Bring Your Own Devices to Class

The current generation of students has grown up with technology and want to use it in every aspect of their daily lives — including school. They have an expectation that the same technology they use at home will be available at school too.Although BYOD is really about delivering education in new ways, saving money is an important objective.

With the students using their own mobile devices in the classroom, schools can save money on technology costs. My school does not need to spend a fortune trying to keep up with all the coolest technology that can be used for education these days, if students are allowed to use their own mobile devices. Thanks to the mass consumerization of technology, students are now some of the most enthusiastic and savvy users of state-of-the-art mobile computing devices.

They keep their beloved mobile devices on them at all times, and are not just using them to communicate with friends or download music. In fact, they use technology to study or work on homework assignments and they believe that mastering the latest technology skills will improve
their educational and career opportunities.

As soon as your students get the go-ahead, you will see the mobile devices come flooding into your classroom instantly. This generation of students is very tech-savvy and they absolutely adore their mobile devices. Using them is second nature to them and trust me, they have multiples.

Bring Your Own Devices To Class

The current generation of students has grown up with technology and want to use it in every aspect of their daily lives including school. They have an expectation that the same technology they use at home will be available at school too.Although BYOD is really about delivering education in new ways, saving money is an important objective.

With the students using their own mobile devices in the classroom, schools can save money on technology costs. My school does not need to spend a fortune trying to keep up with all the coolest technology that can be used for education these days, if students are allowed to use their own mobile devices. Thanks to the mass consumerization of technology, students are now some of the most enthusiastic and savvy users of state-of-the-art mobile computing devices.

They keep their beloved mobile devices on them at all times, and are not just using them to communicate with friends or download music. In fact, they use technology to study or work on homework assignments and they believe that mastering the latest technology skills will improve
their educational and career opportunities.

As soon as your students get the go-ahead, you will see the mobile devices come flooding into your classroom instantly. This generation of students is very tech-savvy and they absolutely adore their mobile devices. Using them is second nature to them and trust me, they have multiples.

The Internet, as a communication medium and an interaction platform, is rapidly changing the face of  education. As Internet-based online teaching gains popularity, it has led to the emergence of new educational approaches such as problem-based learning as well as transference and transformation of established teaching practices from traditional classrooms to online environments.

Instead of working face-to-face in groups, online collaboration takes a distributed form. Students from diverse geographical locations form virtual groups and rely on Internet communication technologies to coordinate group processes and carry out group activities.Group interactions are mediated by computer networks. While students are afforded flexibility and new ways of interacting, their group processes and interactive behaviors are also constrained by technical features and functions of the supporting system available in the Internet-based learning environment at the same time.

How can I 'break down the walls of my classroom' without actually having to incur great expenses or construction costs?

An expansion of virtual learning opportunities can provide solutions to some intractable education issues and contribute to schools improving their effectiveness in preparing students for working and living in an increasing globalised and interconnected world.
Once virtual learning is brought to scale, and there is a deeper understanding of the learning and teaching practices associated with this learning approach, it can contribute substantially to solving the following  issues:

Restricted curriculum provision – by giving all students access to the full range of curriculum and to an ever-expanding range of enrichment activities at any time and just about anywhere.

Advancing teacher capability – by enabling excellent teachers to reach more students and enabling teachers to learn from their peers.

The plateauing in learning outcomes – by enabling all students to experience instruction that is delivered by the combination of excellent teaching and excellent online instructional materials.

Learning spaces and the personal learning environments

Evaluating the use of technology in a classroom environment is not something most administrators

are trained to do. It is easy to walk into a classroom and see that every student is using a

computer, but how do you really assess if and what type of learning is taking place?
 I am not advocating that every lesson should use technology or that every lesson should try to

answer “New things in New ways”. However, it is good to know just how the technology is being

used. There is nothing wrong with only using an LCD projector, or Google Earth to visit a battle

site. I get excited when I see both of those things happening in a classroom. I just think it is

good to put it into perspective just what impact the technology is having on teaching and

learning. If a teacher is only ever ‘dabbling’ or doing ‘Old things in Old ways’ then a

conversation can start about how to move the use of technology to a deeper more meaningful level

within the classroom.
It is great to see teachers using technology in their lessons during an evaluation. It is even

more informative if you can evaluate at what level that technology is effecting learning. Is it a

replacement for the way we do things or is it something completely new and pushes both the

students and teacher to new heights, new learning, and new knowledge?

