More students bringing mobile devices to class

Just like professionals, more and more students are taking their own devices with them. BYOD, a trend in the business world, is also gaining popularity in schools.

With limited budgets, many elementary and high schools around the world are allowing student devices in the classroom. For them, it’s a means to help ensure access to computing devices for as many students as possible.

Proponents of the trend say it helps increase classroom collaboration and participation and help students better prepare for the future. Not all schools are on board, however. Concerns about technology being a distraction in the classroom and devices highlighting economic differences between students are also very real.

On college and university campuses, BYOD has already been established for years. For higher education, students using their own devices is the expectation rather than the exception, as the majority of students’ coursework is conducted digitally. Teamwork is also highly emphasized in a college setting, and students use their own devices to collaborate together on shared projects.

Whether schools have bring-your-own-device policies yet or not, one thing is for certain: Devices are the future, and students will only acquire more of them. According to an F-Secure survey, 60% of children under 12 already own at least one mobile device with Internet access. For teenagers and college students, the numbers are decidedly higher.

BYOD in schools has undeniably gotten a push forward from the cloud. With cloud-based applications that work across devices and platforms, there’s no need to load specific software onto every student’s computer. Students can access the application from any computer or device with Internet access.