BYO...what comes next...oh, right...D

This week BU played host to a BYOD or one-to-one panel. I had the opportunity to serve as one of the MC's for it, and can honestly say it was a great time. 

I learned a lot at the panel, since I had very little experience with any time of one-to-one or BYOD initiative in schools. What did I really learn? Well here it is:

1. Technology will, as I expected, create problems and issues in a classroom and a school, but the key is to turn those problems into teachable moments. Focusing on the problem is a great way to get stuck, you need to look for a solution and look at how you have grown because of the problem.
2. Technology in classrooms requires a shift in education. We have to shift our pedagogy,assessments and even our idea of what education is at the core. We can not teach students in the same way, since they can find answers easily, they want to multitask and if they are interested, they constantly want more.
3. Technology should be like oxygen, always there, but never really noticed. This is the way of the future and so we have to teach our students how to interact with this future. If we do not do this, we are doing both our students and our world a disservice. This also means that technology needs to be used appropriately, not constantly.
4. Finally, students need to become their own conscience in a digital world. We cannot and should not rely on filter to monitor students' online activity. Students should become able to serve as their own filters, both in what they look at and what they share.

  
I really look forward to seeing where one-to-one and BYOD go in the future, as they are the situations that are realistically preparing our students for the future. Technology is here, it is not going away, so let's embrace it, enjoy it and utilize it to its fullest potential, in school and out.