BYOD - Bring your own Device...

It's actually here...the 2011-12 school year is in full swing in my office! I feel like time is a freight train and I'm desperately hanging on the back trying to slow it down. But I digress.

This year our district is embarking on an experiment that we are calling BYOD: Bring Your Own Device. We are by no means the first to try such a policy, but we may be ahead of the pack. This is sure to be a learning experience for all of us.

In order to document our learning for any others behind us I will begin a new set of tags titled BYOD, this being the first. I'll try to share all the ways in which we researched, prepared, struggled, and adapted along this journey.

To kick this new section off I'll share some of our district's resources:

1. We decided to enroll in Google Apps for Education. (This was one major piece to the technology puzzle that really makes our BYOD policy possible)
2. We began midway through last school year by surveying parents, students, teachers, and administrators about their own mobile devices and their willingness to use them in the classroom. Check out the survey and it's results here: http://www.friscoisd.org/ly/departments/technology/ConnectingWithParents.htm
3. We looked to other districts that have tried this before us. Among them we found Forsyth County Schools in Georgia. They have a collection of great resources you can find @ http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/byot (I can't say enough about how much their videos helped us and gave us direction.)
4. We looked for resources on classroom management. Here is one of best articles we have found "Branding BYOD: On/Off" by Jason Ohler.

I look forward to sharing more and more I my eyes are opened and I begin to see just what we've gotten ourselves into. However, whether we stumble or soar I'm grateful to be moving forward!