

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power needed inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” - J.K. Rowling, Writer


There is no doubt about it that, if you allow every child in your school, class or district / local authority access to their own Internet enabled device, your normal model for learning and teaching is likely to change.

It is important that teachers have thought about what this new type of pedagogy might look like before any large scale BYOD or 1:1 deployment. If you have not done this then the technology is more likely to become a distraction to learning rather than have the transformational impact that it could have.

When we consider what Teaching and Learning might look like in a BYOD / 1:1 environment, it is important that we focus on what makes learning good, and how technology can improve the learning and teaching process, rather than just focusing on the technology and then trying to think about how it might be used.

The concept of Exciting Learning (which is covered in one of our other Microsoft Education UK eBooks) captures some of the components that makes learning engaging for young people.

For learning to be successful it needs to:

• Be culturally relevant• Include real-time Interaction• Provide different learning pathways• Showcase learning achievements through authentic audience• Be accessible to all

Teaching and Learning



KEY qUESTIONS:

How can you use technology to make learning more culturally relevant to your learners?

How can you use technology to include more real-time interaction in your classroom?

How can you use technology to provide different pathways for students’ work and motivate learners though choice?

How can you use technology to share with a web-based audience and provide authentic feedback to students’ work?

How can you use technology to improve accessibility for learning?

!

Bring Your Own DeviceChapter 4: Focus on pedagogy


Teaching and LearningExciting Learning Principal Description In Practice

Culturally relevant Learners learn best when they can see the point of what they are learning and how it is related to them. We can also help them engage with their learning more by using tools that they like to use.

Luckily for us, technology is highly culturally relevant at the moment, and BYOD / 1:1 learning opportunities are likely to motivate your students.In particular BYOD offers opportunities for using technology in both interesting and engaging ways, such as using social media, using computer games and making extensive use of web based creation tools (such as digital video editing, sound and image manipulation).

Include real-time Interaction

Learners like it when teachers use information that is current and up-to-date. They also like it when they can engage with real people either face-to-face or via video conference.

BYOD gives learners opportunities to connect individually with experts in real-time using web based video conferencing technology such as Skype in the Classroom or Microsoft Lync (which comes free as part of Office 365 for Education). Ubiquitous access to the internet also gives learners an opportunity to individually explore and manipulate a wide variety of up-to-date data and news information.

Provide different learning pathways

Learners like to have a choice of output. Sometimes it is this choice of output that can be incredibly motivating as it gives an end point for people to aim towards.

For example, in writing tasks BYOD offers learners opportunities to individually present their work in a number of different ways (rather than just a hand-written essay). Perhaps for example they turn their writing into a video production (using Windows Live Movie Maker), or a podcast (Microsoft Songsmith), or a presentation (using Microsoft PowerPoint), or a newspaper report (using Microsoft Word) or a digital poster (using Microsoft Publisher).

Showcase learning achievements through authentic audience

Learners like to have work that they are proud of showcasing to people who they care about. Authentic audience is an important aspect of motivation.

BYOD means that it is very easy for learners to publish their work to the web for others to see and provide feedback on. Using Office 365 for Education it is possible to do this in a safe and secure way where learners can choose who gets to see their work and who doesn’t.

Accessible to all Learners need to be able to learn in a variety of places at a variety of times. This includes in school, at home and everywhere in between. Technology can also make learning accessible for learners who have additional support needs.

BYOD helps to blend the learning experience between home and school. This helps break down silos and enables learners to understand the connections between formal and informal learning.Students with additional support needs can also be supported via a range of accessibility Apps (such as those built into Windows 8) and software packages.

This table provides some further background on each of these principals, and also about what they might look like in the classroom in a BYOD / 1:1 Environment.


Good student assessment should use a combination of both summative and formative techniques. BYOD offers opportunities for both.

For example, summative tests can be administered to learners individually through the use of multiple-choice tests and other assessment generators such as Quiz Maker Plus for SharePoint 2010.

However, the real power of BYOD is the opportunities to build on current formative assessment practices and to provide learners with digital feedback on their work and progress.

For example, BYOD allows learners to quickly comment on other students’ digital work. It also allows students to quickly record their achievements through digital learning logs and e-portfolio solutions (such as SharePoint Blogs, which are part of Office 365 Education).

Personalisation and choicePersonalised learning includes the engagement of students through their personal interests, personal needs and personal regulation of learning.

BYOD lends itself to personalised learning experiences, as every student has their own device and is therefore free (with support) to pursue personal interests and passions.

Internet enabled devices can also be used to assist with the personal regulation of learning through a variety of built in productivity tools, such as calendar, email and tasks. As previously mentioned, BYOD can also encourage learners to self-reflect, track and be reflective on their own learning journey.