Recently, a number of our schools (a very small number) have entered the stage of doing other old

things in new ways. Now, it begins to get a little more interesting.

"I used to have to tell my students about phenomena, or have them read; now I can explain to them

practically. When we begin adding digital demonstrations through video and Flash animation, we

are giving students new, better ways to get information.

As education moves well into the 21st century, the ways in which we learn and the things we use

to learn with, including technology, are constantly changing and evolving. One of the most far-

reaching changes is the easy and increasingly inexpensive access to information technology.

Personalized Learning Environments and Technology

There are many advantages of using PLEs in teaching but two of the most important are students

gaining the ability to use Web technologies and the using of personalized learning environments

to peak student interest.
The 21st century is challenging old notions of learning spaces.

The idea that students must be seated at desks working in rows is quickly becoming archaic.

Technology and collaborative work environments are changing the design of learning spaces.

The classroom is a vehicle for getting students from where they are when they enter the

schoolhouse door to where they need to be an academic year later. Ideally, we all would like to

see at least one year of progress for one year of seat time.

In talking about classroom management and student achievement, it may help to think of the

teacher as the driver of the car who needs to respond to the passengers' needs in order to ensure

that they reach their destination.

Wikis are an excellent platform for team collaboration, especially in today's climate of distance learning, transcontinental collaboration, and busy schedules. Although the new technology may be challenging to learn and apply for some people, wikis offer many amenities for collaborative teams, such as document repositories, directories, scheduling capabilities, and meeting documents. These amenities ensure that all team members have access to the group's documents and information in one location, but also allow the user to designate the wiki as a members-only forum to ensure privacy.

In my opinion there is a lot to learn about how Writing for the Web can help increase motivation for writing and help students learn how to adapt their texts for different audiences, tasks, and purposes. Below are some of the points that outline the effectiveness of wikis in class;

Focus on High Level Thinking

Wikis are becoming a popular tool in learning because they involve high-level thinking and information skills.

Collaborative Learning. Wikis allow learners to participate in a project larger than them. Participants are able to learn from each other and expand their thinking about a topic by working as a team. In addition, it's easy to go back and track who, did what, when.

Inquiry. Wikis involve learners in asking increasingly sophisticated questions related to their topic. After the initial excitement about the topic and exploration of essential questions, learners begin to assimilate new information and draw inferences. This leads to reflection and additional questions. This recursive process leads to increasing complex questions, more in-depth analysis, and deeper understandings. These abstract connections can be made more concrete for learners through the creation of wikis. Features such as hyperlinks allow contributors to share their mental linkages among pieces of information.

Information Organization. Wikis encourage learners to think about how information can be organized to maximize understanding. For example, wikis can use alphabetical, chronological, hierarchical, geographical, or thematic approaches. Some people use outlines or visual maps (i.e., cluster map, flowchart, and mind map) for organization. Others design around regional locations, events, characters, key words, genre, categories, or other ways of thinking about a topic.

The flexible structure of wikis in particular offers a new format for collaboration. A number of studies have investigated the impact of wiki use upon student collaboration during group work in higher education. More specifically, wiki use has been found to both improve the efficiency of group work and the quality of interactions between students in a group. 

In addition to the largely positive picture the literature paints of wiki use for improving collaboration between students (and teachers); there is a good deal of attention given to the benefits of wikis for students’ writing. First, writing in a wiki sometimes appears to change the students’ understanding of themselves as authors.

Arguably, the role of wikis in encouraging critical thinking and self-reflection sits well with constructivist theories of learning. Wikis highlight the importance of shared meanings: ‘the wiki becomes both a tool for choice and action.