Does BYOD really mean SYOD?

I’m about to tell you a secret but, as it’s just you and me, I’m sure you won’t tell.

I hate sharing.

There. I’ve said it. It doesn’t apply to every situation – I’ll happily share a story, cut you in on a good night out, split the bill, and pour us each a nice glass of merlot.

But there are times when I don’t want to share. The first ‘go’ on a new piece of technology…the first look at a birthday present…the first bite of crème brûlée (especially that moment when the caramel cracks)…

There are some things that are so precious, that are just ours,  that we just want to put them up on the top shelf when the friends come round to play because they’re just for us.

The prevailing paradigm, especially concerning technologies, is that we should be sharing – share our ideas, thoughts, expertise. I strongly advocate for it when I’m facilitating sessions on professional learning. Heck, the whole underlying premise of ‘social’ technology is that we are innately good sharers. But in practice, sharing is not always straightforward.

A recent conversation with a teacher about the educational shift towards BYOD – students bringing their own web-capable devices to school  -  recently got me thinking about sharing in the classroom. He told me that:

“BYOD [Bring your own device] seemed like a great idea, and this year we strategically  allowed our students to bring their own devices in. We got all kinds of different technologies, which seemed great at first.

But the problem we have found is that students don’t want to share their devices all the time, and as not everyone in the class has one, that’s what we had planned to happen, at times.

It is often the most precious thing they own. They know their parents have paid a lot of money for them, and they are very protective of these devices.”

These are interesting questions to grapple with:

• To what extent do we assume that our students will share technologies they own?
• How reliant are we on the goodwill of the students and their families to meet inequities of access?
• How can we design an approach that manages this issue, that doesn’t rely on the support of a few famiies, and that doesn’t make some students feel left out while others feel put upon?

Is this teacher alone in trying to respond to this – or are other schools seeing the same?

[Image source:  Kalexanderson]

Update:

Just found two other interesting articles looking at the possible disadvantages of a BYOD approach:

• Gary Stager: BYOD – Worst idea of the 21st century?
• Scott McLeod: Are BYOD prgrams simply and excuse not to fully invest in 1:1 ?

None of this is to say that BYOD is wrong, but the more viewpoints on an issue that we have, the more we can plan for the implications.

Does a blog matter if no-one replies?

My young daughter keeps a WordPress blog. She calls it ‘My Pet Shop – A space to care for little ideas’ and it uses the ‘strange little town’ theme because it’s pink with strange little houses along the bottom. She adds photos, comments, recordings using Soundcloud and video. Her main focus at the moment is capturing evidence that goes towards Brownie badges. We have been photographing her feeding the cat a lot;-)

Her blog has no comments (other than occasional ones from me), no hits or traffic (other than from the family), and no subscribers. Why? Because it’s private and that is her choice.

My question is: does it matter?

I have had many conversations with teachers about blog traffic/comments/hits – and while this is an important indicator of impact, it isn’t the only one. I would hate to see teachers give up because the blog gets no comments.

My daughter gets huge enjoyment from capturing, archiving, recording and reviewing ideas for her blog, and we have rich conversations about it. That’s a different kind of impact…I guess I am arguing for us to take a broad view of why/how we use the technology. I have been part of several forum discussions recently in the VLN Groups site that articulate very clearly the benefits of blogging – and we can’t always measure that in traffic hits.

If a blog is shared with families – and there are no comments – is that a problem?

How else might it be making an impact – and how might we find out?

Now, back to that Animal World badge…;-)

A letter to my daughter trapped by a disaster

Tonight I wrote a letter to one of my daughters – the 3 year old – that urged her to stay happy and smiling, be strong and good for the people looking after her. I told her I loved her loads and that I would with her as soon as I could.

This letter may never be read. In fact, I hope like heck it never is. Because this is a letter to go in my daughter’s emergency box at her pre-school. Following the Christchurch earthquake, the teachers reviewed their plan for looking after the children should they have to stay at the school over night, even for a couple of days, in the event of a disaster, such as an earthquake.

Parents have been asked to provide a box (ice cream container) that includes:

• a small torch and batteries
• underwear
• toothbrush
• juice
• snack bars
• a contact numbers
• small toys/games
• a picture we have drawn together
• a family photo
• …and a letter that can be read out to the child.

I think this is a fabulous idea and shows great forethought from the teachers at the pre-school. Imagine having to look after a whole group of children who all want their mummies and daddies, to go home, to go to bed.

But it’s a fabulous idea that I hope stays in little boxes, neatly stacked in the cupboard, forever unopened (except, perhaps, for interest when she leaves the pre-school).

I cannot imagine how she would feel listening to the letter should she ever be in a situation that would necessitate it being read aloud  - but I know that I was nearly in tears writing it.

Image source: matsuyuki > ‘in writing’

43 decisions: Setting your privacy settings on Facebook

43. That’s the number of decisions you potentially have to make when you review your Facebook privacy settings.

And even if you’re a ‘digital citizen’, who fully understands the implications of your choices, it’s still hard.

Many young people find it much harder – and that’s why they need the support of parents and teachers.

This privacy chart for teens is part of a Parents’ Guide to Facebook. It steps you through each decision that you make as you set up or review your settings. And A Parents’ Guide to Facebook can be downloaded here.

And once you’ve done that, run the Scan for Privacy from reclaimPrivacy.org.

Because any platform that asks you to make at least 43 decisions about what you want to share, and what you don’t, needs to be handled with care.

Review of Reading Eggs: beware the addiction!

It was when my 3 year old earned her first ‘critter’ for her animal collection – Marshmallow Mouse for the learning about the letter ‘M’ – and begged for more time on the computer that I began to see why this tool has been so successful.

Reading Eggs is a (subscription-only, although there is a trial) Australian tool for 4-7 year olds that sets out to engage children in readings, from playing games in the online playroom to moving through phonics to phrases and sentences. Children, led by an engaging wee ant called Sam, move their self-designed avatar around a map, completing lessons on the way, earning prizes and animals.

My then 4 year old collected eggs that she can exchange for prizes, read 22 books and collected nearly 100 golden eggs before she lost interest last year. The game clearly engages children immediately – it’s bright, colourful and they can see their animal collections building with every lesson. At times, the activities seemed a little similar (perhaps that’s why she lost interest?), and the busy dashboard requires a parent to work through activities with younger children, but I am intrigued to see if the second child hangs in there.

After all, who’s next, after Marshmallow Mouse? Lesson 2 is the letter ‘S’ so her new ‘critter’ might be a Super Spider, a Singing Snake, or even a Silly Sausage;-)