Bring Your Own Device Parent Advisory Council JR Robson School March 31/ 14

BYOD Recap From The Last Meeting Bring your own device (BYOD) refers to technology models where students bring a personally owned device to school for the purpose of learning.

Examples of Alberta School Authorities Using BYOD Calgary Board of Education Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District Canadian Rockies Regional School Division Edmonton Catholic School District Edmonton Public School District Northern Lights School Division Red Deer Public School District R ocky View School Division St. Paul Education Regional Division Wolf Creek Public Schools

Why did Alberta school authorities open their schools and classrooms to personally owned devices? These school authorities reported that students with one-to-one access were:  more engaged and invested in their own learning.  facilitated inclusion, increasing the success of all students.

Five key differences between student use of school-owned versus personally owned devices. 1. Familiarity, transparency and facility with the device by the students 2. A seamless bridge between formal and informal learning 3. Currency and Immediate traction 4. Social creation of knowledge 5. Cost and Sustainability

So Why Here and Why Now? As educational leaders, it is our responsibility to our students to continue to develop learning opportunities and a learning environment that will prepare students today for careers and jobs that do not even exist yet. How many people in this room knew what a computer analyst was when you were in grade school?

Education Act Preamble WHEREAS the role of education is to develop engaged thinkers who think critically and creatively and ethical citizens who demonstrate respect, teamwork and democratic ideals and who work with an entrepreneurial spirit to face challenges with resiliency, adaptability, risk-taking and bold decision-making;

Education Act Preamble WHEREAS the Government of Alberta recognizes the importance of enabling high quality and socially engaging learning opportunities with flexible timing and pacing through a range of learning environments to meet diverse student needs and to maximize student success;

JR Robson Continued Commitment Our commitment as a staff is a continuation of meeting the changing needs of our students and improving student learning. The Education Act makes that very clear. Times change, needs change. Remember when the TI 83 calculator was required? Would you go to a dentist who has not upgraded her/his skills and tools in the past 30 years?

So Where Are We Currently At?  Information has been shared at PAC meetings and in the school newsletter, to get parents and the school community thinking about BYOD  A Telephone survey will be administered starting April 1 st  We are at the “bringing awareness” stage to our school community, asking for input and feedback on what we need to do to work together to make our students successful.

What is Next?  It is important that the school, school division, parents and students continue to work together to make BYOD successful for our students  We need to start developing an implementation plan  The implementation plan will be a joint endeavour with the BTPS school board, Superintendent, technology director, teachers, parents and students  The implementation plan is in the development stage; at this point we only want parents to provide us some feedback and input…….don’t buy anything yet!

As Parents, What Do You Think? This is a researched founded decision based on Alberta Education documents about BYOD implementation in other Alberta School districts; Alberta Education studies on the use of technology in classrooms; other studies on developing students engagement and critical thinking. So……….

As Parents  What are the opportunities you see for your student?  What do you see as potential hurdles that need to be overcome?  What do you see as potential concerns?

Concerns of Parents at other BYOD Schools In Alberta Online safety Safety in students bringing devices home Internet filtering Life balance

Important to Understand BYOD at JR Robson will have a well thought out, well developed implementation plan. We will rely on the results of other schools who have been leaders in this and make this a “Made for JR Robson” plan that will meet the needs of our students and our learning community. There will be rules; there will be support; there will be structure; there will be safety. We are not just “Handing over the keys”.