Along with our October/November Quick Poll on the topic, K-12 Computing Blueprint looks at some of the pros and cons of student-owned devices.

By Judy Salpeter

One can't attend a conference or read a magazine about educational technology these days without stumbling upon a conversation about "bring your own" options. Whether you call it BYOD (bring your own device), BYOT (bring your own technology), or simply "student-owned devices," the idea is to shift the purchasing responsibility and ownership of laptops and other hardware to families. And it's an idea that's taking off at an amazing rate!

In settings such as Michigan's Walled Lake Consolidated School District (see the techlearning.com article on this program or view a recent YouTube video) BYO involves laptop computers purchased by families from a vendor partnering with the district—or independently from another provider of laptops that meet a fairly standardized set of district requirements.

In the Forest Hills School District in Cincinnati, Ohio (see http://fhsdppl.wetpaint.com) parents are given more purchasing leeway, within certain parameters; all the devices currently in use are laptops, tablets and netbooks. And then there are the programs such as those described in The New One-to-One (SchoolCIO) that allow for an even broader range of devices, incorporating smart phones and other handheld devices into the mix in order to arrive at what Doug Levin of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) refers to as "high-access computing."

Why (or Why Not) to BYO

Why the explosion of interest in BYO? When K12 Computing Blueprint polled our audience in December and January about your likelihood to adopt BYO, the answer that we heard most was the one you'd expect—because it saves money. "With the economy in dire straits and public school offerings negatively affected by that each year," wrote one respondent, "it seems that BYO may be the only way we can offer our students the best education possible." 

Or as another respondent put it, "Without consideration of BYO, and especially during this time of financial stress on education, we are ignoring the available resources for instruction." But is cost-cutting the only reason schools are moving towards BYO technology? Are there other benefits to encouraging families to purchase the devices students will use at school?

And what are the drawbacks? Plenty, according to Gary Stager, whose blog posting
BYOD—Worst Idea of the 21st Century? lists several reasons he believes BYO (especially BYO approaches involving phones or other handheld devices) is a reckless idea. They include:
* BYOD enshrines inequity;
* Real people want a computer not a device;
* BYOD increases teacher anxiety;
* It is miseducative to make important educational decisions based on price!
* BYOD contributes to the growing narrative that education is not worthy of investment.

Take the Quick Poll

How do you feel about BYO? Is it a necessary evil for schools that can't afford one-to-one otherwise? A cutting edge approach that—accompanied by loaner technology and other equity measures—nurtures student independence and allows families to contribute to making schools better? Not worth doing at any price?

K-12 Computing Blueprint invites you to weigh in on this issue today.