To the Editor:

What is BYOD? Why is it so important? Why should I care?

Those are the questions I hope to answer but I’ll start with this: BYOD doesn't mean Banana, Yellow, Orange, Dog it means Bring Your Own Device.

Basically BYOD is this huge controversy in schools nowadays, whether or not kids should be able to bring their own electronic devices to school and access them during class as an educational tool.

Most "monsters"(administrators, teachers, parents, no offense) would say BYOD is a bad thing because "Students will get distracted" or, "Things can get stolen" — blah, blah, blah.

BYOD is a really awesome tool that can help students become more engaged in their education. BYOD isn't just showing off you brand new iPhone 99 with a platinum sapphire gold edition aluminum foil case; it's giving kids more freedom to learn and interact with new devices.

Many parents and teachers may say that kids get too distracted with their devices. I do understand fully what that means but we kids tend to get distracted by pretty much anything from farts to dust bunnies. We even get distracted with school computers so what's the difference?

Students feel like they have a sense of authority when bringing in their own devices; they feel mature and are willing to make themselves seem mature. I do feel more independent using my own personal device.

Studies show that kids who bring in their own device seem more engaged than kids who don't. Also kids who do decide to goof off can be punished and forced to use a school device with a block system; basically, BYOD teaches discipline.

To avoid data security conflicts, school districts where students bring their own devices usually maintain a student wireless network that is separate from the one used by teachers and administrators. Students must also agree to the district's acceptable-use policy, and take responsibility for maintenance of their own devices.

We do in fact have some policies in the Guilderland district addressing the BYOD policy for high-schoolers. Students can only bring devices on teacher command and, if a student is unfortunate not to own a device, school devices will be available. Devices may be used for viewing assignments, academic collaboration, research, working on school assignments, and other approved instructional activities. Approved devices include laptops, tablets, smartphones, e-readers, and iPods.

BYOD can help contain school budgets since schools don't have to buy a huge amount of technology for student use, when most of them already have it ready to go. The students who don't can obviously use those school devices. Schools can start a program to lease or rent devices to kids who are unfortunate not to have one.

BYOD can expand the ways of future lesson plans for teachers and allow students access to school work at home for reference. Teachers can also gain knowledge on new devices that students bring in; just leave it to the teacher to find apps!

One downfall about this is that, some apps or games may not be available to all types of devices and kids who don't have their own device or can't bring one may or may not have access to school activities done on personal devices, but they may share with others or use devices bought by the school.

Students will usually remember to bring their portable devices while they may forget their textbooks or notes. BYOD can teach students how to use their devices more appropriately (instead of using it to watch cat videos all day). Students will be more organized with all their essentials in one place.

Students can get unlimited access to information, and they will will most likely complete tasks more often due to it being ready on their device.  Schools can start funding in ways to help kids who don't have BYOD essentials. Most importantly, kids can have fun!

BYOD allows for more personalized learning where students can excel at their own pace. Students can download multiple educational apps for their devices that lead to cool ideas for future teacher plans.

I've had multiple experiences with BYOD and I feel as if I've learned a lot. BYOD can become a privilege for good students and encourage them to do well in class in order to gain that privilege. BYOD can reduce technology and technology maintenance costs for a school, and it can help teachers explore new educational apps and websites, making their jobs easier.

Lastly, it encourages students to approach more independent learning skills. There may be some ups and downs to BYOD, but we should at least give it a chance.

I want people to understand the importance of BYOD and try it to unlock the true potential of the digital age; iPads aren't just for YouTube.

Daniyaal Qazi

Farnsworth Middle School