From Harford County Public Schools:
In today’s technology-driven world, the art of teaching and learning is evolving at a rapid pace. Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) is committed to being responsive to the needs of its students and to preparing them to be successful in a change-oriented and global society. Throughout the 2015-2016 school year, the district’s Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) initiative will be implemented in all high schools in Harford County in an effort to create a 21st century learning environment for students and teachers.
“It is essential that we prepare our students to be effective and productive global citizens,” said Superintendent of Schools Barbara P. Canavan. “Providing opportunities for our students and staff via curriculum, instruction and professional development ensures us that embracing the ever-changing world of technology will remain integral to our mission.
Maryland College and Career Ready Standards will guide us on our journey and our perseverance will provide the fuel.”
This initiative – already in place at Edgewood High, Fallston Middle, North Harford Middle and Magnolia Middle schools – incorporates student-owned devices, in conjunction with existing HCPS devices, into instructional activities. Students who have parent/guardian permission will be able to utilize a personally-owned wireless electronic device to safely access the internet and district educational content through the district’s filtered network while on school campus. Student devices may include personal laptops, tablets, iPads, iPods, electronic readers, cell phones, and other devices.
Allowing students to use their own devices in classrooms affords additional opportunities for inquiry, collaboration and formative classroom assessments. In addition, it allows for students to choose the best tool for the learning task and experience a level of comfort with their own device while meeting the increased demand for digital tools in the classroom.
“Familiarity with their personal device and associating it as a learning tool beyond the social use is significant,” said Drew Moore, HCPS director of information and technology.
Students must comply with the HCPS’ Personal Communication Devices Policy when using a personal device for an instructional activity and will be disciplined accordingly for violations.
During the months of October and November, Havre de Grace High, Joppatowne High, North Harford High, Fallston High and C. Milton Wright High schools will join the list of BYOT schools. From December through February, Harford Technical High, Bel Air High, Aberdeen High and Patterson Mill High schools will become BYOT schools as well. Specific dates and details for each school will be communicated from the individual schools and through use of the school system’s automated phone system, Blackboard Connect 5.
This is a terrible idea. Allowing our youth to use their cell phones while in class is asking for trouble. This is a great way for Harford county Schools to make parents pay more and more. What about our youth that cannot afford an electronic device? Does HCPS not care about low income families?
Your so right. They should be doing “bring your own marbles to school”, that should help speed up math and counting. Who needs modern technology in this stone age world we are living in.
Same could be said with pencils, calculators, etc.
The problem is the discipline policy, and lack there off.
A parent told me they got a teacher FIRED from fabrication. This is where we walk in the thin line of our butt hurt society.
Fired? Yep. They claimed it took several months, but this young teacher was TERMINATED over fabrication by a parent. Not written up, transferred, freakin’ jobless from their school employment over details this persons bosses bought hook line and sinker that the teacher couldn’t disprove.
What about low-income families? Are you kidding? Low income families may not have adequate shelter or clothing, but they sure as hell all have smart phones or similar devices. As a teacher on the rt. 40 corridor for many years, it has never ceased to amaze me that a child who can’t afford a $2 lunch has a smart phone that is better than mine. Just saying.
BYOT is a great idea and has already been embraced in many other areas of the country. If you think the kids have not been using their personal devices for years now during school hours you are misinformed. Many hours trying to enforce that rule and dicipling those caught simply were not efective. Embracing the fact this generation has an electronic device attached to them constantly and incorporating that comfortable piece of technology in the learning process is a good move. Kudos!
How is “disciplining not effective” if the phone is sitting in the principal’s office while the student shelves books in the library for an hour?
If the school administrators stood up to the students and parents instead of being afraid of them the problem would be running out of projects around the school for the rule breakers, not embracing something they apparently cannot control and calling it a success story.
Plus, how many kids are going to connect to the monitored and filtered wifi when they can leave the modem on and do whatever they want?
White the teachers are teaching….bring on the Minecraft Tournaments!!
What will they think of next? Wait, I know! Bring your own teacher!!
I can assure you that the HCPS IT department has no idea how to manage BYOT properly. But it does shift the cost of technology from HCPS to parents so now we will need a program to fund technology for those who say they can’t afford it.
This is exactly what the kids need…..more time on their electronic devices. They’re not on them enough on their drive to school, after school, all evening. When they’re not cyber-gossiping or looking at porn, they’re playing games on them. They even need calculators for their math classes, and anything they generate for class is automatically spell-checked. Eventually we wonder why we’re putting out graduates who can’t read, write, or think. Their idea of researching something is pressing a few buttons.
Ok, fire away at me, but I think we need to take education back 25 years. To everyone who thinks they’re so smart today, you probably are smart, probably because you went to school before our mind-numbing educational methods we use today.
I agree with you 100%. This just looks like the School System giving in to the students’ attachment to their electronic devices and trying to frame it as if it will be beneficial to the overall learning environment. Give me a break; get ready for a drop in test scores. Calculators in math classes already do enough damage; this will just give students more opportunity to continue chatting with their buddy who is in another class down the hall.
I love this quote from Canavan: “It is essential that we prepare our students to be effective and productive global citizens …” Of course, it follows from this that we need to let them have tablets in class. She’s dead on; if we didn’t let high school students have their tablets and phones in class, when would they ever find the time to learn to use them effectively??