How Schools Are Making the Shift to BYOD

When it comes to the “bring your own” list of acceptable devices in the Forsyth County (Ga.) School District, Chief Technology and Information Officer Bailey Mitchell has an open-door policy.

“We allow the Nintendo DSi,” says Bailey, in an interview with EdTech: Focus on K–12 at the CoSN conference. “A lot of students have the Nintendo DSi. They work great, they connect to our learning management system.”

While the thought of using a video game console for learning might seem like a potential distraction in the classroom, the most important thing about BYOD isn’t the devices students use, but how they use the device to learn.

“It really goes back to it’s their personal tool. It’s their personalized tool that they’re most comfortable with, and we’re giving them multiple ways to complete a homework assignment,” says Lenny Schad, CIO of the Katy Independent School District in Texas.

For more on how IT leaders are implementing BYOD policies in their schools, watch the EdTech video “Deriving Value from BYOD” from the CoSN conference.

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