BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

https://login.eproxy.palomar.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db+a9h&AN=99173566&site=ehost-live&scop=site. 

"You are at the dining room table, put your phone away...", we have all heard that particular phrase and probably most of us have said it a time or two. I admit that I have. Today, things have changed. Stay at Home Orders and Distance Learning have required us to change our outlook. Change our outlook on students, teaching, curriculum and personal devices. Now we are asking students to pull out their own devices and learn. To learn a half of a semester(s) worth of classwork on your phone, tablet, Chromebook, personal computer etc...In the article Gadgets Go To School: The Benefits and Risks of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), author Patricia Bruder explains the benefits of students having their own devices. Bruder presents some basic rules and offers a general checklist for getting started and creating a curriculum related to BYOD. 

According to Bruder, "BYOD (bring your own device) or BYOT (bring your own technology) gives students the option of borrowing electronic devices from the school or using their own equipment." This goes to the idea that students who are comfortable and familiar with using technology, are more engaged and more apt to participate in a classroom environment that encourages the use of technology. Can students get and/or be distracted, yes. There will be the students who will challenge the learning process by visiting sites that are off limits such as "social media networks" etc...but who hasn't looked a text message and/or other email, while working or in a meeting. Even an important staff meeting. 

This year, possibly the most challenging year of a students academic life, we have asked them to step up, change their entire way of learning and hopefully get something out of the remainder of the academic school year. Not to lose any steps in their learning process but hopefully to learn, even learn in a different manner and come out of this school year with some additional technology techniques that they may share...When we resume our normal school life.         

Works Cited:

Bruder, Patricia. "GADGETS GO TO SCHOOL: The Benefits and Risks of BYOD (Bring

Your Own Device)." Education Digest, vol. 80, no. 3, Nov. 2014, pp. 15-18.

EBSCOhost,login.ezproxy.palomar.edu/login?

url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=99173566&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

  BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) by BarneyMont

BYOD and Technology Access in Libraries

In my opinion, the “bring your own device” issue is a nonissue. It is not particularly difficult to plan for patrons to bring their own devices and access library services while also providing devices for those who cannot afford or have visited the library without their own devices. Libraries do not need to provide every device imaginable, nor should they. As Walton states, “There is a real danger libraries will continue supplying services not required by users and also not develop new services that will be valued” (2). Unless a library is specifically providing for a unique program that requires specific devices, libraries should not waste their precious funding providing tablets, phones, or other rapidly-obsolete devices. 

Libraries should stick to spending their money on reliable, cost-effective, up-gradable, longer-lived technology. Desktop computers can do most of everything that patrons need, and upgrades to software are available throughout their longer life-spans, while maintenance is easier to perform as well. Patrons who choose to bring their own devices can access computers with them; libraries need only stock and provide a few types of cable connectors and adapters. Libraries with larger budgets can afford to be more generous with their offerings, but no one will suffer for lack of an iPad when a computer will do just fine or better. 

On the opposite side, libraries do need to provide some technology access. A study performed by Brewerton et al. and cited by Walton determined that “. . . Library fixed PCs were used primarily for academic work whereas smart phones had more of a social function. Students’ laptops were more likely to fulfill both functions. . . WiFi was expected to be provided. . .” (2). Computers are the minimum and most necessary. Patrons who cannot afford their own technology or who just need to use what the library has for a short time, whatever the reason, need a way to access libraries’ digital resources. Libraries have a responsibility to make their resources available to users, at least while users are on library grounds. This is already largely done by providing computer access.

From my perspective, BYOD is a nonissue, as in my experience the majority of patrons, even those experiencing homelessness will bring their own devices, and so official policies only need to address the issues with library staff assisting with patrons' personal devices and providing enough WiFi and ethernet coverage for patron use. Libraries merely need to provide WiFi and computer access, and all of the bases will be covered.

Works Cited

Walton, Graham. “Will Smart Phones and Other Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) Dominate How Academic Library Services Are Developed and Delivered for the Foreseeable Future?” New Review of Academic Librarianship, vol. 20, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 1–3. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13614533.2014.875294.