This year, students have begun to see the effects of the district’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, which encourages students to bring their personal devices, such as laptops and tablets, to school with the expectation that they will use them daily in classes. The old model relied on providing MacBook and Chromebook carts to individual teachers’ classrooms.
The biggest reason for this change is that older devices cost much more to insure against cyberattacks. This is hard to afford for the district and undoubtedly means BYOD will save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As technology use skyrockets, the BYOD model also brings other noticeable benefits.
An obvious one is efficiency. When teachers ask students to get a device, there’s no longer a need to shuffle to the long line behind the Chromebook cart, inching through people as they take what feels like an eternity to find their assigned computer. Instead, everyone can take their personal devices out and be ready to go within seconds.
Even if students do wait several minutes to get a Chromebook, they still need to sign into all relevant accounts — such as Google and Canvas — yet one more hassle to deal with.
Another plus to BYOD is convenience. That file saved at home you want to look at in class? It’s on your personal device, unable to reach your lonely school Chromebook sitting on the desk.
And what if your screen is glitchy and upside down? You would know how to fix this if it was your own computer, but the controls of the school device are unfamiliar. The teacher doesn’t know how to fix it, either, and you are forced to get another computer.
Because BYOD reduces the time it takes to get a device, the inconvenience it takes to sign into accounts, the difficulty to access files at home, and the unfamiliarity of the device, it greatly improves classroom efficiency.
In addition, a portion of funding dedicated for district devices now can be diverted elsewhere. Devices are pretty expensive, and the BYOD policy would allow the district to focus on other areas that students and staff want.
The LGSUHSD 2022-2026 Operational Technology Plan Report states that with the BYOD policy, the district does not need to refresh as many computer carts and labs, freeing up money and time for new educational technology initiatives.
For those who can’t afford a device or don’t have one, the district provides loaner Chromebooks for the year.
Although differences in quality and performance of students’ devices will become more prominent, this inequality is no different than other variability, such as phones or clothes.
Teachers have also complained that devices run low on battery by the end of the day, and many students must charge their devices in a single classroom in 6th and 7th period and there aren’t enough outlets. This is a big drawback of BYOD, and to accommodate for this, the school should focus on making charging ports more accessible to students throughout the day — a relatively cheap fix that is possible to do even in the next few months.
BYOD ultimately has a positive impact, improving technology at school while allowing additional funding for other school improvements and increasing the efficiency of technology access in the classroom.