BYOT Resources

There are amazing BYOD/BYOT resources available, and I have been compiling resources to use in Professional Development activities for the upcoming year.  Our District has  a long-term BYOT pilot which has been in process for the past two years.  We have about 150 students participating in the project, and have kept the numbers small at this point to make sure our infrastructure will support it well.  So far, we have been able to keep the network running well, and our students, teachers, and parents seem to be pleased with the progress.

The first year of the pilot we surveyed our teachers.  The majority of them who had students enrolled in the BYOT pilot were in favor of it, considered it to be reliable, and said the students were more engaged.  While we had positive feedback, we still wanted to continue the pilot for another year as we tweaked our infrastructure to allow us to get the best results from our network resources while we continue to expand for mobile devices.  At the end of year two, we surveyed the teachers again, and continued to receive positive comments, however, we still did not see the level of integration using the devices expanding rapidly. 

This year, we plan to spend more time with the teachers and in the classrooms focused on integration activities.  Providing resources to assist our teachers with BYOT integration ideas is a great first step.  I found some great information in the Cybraryman's resources for BYOT/BYOD and wanted to share.

Cybraryman's BYOD/BYOT Resources

Additional information can also be obtained by particpating in the  #BYOTchat on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. EST