Assessment



KEY qUESTIONS:

How do you see BYOD improving your approach to both summative and formative assessment in your school?

How might BYOD / 1:1 Learning help change your whole school’s approach to personalisation and choice?

!

Bring Your Own DeviceChapter 5: Digital content


“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.” - Jimmy Wales, founder, Wikipedia


Digital content is content that is either in a digital format (eg: an eBook) or content that is accessed digitally (eg: a webpage).

There are lots of different types of digital content including:

• Websites• Digitised textbooks• Apps for Windows, iOS, Android etc.• Learning objects (e.g. interactive diagrams, concept maps, virtual dissections, calculators)• Multimedia resources (e.g. video, photos, audio files, presentations etc.)• Simulations, models and augmented reality• Visualisation of data and data sets (e.g. charts, graphs, interactive images etc.)

Source: The New Media Consortium (2010)xv

Access to digital content should be a key component of any BYOD strategy. Students should be entitled to access rich digital content on their devices both in school and at home.

There are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account when it comes to digital content, and these are mentioned in this chapter.

We have already discussed technical specification in section 2 of this eBook. However, it may be worth emphasising that, if you intend to get your students to consume a lot of content on their devices, then you need to make sure that this is as accessible as possible.

Screen size is important here, particularly if the device does not allow for screen magnification. The technical capacity of the device is also important, for example, the iPad cannot run digital content that has been developed in Flash, and many other devices might allow you to read Microsoft Office Documents but editing them is a lot more problematic.

For more information on the accessibility features of Windows Devices (including Windows 8) see www.microsoft.com/enable

LicensesIn the past, education licencing meant that digital

content could only be accessed by students and staff within their school or institution. BYOD and 1:1 projects have changed this model significantly, as, in, order to reach a model of anytime and anywhere learning, students have to be able to access material outside of the physical school buildings.

Most education publishers have now accepted the idea that students need to be able to access a variety of content on a variety of devices. In recent years they have also changed the way they distribute content from floppy disks to CDs to cloud based access. However, it is important when purchasing new materials that you read the full terms and conditions of any education license to make sure that it represents true value for money and compliments your BYOD strategy.

The Microsoft School Agreementxvi is a good example of this, as education establishments can also license all or some of their students for home use of Microsoft software through their School Agreement. When students leave the establishment, they inherit perpetual rights to use the software.

Accessibility

Chapter 5: Digital content



Privacy of both students and education staff is of great importance in ICT rich environments, particularly ones that are starting to use cloud computing technology, applications and storage solutions.

Education institutes need to ensure the security of data, such as student data and student work, and understand that security measures need to vary depending on the sensitivity of the information being stored digitally.

Some technology companies are not always up-front about where your data is stored and do not always comply to industry standards. Microsoft’s Cloud storage solution, Office 365, is compliant with many world-class industry standards (including ISO 27001 and EU Model Clauses). It is also verified by a number of 3rd parties. For more information on Office 365 Trust and Security see - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/independently-verified.aspx

Copyright

Copyright refers to the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell or distribute something.

Copyright issues are not unique to personal devices and BYOD, and the issues around trying to update copyright law to reflect the Internet-based knowledge economy are currently debated internationally.

In the meantime, sites such as Creative Commonsxvii have sprung up. Creative Commons is a U.S.-based, non-profit organisation established to minimise barriers represented by dated copyright laws applied to digital content.

Whereas the traditional copyright laws provide authors with ‘all rights reserved,’ Creative Commons copyright licenses provide legal language that individual creators can use to ensure ownership, while at the same time providing users with additional rights. For example, Creative Commons licenses allow the author to give users the right to copy, distribute,

edit, remix and build upon the original work, all within the bounds of copyright law.

Legally, it is the responsibility of the user to be knowledgeable about the copyright law that applies to digital content and digital materials. In schools, the expectation that students will adhere to copyright laws is addressed through an acceptable or responsible use policy (see section 3) that are often signed by students and their parents/guardians.

Source: Bring your Own Device: A Guide to Schools, Alberta Education (2012)xviii

Privacy

Chapter 5: Digital content


KEY qUESTIONS:

Depending on the type of digital content that you want your students to access, will this have an impact on your hardware specification?(seesection2).Forexample,ifyou require your students to consume a lot of digital content, what will your minimum recommended screen size be?

Does the digital content that you want students to access require Adobe Flash?

!

Bring Your Own DeviceChapter 6: Access and infrastructure


“There is no doubt that, for this next decade and beyond, broadband infrastructure will be as relevant to economic progress as roads and transportation, including effective rail and air links”. - John F McClelland C.B.E.

