GaETC 2014 Keys to BYOD success presentation about successful BYOD implementation by Chris Rogers, Local School Technology Coordinator at Harbins Elementary School in Dacula, GA

My granddad knew about hard work, collaboration, and he was intimately familiar that some important considerations (weather, crop prices, laws) were beyond his control. Also, there are multiple pathways to being a successful farmer, just like there are multiple pathways to BYOD.

This is the central element to a successful BYOD initiative. You can do everything else right, but if you don't have the relationships and collaborative culture in your building, your program will not be as successful as it could be. These relationships are teacher-teacher, teacher-coach, coach-admin, teacher-admin, and they should transcend rank and job role. Everyone is a learner on equal footing in the process of implementing BYOD.

School culture is crucial to the success of a BYOD program, or any large-scale change that you are planning. Changing teacher practice takes time & hard work, and cannot happen without a culture of trust & accountability in your building.

Good books on this topic:
"The Heart of Coaching"

Technology professional learning is a huge part of any successful BYOD initiative. It shouldn't be a one-off event. It should be regularly scheduled, differentiated (I'm still working on that one!), and serve as more than just a "how-to" session for administrative tasks.

Ken Robinson says "We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it's an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”

Just like harrowing & fertilizing help to prepare a field and increase the yield of their crop, technology staff development along with coaching help teachers and students to realize the potential for BYOD to increase personalization and differentiation of learning.

Great graphic by Bill Ferriter (www.thetemperedradical.com) about the role of technology in education. View it here!

http://www.teachingquality.org/content/technology-tool-not-learning-outcome

We get caught up in the glitz and the glamour of the latest tech tool and forget the learning. Start with the question "What do you want to use this technology to do?" "What are your learning goals"

Coaches teaching side-by-side with teachers in the classroom or in a lab environment are the centerpiece to BYOD as a school-wide catalyst for positive change and more effective technology integration. Informal or formal pre- and post-conferences help to clarify teaching goals, lesson refinements, and next steps for both the teacher and the coach. Focusing on ISTE-standards and continuums for self-reflection help to give this work meaning and direction.

image credit: Krissy Venosdale - venspired.com

Everyone in the building has to be willing to leave their comfort zone. BYOD isn't easy for anyone - everyone has to change the way that they work and think about lesson planning, content delivery, and assessment.

No one is asking you to be a technical expert on every type of device in your classroom - they are, however, asking you to be an expert facilitator of learning. And that takes risks. And being willing to be wrong.

Some great clips from Sir Ken Robinson speeches:

http://youtu.be/ywIhJ2goiGE

http://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY
(BEST TED TALK EVER!!!)

http://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U
(Changing education paradigms)

Sometimes things happen to farmers that are out of their control. They realize that having a backup plan is essential.

Modeling failure is essential for coaches. The culture must support risk-taking & failure. @kristinziemke is a 1st grade teacher in Chicago. She shared a great story about her first experience using EdModo with her students.

I know teachers who have no problem calmly switching gears when they math or reading lesson tanks, but they are incredibly frustrated when they can't meet their learning goals with a lesson that involves technology.

I have learned to embrace failure by trying so many new things with many different grade levels this past year.

We are tasked not with preparing kids for the jobs of today, but for the jobs of tomorrow. According to a recent survey, 65% of jobs that today's 5th graders will hold upon college graduation DON'T EXIST today.

1:1 initiatives are gaining popularity, but they don't prepare students for the post-graduate world as well as BYOD does. They will ALWAYS live in a world where people have different personal mobile devices that are used for a variety of purposes.

When many schools enter the BYOD or school-owned mobile device arena, the first question they ask is "How will we manage those devices?" Although that is an important question, it shouldn't be the first one that we ask. The best device management system in the world is worthless without rigorous, high-quality, standards-based instruction.

Start with a story about what I do with a new tech tool. Example with my son & Tellagami.

Dean Shareski, a Canadian educator, gave a great Ignite speech at ISTE2013 on just this topic. The Stupidest Creative Act is Still a Creative Act. SILLY IS CREATIVITY (only 5 minutes) - watch it here!

http://youtu.be/YrgiS0_4zpw

Start with silly and increase rigor and expectations with each use.

Farmers don't plant all of their fields in the same crop each year. Likewise, your teachers have different strengths and weaknesses.

Technology doesn't come easy for some of us - 2nd grade teacher example

How can you structure your professional learning & coaching to maximize each teacher's needs? It's about helping people grow, not attaining a certain level and stopping. Technology will always change. We need a GROWTH MINDSET!

Read "Mindset" by Carol Dweck and "Drive" by Daniel Pink for more insights on this topic.

DNA - Device Neutral Assignments - use generic terms, let students have a voice and choice for how they show what they know

A tablet is not just a little computer - we need to realize that apps provide the best user experience for our students.

Found a great iPad app? Better make sure it's available on Android, too! Always TEST OUT new ideas first and try to make your assignments as DEVICE-NEUTRAL as possible!

Farmers used to rely on the Almanac - what do you, as a leader in technology integration in your building, do to get information on how to integrate?

MY TOP PICKS

1) Colleagues in the school and in the district

2) TWITTER!

3) Reading blogs from teachers, principals, media specialists, and technology coordinators

4)Edutopia, Edudemic, EdSurge

image credit: Vermont Farmer's Association

Embrace the messiness - we need to have classrooms that have moved beyond

The first time won't be perfect. When you start to experiment with different lesson activities and ideas, you will find that your lesson plans may not fit into a neat box. You may switch gears mid-lesson, or scrap what you were thinking for another idea. IT'S OKAY!

How can you celebrate the successes of teachers and students in your building? Displaying student work, telling your school's story on social media, handwritten notes from administrators and coaches, and integrating technology into your Math/Literacy nights are just a couple of ideas!

BYOD IS HARD WORK! Give yourself and your colleagues a pat on the back every once in awhile!