A Better Approach to Mobile Devices: How Do We Maximize Resources, Promote Equity, and Support Instructional Goals?

Until now, the conversation around mobile devices in schools has been divided into two camps: those favoring 1:1 plans, in which each student is assigned a school-provided laptop or tablet, and supporters of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives that shift the responsibility for providing and maintaining classroom mobile technology to students and their parents. In reality, argues classroom technology expert Susan Brooks-Young, it's a hybrid model of 1:1 and BYOD that best meets the needs of students, teachers, and schools. A Better Approach to Mobile Devices offers school and district leaders concise, practical advice on how to set up a hybrid mobile technology program or shift an existing 1:1 or BYOD program to the more flexible, cost-effective, equitable, and learning-focused hybrid approach. Drawing on current research and her own extensive experience, Brooks-Young makes the case for hybrid initiatives and then explores the five keys to successful implementation: connection to the curriculum, infrastructure and support, training and professional development, budget, and policies and procedures. The book closes with a checklist of action steps associated with each of the keys, giving administrators and their planning teams a clear path forward.