Bring Your Own Network

Recently I have been thinking about the impact of BYON or Bring Your Own Network in the school setting. What is preventing schools from doing this? We would be pretty shocked to find that many students, particularly middle school on up, already do it to begin with. Why not take advantage of the proliferation of mobile devices to engage learners in the classroom? I often hear educators, including myself, preaching communication and collaboration as a way to comprehend the topic at hand. There could be an unbelievable opportunity right in front if our faces with BYON. We also must keep in mind though that there is another side to this innovative concept. So let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of #BYON........

Disadvantages:

• Equity (Is it likely everyone would have a device and able to use their own network without go over their data limit?)
• Policy (Would district policies be burdensome on the learning process associated with the infusion of BYON?)
• Safety (How we can we truly ensure that students are being safe when accessing their own cellular network?)
• Distraction (Will students and staff be distracted from what is to be taught on a day to day basis?)
• Power (How will schools deal with powering devices to ensure that students can use their networks consistently?)

Advantages:

• Students Would be able to communicate, create, access, and collaborate with various apps and online resources.
• BYON would contribute to BYOD and 1:1 and possibly eliminate the excuse of everyone not having a device to learn with.
• School districts would be able to keep down costs associated with wifi if more students and staff brought in their own networks.
• A sense of normalcy will be gained in school. Currently people can use their own networks every where else but school. For some reason it is still a taboo.

As you can see there is a strong case for and against bringing your own network to school. Ultimately though, we need to start having the conversation. As time goes on, people will have accessTo networks in ways once thought unimaginable. So do we just discount this trend? Or do we take advantage of an opportunity that could transcend education? As always your commentary is appreciated.