BYOD strategies in higher education: current knowledge, students’ perspectives, and challenges.

Abstract

The use of mobile computing devices has become an integral part of virtually every aspect of our personal and professional life, and education is no exception to this paradigm. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies are becoming increasingly prevalent in teaching, learning and assessment across all age groups, however the evaluation of their relative effectiveness compared to traditional pedagogies is still a controversial matter.Despite the vast number of reports attesting the successful integration of BYOD in higher education, it has been argued that a significant proportion of the studies on the topic are highly heterogeneous from both a theoretical and methodological standpoint.While BYOD strategies have been put in place in an increasing number of educational institutions around the world, the extent of their implementation varies widely between (and in most cases within) different institutions. This observation highlights the critical importance of the development of a solid theoretical and practical framework to underpin the integration of BYOD in higher education.The first part of this paper will aim to critically evaluate the state of the art of the literature on the efficacy of BYOD strategies in higher education, highlighting potential benefits and drawbacks. As a paradigmatic example of caveats arising from the use of BYOD in higher education, it has been argued that teaching and learning strategies based on the use of personal mobile computing devices may pose a significant risk to aggravate digital divide between students who have access to (and operational mastery of) such devices, and students who do not.The critical evaluation of the advantages and pitfalls of BYOD will be used as a theoretical scaffold for the second part of the paper, which will outline the results of a recent case study to give a practical account of the implementation of BYOD in higher education. A survey was carried out within a cohort of level 4 Biology, Biochemistry, and Marine Biology students to investigate the students’ perception of the effectiveness of Nearpod as a formative assessment tool. While the majority (65%) of the participants had never used BYOD in an educational context before enrolling into university, the students’ account of its efficacy appears overwhelmingly positive. Most students expressed a clear preference for electronic formative assessment and commended its superior helpfulness compared to traditional methods. The vast majority of the participants (over 90%) did not perceive BYOD as potentially aggravating digital divide among their peers.Keywords: BYOD; higher education; electronic; interactive; formative assessment; digital divide; personal computing devices; smartphone; tablet; laptop.

Using Nearpod as a Tool to Promote Active Learning in Higher Education in a BYOD Learning Environment

“…As indicated by McClean and Crowe (2017), Nearpod can be used to support instructors to involve students in active learning by presenting different learning tasks and learning materials even in a large class. This result is in consistence with the findings reported by other researchers who reported that Nearpod made their classs much easier compared with other app presentations (Gallegos & Nakashima, 2018;Lowry-Brock, 2016;Siani, 2017).…”

“…ST13 reported "The video-conference learning system is an old system; the Nearpod and other modern Apps should be used to support teaching and learning in all subjects". This result is consistent with the findings reported by other researchers who confirmed that Nearpod made their classs much easier compared to other app presentations (Gallegos & Nakashima, 2018;Lowry-Brock, 2016;Siani, 2017).…”

“…This potential interaction may not take place if a learning tool is perceived as a presentational tool only (Armstrong et al, 2005). Hence, the role of a faculty in the class needs to be changed from providing knowledge to encouraging learners to involve in active tasks during the lecture time (McClean & Crowe, 2017;Siani, 2017).…”

Clicker Systems as a Smart Technology-Based Tool for Teaching English to Master’s Students Majoring in Public Administration

“…This study relies on several might-be-connected theoretical concepts like CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) [18], a pedagogic use of the clicker systems [15], gamification in instruction [19], Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy [20] and Brainbased Learning Approach (BBLA) [21]. We are confident that the convergent use of the above can both empower the teacher with a potentially better teaching instrument capable of increasing alertness, ensuring both organised immersion and active information processing, and bringing positive change to students' cognitive, behavioural, language and academic selfefficacy domains [22].…”

The Effect of Digital Device Usage on Student Academic Performance: A Case Study

“…In recent decades, universities have implemented new infrastructure to allow students to bring their own device (BYOD; bring your own device) for education purposes [1]. Universities have proceeded with the relevant technology infrastructure to support campusbased teaching approaches (e.g., blended and hybrid learning) increasing learning flexibilities such as ease of content access, cost effectiveness, time, and student engagement [2,3].…”