SMITH'S HILL HIGH SCHOOL BYOD
ABOUT BYOD
Do you remember how classrooms used to be during your school days? The blackboard, the whiteboard, teachers using chalk to impart the lesson; you being given paper copies or writing down notes with your pen. Blackboards, chalk, and paper copies are fast becoming more and more irrelevant every day that passes by, thanks to the advance in technology.
Schools are using technology at a brisk pace; and to make technology an integral part of the classroom, they are implementing the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy.
Smith’s Hill High School developed a BYOD Policy in 2014, to best meet the teaching & learning needs of the school. BYOD was introduced to students at the commencement of Term 1, 2015 and with immediate effect BYOD devices were being connected to the Wi-Fi network and incorporated in the student curriculum and lesson plans.
As a school we have endeavoured to provide parents and students with the maximum amount of choice in the selection of a device. Devices purchased for use at school need to be portable, robust and have sufficient battery life to operate for an entire school day.
While we have not gone down the path of specifying particular devices, brands or models, we would encourage you to compare the products on offer from all computer manufacturers before purchasing a device that suites your student, family or both.
Please read the Smith’s Hill High School BYOD Device Specification prior to selecting a device. Please note this specification document is to be used as a guide only.
Some considerations when choosing an appropriate device may include; screen size, processor speed, RAM, storage capacity, battery life and weight; keeping in mind that the device is large enough to work on, small enough to fit in a school bag and not be too heavy to carry.
The most important advantage that BYOD offers is the comfort of using one’s own device. It may be easy for schools to install their own devices, but that wouldn’t help the cause; when students bring their own devices to school, they bring something familiar with them. This means that they can use it without hassle and are able to focus more easily on the lesson, as they don't have to think about handling completely unknown devices.
These days you can find many tech-inclined students who love their devices more than anything else; that’s why students remain glued to these devices around the clock. Using these devices to impart lessons is a great way to leverage students' love for their devices. This is expected to be more effective than the traditional chalk and blackboard method of teaching.
The advancements in the field of technology have helped to introduce many types of devices. Many of them have features which were hard to imagine even only a few years back. All these are not only making the process of absorbing lessons easier for students, but also helping to retain them longer.
Using technology in classrooms has become widespread and BYOD is being dubbed as the upcoming revolution that the world of education is expected to experience in the not to distant future.