BYOD? Nay: Chromebooks for All

Anyone who's ever seen a student's cell phone confiscated in class for texting, poppin' jewels, or watching Family Guy on Netflix understands the rationale that supports keeping students' devices confined to use outside of the classroom. But then, anyone who's also seen a student reviewing a critically thought-out pack of flashcards on their iPhone might give pause at the idea of having a strict cell-phones-put-away policy until the final bell.

I fall on the side with those who insist that a BYOD (bring-your-own-device) school environment, though it has the potential to be educationally stimulating and dynamic, does more harm than good. The greatest harm (and that which has the ability for causing long-term, deep disparity in achievement between learners) is that, simply put, some students have access to better devices purely because they are in a wealthier socioeconomic class. John's three-year-old Kindle can't hold a candle to Jayden's fresh-off-the-line iPad; it's not the fault of either student or their parents, but we can't allow schools to further the achievement gap between families who earn smaller amounts of money and families who earn higher amounts of money. By allowing Jayden to bring his iPad into a school's BYOD environment, his school is contributing to Jayden's academic advantage in the classroom as a cause of what device his parents can afford to furnish for his learning. Furthermore, in a BYOD environment, the teacher must restrict his lesson planning to accommodate students with less capable devices. Both of these points were made by Gary S. Stager in the February 2012 edition of "Point/Counterpoint" in Learning and Leading with Technology.

For these reasons,  students should have access to the same type of device. My ideal interpretation of an individual-device-enabled classroom built for the purpose of transdisciplinary education has these qualities:

Students are provided with laptop-like devices that they can check out at the beginning of the year and return at the end of the year. The best solution for this qualification is, I think, the Chromebook:

So stackable!

These devices are simultaneously versatile, relatively inexpensive, and highly usable in the generation as well as consumption of media. This is a benefit of a device with a keyboard and a large screen, I think. Much of the media that artists and authors generate is created by way of a laptop computer. If we are to teach our students how to be not only consumers of media but also producers of it, then we need to give them an appropriate platform for this task. Additionally, if each of these devices is the same, teachers and fellow students have a better chance of helping a student troubleshoot if he or she is having a problem. If the device dies an instant and irreversible death, it can be switched out easily provided that this next point is embodied in classroom device usage:

Students should each have a fair chance (and the expectation of teachers) that they learn how to use the internet's cloud-based programs to organize their lives, complete their research, and generate and share the media that they create. I specify the use of cloud-based programs because this eliminates the potential for loss of student work if their particular device is lost or damaged. Cloud-based programs include but aren't at all limited to Google Drive (along with Google Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations), Evernote (for note-taking, individual brainstorming, and general organization), and Dropbox (for cloud-based file management and submission), among others, which may include course management systems, online collaboration platforms, and media creation tools. This also reduces compatibility issues for users of different platforms and prevents students from having to download and install resource-intensive programs.

In short, every student should have a tech device. If we expect students to develop as society-changers, we need to emphasize personal creation of media and the use of digital collaboration. These devices, standardized and supplied by the state, should allow for tremendous ease-of-use, should be relatively inexpensive (money doesn't grow on a bush), and should embrace cloud technologies so students can become familiar with the cloud and reap the benefits of systems that can't be shorted by individual device failure.

What qualities would your tech-enabled classroom have? How could tech be employed for the purpose of transdisciplinary education?

(For more information about the many advantages of Chromebooks, check this out: http://www.k12educationtechnology.com/2013/05/15/infographic-class-thinkpad-x131e-chromebook-apple-ipad/)