I am so thankful for our district that allows students to bring their own digital device. Even though we have iPads in our classroom, students still bring XOOMS, Kindle Fires, Kindles, Smartphones, and iPod touches.
What really impresses me is that students KNOW when to use them for educational purposes. See how this student utilizes a Kindle Fire (which I mistakenly took for a XOOM, sorry about that!).
So many great people on Twitter ( @jcrawf04 @chadkafka @g5changeagent21 @jbrogley @robkmil @eduvulture @marmaladelibby @KristinStrauman @ryanorilio @Taml17 @andrew_mcgovern ) retweeted, favorited, followed, asked questions and/or responded to the BYOD information from above, so I thought I would expand on our district's process and policies.
- ALL parents must register their students for each school year through a web-based program called SKYWARD (no plug for them, just saying)
- During this process they must sign up for everything - we DO not handle any paper work for this process.
- In this process, parents accept a number of forms if they so choose.
- Personal Wireless Electronic Device Policy
- Acceptable Use Policy - Students
- Acceptable Use Policy - Community & Staff
After students and parents sign off on the Wireless Electronic Device Policy and Acceptable Use Policy, student users will be added to the PSD Mobile network. The PSD Mobile is a "log in" network which students log in by using their GAFE log in as they would do on any wired computer that the district owns. This allows for our district to monitor the internet traffic and ensure the filtering settings while students are using the district's network.
What a teacher (me) has found:
- For the most part, students use the internet educationally
- When they don't, they lose access during school
- Students hate when their classmates have access and they don't
