Bring+Your+Own+Technology+(BYOT)

=**Description **=


 * Definition**

It is a policy enforced by schools or companies that encourages students or employees to use their personal electronic devices for work. It is a developing phenomenon to cut infrastructure cost.

Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a fairly new policy that is being implemented by many school districts across the country. The policy allows students and staff to bring their own personal electronic devices for use in the classroom. These devices might include laptops, tablets and mobile phones. A BYOT policy requires a district to provide a wireless network for their students and staff to access with their personal devices. With this policy districts may still need to supply supplemental devices for students who may not have a device of their own. However, the policy typically allows districts to keep their costs down because not all students need a school provided device

It originated from startup companies where the employees had their personal electronic devices like smartphones, tablets and laptop and they did not want to invest on technical infrastructure. The employees did a research to cut cost and increase the revenue and found that by using their personal electronic devices with some additional upgraded securities they can cut infrastructure investment capital. This reduced overall IT cost and increased productivity as employees can even use the personal electronic devices at home to continue working. Looking at different aspects of the new trend companies started financing their employees to purchase their own device and use for work. For Instance, Kraft Food, finances the employees so that they can use the electronic devices at work.
 * History**

=Purpose =

WHY BYOT?

 * Applications accessed by a web browser, like Google Docs, eliminate the need to have specific software loaded onto every student computer.
 * Cloud based computing allows students to access their information from any computer with a web browser.
 * The current economic times require unique strategies to ensure every student has equitable access to online resources.

21 Century Learning
Equitable access to technology will aid students in becoming...
 * information producers rather than information consumers.
 * self-directed learners and collaborative team players

.[]


 * How does BYOD helps ?**
 * Cost Saving
 * Increased productivity and innovation
 * Employee satisfaction
 * Unlimited access to personal devices
 * BYOD devices are generally cutting edge which helps the organization benefit from the latest features and capabilities


 * What are the concerns related to BYOD ?**
 * Implementing security and defining policy
 * Compliance and ownership of data used and accessed from the personal electronic device
 * For the users: restriction placed on the device can be a turn-off
 * Privacy of the users personal device since it is monitored by the company
 * Support staff of company should have knowledge of all the different available devices

=Strengths, Weaknesses, Considerations=

Strengths

 * Increases Student engagement
 * Can save school districts money
 * Many resources available

Weaknesses

 * Not all students have available devices
 * May cause problems if not implemented properly

Considerations

 * Schools must have devices for students who may not have their own
 * Teachers may not be comfortable with new devices

=Leading resources for use with a BYOT Policy=


 * Student response and polling program [|Socrative]
 * Note organization program [|Evernote]
 * Student response and polling program [|Poll Everywhere]
 * QR cod generator [|QR code generator]
 * Movie creation program [|Animoto]
 * Mass text program [|Remind101]

=Implementation resources=


 * 5 Best practices for BYOT[| Link]
 * BYOT best practices [|Link]

Some questions?
These are some questions that the students and parents may want to know about the BYOT policies of the school
 * Can I bring my personal device?
 * How much is the cost difference between the institution device and my device?
 * Can I use the institution software on my personal device?
 * Is there a guest network available for parents?
 * What are the policies o inappropriate use of the device in the classroom?
 * Can somebody else borrow my device for their use?
 * Will the school give me storage space for my files and school work
 * While using a personal device How can I distinguish my personal data and work data?
 * What kind of technical help is available to the students?
 * What kind of technical help is available to the parents?
 * Can we rent the device for the school year?
 * Can teachers restrict the student's use of device in their classroom?

Case studies
Every school district wants to see how to implement BYOT in their schools. Before they implement it is better to take a look at some case studies that have already taken the steps. We can understand their practical struggles in the classroom. Once we know the challenges it is easy to put that challenges in the planning. This helps us avoid pit falls at the planing stage itself. So Let us look at some schools' or teachers story and BYOT. [| Senica vally school]district has recently created a pilot program. They have four elementary schools and two middle schools. For each the teachers have blogs that explain their experiences with BYOT. It creates awareness among the teachers. This site also gives resources for the teachers that they can use. [|BYOT Blog] is another blog that explains a teacher's view on bringing BYOT to class. This blog only talks about BYOT. This blog is written by Angela Gula. BYOT? Bring it on is another site that has more information that can help us create great BYOT policy for schools. This blog list some of the case studies here. Family Online safety institute also provides more information on BYOT safety Policies. This site also provides the positive side of BYOT. Lisa Nielsen is an author. I have read her book on teaching. Her blog has also have so many ideas that will help the instructors of all kind.