Gabby Tropp ‘13
EE Staff Writer
On TV we see students going to high school with their laptops on hand to take notes, doing class work, and further exploring classroom learning. Do inappropriate things sometimes happen? Yes, but that does not mean students bringing their own technology to school wouldn’t be beneficial for most students.
Doing research projects, writing essays, and completing tests could be infinitely easier with Internet access in the classrooms and the ability to type in class. In fact, already this year some teachers allowed students to bring in laptops to type their midterm essays.
Mr. Smith’s ninth grade English class had the choice to write their midterm by hand or to type it. Some of the students who did type found it made it easier to get out all their ideas. This would be hard to do if everyone in the class decided to bring in their laptops, because each paper had to be saved to a flashdrive and printed, but THS is already changing to accommodate test-taking like this.
School-wide WIFI is already being installed to enable every classroom Internet access. Teachers are currently testing the school’s WIFI network to see how well it withstands a lot of use. There may be a few problems that needed to be debugged, but THS is well on the way to a school that offers a BYOD policy.
This plan has the full support of students and staff such as Mrs. Pacelli, a technology specialist. She agrees that laptops and tablets can enrich the learning experience in a classroom.
Students who write slowly may be able to keep up with note-taking in class more easily, and online supplements to the curriculum will be more easily accessible. She said teachers will be able to choose whether or not their classes will use technology, so this plan will just make BYOD a possibility. At this point the only worry is how to control students’ Internet access to restrict inappropriate behavior.
This problem can easily be resolved putting the same restrictions that are in place on school computers on the WIFI network. Social media sites like Facebook will not be available for students to use, but this is a small price to pay for a huge advance in the educational quality at THS.
Clearly, any reservations teachers have about implementing this policy are easily solved problems. BYOD would be a great way to improve THS.