The quest for the perfect teaching strategy goes on. We hop from one platform to the next, balancing our Marzano with our STEM. Regardless of the content, however, one thing seems clear. We have to reach our students via the most effective means. Five years ago this meant Smart boards - now it means Smart phones and other devices. It's time to let the students take a more active approach to seeking out their education. Perhaps by handing some of the power in the classroom back over to our students we will be able to engage them. Let's make this personal by allowing students to use their own, personal devices. It's time to implement Bring Your Own Device.
The concept of BYOD is not entirely new. After all, for years we have asked students to bring their own notebooks and own pencils. Periodically we even asked them to bring their own folders and colored pencils or crayons. Kindergarten students are often asked to bring their own glue and pencil case. Ownership allows for both comfort and comprehension. If students aren't constantly trying to determine how the devices we force on them work and can instead take advantage of their own familiarity with their personal devices, we should be able to utilize the time savings to expand our curriculum.
Additionally, students who bring their own devices will also be bound to a system that allows us to better take advantage of the flipped classroom concept. If a significant portion of our students have their own devices, it also means they have access - otherwise they would never have the phone or device. And if they have access, they can participate in the flipped classroom. Even if we have to make adjustments for those students who lack the specific devices or technology necessary to participate at home, we can provide essential technology at the school and before or after as needed to those few who require it.
Students often share ideas and technological advancements that we are not familiar with. Let's ask the students what programs and software they use the most, and how they would utilize that in the classroom. Let's make them the designers of their own educational experience. Each student creates a lesson and learns the subject enough to teach it with the technological experience of their choice. The best advantage of this strategy is the constant impromptu professional development that the teacher is receiving in the classroom, while student learning is also being accomplished.
If we hand ownership and creative design back over to our students, they can personalize their own experiences and make them unique. Differentiation will happen all on its own as each student will seek out the techniques and strategies they are most comfortable with. Even the standardized experience can be captured and presented in completely new ways. Students who hate the test will now have an opportunity to make the test, and in the process learn that there are two sides to every coin. Students will experience satisfaction but also frustration as others provide feedback on the experience and are challenged to complete and then analyze the task set before them by their peers. The potential empathy students will begin to feel toward the role of teacher in the classroom may perhaps be a valuable step in connecting the student experience to the teacher experience. Students will develop an understanding that education is more than just tests and talks.
Above all, students will gain confidence and be forced to solve problems. By stepping into the lead, they will learn how to guide their own learning in a way that will help them down the road. When they head off to college or trade school or the world, they will remember that they can create learning opportunities, and know how they can adapt their technology to continue their own journey. As their technology leaves with them, and new technology enters the school, this experience updates itself, much as a software program has to be updated by its creators to remain current. Students drive the evolution of the classroom, and the evolution of the academic experience. And we get to hang on tight and enjoy the ride.
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