“There is no doubt that, for this next decade and beyond, broadband infrastructure will be as relevant to economic progress as roads and transportation, including effective rail and air links”. - John F McClelland C.B.E.



Allowing students to bring in and use their own devices in schools will not be enough on its own to transform learning. Indeed, many BYOD and other 1:1 learning projects have failed across the world because, although the devices have been put in place, the bandwidth and infrastructure have not been adequate to support them.

Infrastructure and bandwidth are particularly important in BYOD deployments because most of the content that students will be required to access, and the content that they will be required to create, will be web based. Having wireless infrastructure in your school is not enough on its own – many schools around the world already have this. But, by moving to BYOD you are also moving to a computing ratio of at least 1:1 (some students and teachers will want to be logged onto your network with more than one device). This is likely to put significantly more pressure on your institute’s network than the current amount of devices that you have connected.

Infrastructure and BandwidthKEY qUESTIONS:

Alberta Education outlines a number of key questions to ask related to wireless technologies and BYOD deployments:

•What are the projected requirements per student/staff?

•What is the current wireless capacity and configuration?Whatisthenumberofsupported users per access point? Can you manage the network centrally?

•What is the gap in bandwidth? Wired network capacity? Wireless coverage? Networkconfiguration?Howwillyou close the gap in the short-term?

•What will the network look like in the long-term?

•What will be your projected adoption rate, i.e. growth rate among students with personally owned devices and subsequent upgrading of your infrastructure?

•What model will your school or school authority use for recharging personally owned devices?

KEY qUESTIONS:

Should students be allowed to use devices that bypass the school authority’s network and use other networks (e.g. 3G & 4G) through mobile plans privately supported on their devices?

! Minimum Bandwidth

Answering the question of minimum bandwidth is a tricky one as there cannot be a one-size-fits all model. For example some schools will be bigger than others, and at certain ages and stages within a school it is likely that students will use different types of digital technology than may or may not be more bandwidth heavy that other tools and services (eg: online video editing vs reading a text heavy web page).

!



Safety and Security Safety and Security around BYOD can really be split into two categories.

Firstly, there is physical safety and security. Schools need to carefully consider what procedure they will put in place if a student-owned device is stolen or damaged. This should include at school and at home as well as the journey between the two.

Secondly, there is network safety and security. Schools need to consider how this may be managed.

A global study of IT & IT security practitioners by the Ponemon Institute (2012) on mobility risks offers some advice into the most preferred technologies for mitigating BYOD security risks, which included:

• Device-level encryption• Endpoint security solution• Identity and access management• Anti-virus/anti-malware• Mobile device management

The table overleaf (from The Consortium of Schools Networking ) outlines a number of the ways that schools may tackle some of the challenges of managing some of these BYOD perceived security risks and their possible advantages.

“Schools need to carefully consider what procedure they will put in place if a student-owned device is stolen or damaged”.



Source: The Consortium of Schools Networking

Whatever solution (if any) you choose to adopt, it is important that network managers have a healthy balance between protecting the user and making sure that safety and security measure that are put in place do not impact in the quality of the learning experience.

Solutions AdvantagesWireless Authentication An easy, self-service way for users to connect to the secure network for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android users.Federated Identity Management A method of authenticating and authorising access to, or use of, network resources, based on users’ roles or attributes, with single

sign-on to multiple local and remote resources.NAC (Network Access Control) A method of automating endpoint security with authentication, authorisation and provision of network resources to devices, with

restrictions on the resources each user can access, plus anti-threat applications such as firewalls, antivirus and malware detection, and remediation applications.

VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) A VLAN allows network segmentation and separate staff and student (or “guest”) access ports. The guest port does not allow access to protected network resources.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) Another way of controlling access to the network, segregating traffic and authenticating users, a VPN uses virtual connections routed through the Internet from the network to the mobile device.

Virtual Desktop A school-sanctioned desktop provided to all capable devices that access the school’s network. Policy-based access control gives users encrypted access to desktops, applications and valuable intellectual property from anywhere while eliminating the risk of data theft or loss.

Remote Desktop A way of isolating devices and abstracting/controlling access via remote sign-on from mobile devices to virtualised desktops.Mobile Device Management Applications from different vendors offer various ways to help schools manage personal devices, such as segregating personal

from institutional data, encrypting data, remote wiping of data from lost or stolen devices, gauging the “trustworthiness” of devices, distributing apps, and approving (or disapproving) the use of new apps.

Security and risks table

Bring Your Own DeviceConclusion

This document has been written to get those who are considering implementing BYOD or other 1:1 strategies in their schools thinking about what a successful roll out might look like in practice.

