(Claus) Maine Experience & BYOD

As I began reading “The Maine Experience,” the first thing that surprised me was the fact that they started this program in the 2002-2003 school year.  I made a personal connection to this year because I was a senior in high school.  I can remember using computers in school but I am not sure I ever saw a laptop.  Now ten years later, I can’t imagine my life without my laptop.  Of course my first response is why aren’t all school districts embarking on this type of initiative.  The obvious answer is the cost, but can we really put a price tag on a good,  valuable education? The benefits seen in Maine should be looked at carefully by school districts across the country and hopefully will affect budging having the end goal to be to implement a similar program.

Another thing that was brought to my attention in the article was the fact that math teachers seems to use the technology less than the other subject areas.  This was not surprising to me because this is where I struggle in my own classroom.  I can come up with all kind of things for students to do on the computer in my class but making it truly meaningful and valuable is the difficult part.  I am hoping to continue to learn and make additions to my current instructional practices.

I made a direct connection from the first article, “The Maine Experience” and the second article “Mobile Devices for Learning.”  The biggest concern with the laptops for all students was the cost.  BYOD seems like a great solution to this issue.  Looking at my students, I would say 85% of them have a smartphone that can access the internet on.  Of course BYOD isn’t as simple as it seems, as I have found out in my own classroom.  There are several different types of mobile devices out there that can and cannot run certain programs.  I also agree with Ben that mobile devices are still viewed as “evil” in some teachers eyes.  Some people still believe that cellphones has no place in schools.  The article was a great article for people who are just starting off with BYOD and those who are not sure about BYOD.  I really enjoyed looking at the recommended apps at the end of the article.  I look forward to continuing to learn about effective ways to implement BYOD in my classroom.