More on the setup sessions later, I mentioned the minimum spec, so I should probably point out what that was, and the thinking is behind it. Here's the parameters parents and students were given for the device:
So, none of this "BYOD, but only the platform we like" business. We've opened it up to any device that we feel a student can do work with. We haven't allowed small tablets like the Nexus 7 because we've found they're too small to achieve serious work, but we have allowed 10" tablets because of the variety and market maturity of that size. We haven't allowed students to connect their phones and iPod touches at this stage. I wont say we're closing the door on that completely, but for the moment most students only want to connect that sort of device for non-educational purposes, and the sheer number of those devices is an overhead we can't deal with right now. I'll be prepared to go back on that as soon as I have a teacher come to me with a genuine need (which is possible, but not probable).
So now that you understand the parameters of BYOD, lets look at what we experienced in our 'setup sessions'
The setup sessions were two days we set aside during the school holidays for students to come and join in a short workshop lead by the I.T. staff which was aimed at getting them connected to our network, to learn how to print, access file shares, use the internet, configure their browser, access their email and to overcome any problems before the year began. We covered all those topics and also offered a selection of free software that students might not otherwise have known about. The software was aimed at helping them meet the requirements above (if their computer didn't already) and encouraging them to go a bit further than that as well.
We'd allowed half an hour for the sessions, figuring we'd get small workable groups, but overall that we'd just see the most conscientious students, rather than any large number. What we actually got in terms of attendance was both heartening, and surprising. Over half of the entire senior cohort (all of year 11 and 12) turned up over the two days. Some of the sessions were that full we really struggled to get through everything in the time allowed. It was hectic, and at times stressful, but as we later found out it was very much worth the effort. Nearly 150 students went away after those days with a machine that worked on our network, knowing how to access what they needed on our network, and with the confidence to learn unhindered. I was proud of our efforts, particularly with the number of problems we fixed for students, and the variety of problems and computers we successfully connected.
students with laptops running Windows 8 featured heavily, and they appeared entirely unfazed by the new UI
That brings me to the next interesting point. We allowed for a vast array of devices to be connected under the BYOD program. When you look at the tech. specs above, we could've received anything from the most expensive Alienware gaming laptop to the cheapest generic Android tablet. We didn't see a anything like the former, and only one of the latter, but to my surprise what we did see was a lot of laptops. I could've counted the iPads on one hand, which was a surprise being that we knew for certain that at least two dozen students already owned them from a program they were involved in the previous year. What really surprised me was that Windows laptops outnumbered anything else 20:1, and new Windows laptops probably accounted for half of those. What's more, students with laptops running Windows 8 featured heavily, and they appeared entirely unfazed by the new UI.
It wasn't all Windows though, there was a happy and proud contingent of Mac owners, some of who came with the misconception that they'd in some way have to accept a secondary status to the Windows users. I'm happy to say however, that their choice of Mac meant they'd receive the same level of connectivity and service that a Windows user would, despite us being an otherwise Windows shop.
The only users I think might possibly remain a little second-class, at least for the moment, are the iPad and Android users. Particularly the iPad users where printing is concerned. At the time of writing (February), we have no printing solution for iPads. Not because we can't (although doing this while maintaining the ability to charge students with Papercut is a little tricky), but because there's a cost and time factor involved, and I've deemed it not justifiable for what amounts to about 5 users. They've been asked to email assignments, and print by using one of our desktops for the time being. If it becomes a problem, I have a proper solution drafted.
Finally, I'll say one other positive thing. The students look happy. They're proud of their machines in a lot of cases, and I think to them this is proper "personal" computing. It's nice to see that, and I hope it continues. In fact some are so proud of their machines they've taken to decorating them. I'll leave you with one such example below, which when I see it leads me to imagine the lyrics to Right Said Fred's "I'm too Sexy":