For BYOD (or BYOB) to be successful, permission for students to bring in their own devices is not enough on its own (although it is a good start!). In practice, permission is only part of the overall solution that must also include some or all of the following.

LEADERSHIP is the key to any successful technology deployment combined with the vision of how to improve education and at the same time driven by strong personal values and a real desire to effect change.

A lone vision can be revolutionary but a SHARED vISION will be needed in order to be transformational. This vision needs to be shared between school managers, teaching staff, students and the wider school community (including parents and outside agencies).

Strategy will be needed to ensure that your technology deployment gets translated from your shared vision into reality.

PEDAGOGY needs to be at the heart of what you are trying to do. Teaching and learning should look very different in a BYOD / 1:1 environment. If it looks the same then you have got something badly wrong and need to re-visit your strategy.

Quality PROFESSIONAL DEvELOPMENT that combines face-to-face with online training and reflection opportunities will be needed to ensure that staff embrace new pedagogies and new approaches to classroom management.

RESPONSIBLE USE POLICIES will also be required for all those involved in your project.

INFRASTRUCTURE is the thing that will bind your project together. You can have all the devices in the world, but if you can’t connect them to the Internet, or if connecting multiple devices makes your network speeds painfully slow, then you need to re-visit your overall strategy.

Part of your infrastructure arrangements should also include access to quality DIGITAL CONTENT which will help all users make the most out of your BYOD / 1:1 environment.

Finally, no large-scale technology project is the same. Only through the SHARING OF GOOD AND INTERESTING PRACTICE WITH OTHERS about strategy, devices, pedagogy, Infrastructure, network and security will we eventually develop systems that are truly cost effective and have a transformative impact on learning and teaching.


Bring Your Own DeviceAcknowledgements


A huge thank you to the following people who have influenced my practice and thinking on these issues over the years. In no particular order…

• Anthony Salcito , Vice President of Education for Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Public Sector Organisation• Louise Jones, Highland Council, Scotland• David Gilmour, East Lothian Council, Scotland• Andrew Brown, Education Scotland• Derek Robertson, Education Scotland• Charlie Love, Aberdeen City Council, Scotland• Gillian Penny, Apple Education (UK)• Professor Stephen Heppell, Bournemouth University and Heppell.net

Also a huge thank you to Stuart Ball and Tim Bush at Microsoft UK for encouraging me to turn my blog rambling to eBook ramblings.

Note: The above acknowledgements in no way indicate that the aforementioned people have acknowledged or endorsed the contents of the eBook.



Bring Your Own DeviceReferences


i Reflections from Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum 2011 – Anthony Salcito (VP Microsoft Education, Worldwide) Keynote Presentation - http://goo.gl/T8Qbk

ii Microsoft 365 for Education - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/education/school-services.aspx

iii Cost Savings in Education ebook, Microsoft UK (2012) - http://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/cost-savings-in-education

iv Professor Stephen Heppell – www.heppell.net

v Windows 8 in Education ebook, Microsft UK (2012) - http://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/windows-8-in-education-ebook

vi Microsoft Shape the Future - http://www.microsoft.com/publicsector/ ww/programs/shape-the-future/Pages/index.aspx

viiRM Education Leasing - http://goo.gl/235pS

vii Victorian Government (Australia): Guidance on Social Media Policy - http://goo.gl/fQCV4

ix Microsoft Shape the Future - http://www.microsoft.com/publicsector/ ww/programs/shape-the-future/Pages/index.aspx

x Microsoft Partners in Learning – www.pil-network.com

xi Exciting Learning, Microsoft (2012) - http://goo.gl/SRNa3

xii Skype in the Classroom - https://education.skype.com

xiii Quiz Maker Plus for SharePoint 2010 - http://goo.gl/NNnOX

xiv The origin of the term personalisation of learning came from a definition by James Keefe (1989) “a systematic effort on the part of a school to take into account individual student characteristics and effective instructional practices in organizing the learning environment.”

xv The New Media Consortium - http://www.nmc.org

xvi Microsoft Schools Agreement (Licencing for Schools) - http://goo.gl/5dswY

xvii Creative Commons - http://creativecommons.org

xviiihttp://education.alberta.ca/media/6749210/byod%20guide%20revised%202012-09-05.pdf

xix Poneman Institute. (February 2012). Global Study on Mobility Risks. Survey of IT and IT Security Practitioners - http://www.websense.com/content/ponemon-institute-research-report-2012.aspx?cmpid=prblog

xx Safe and Secure: Managing the Risks of Personal Devices, Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) – 2012 [members only document]

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