Bring Your Own Device Scheme at start of Sixth Form

[ThisPerkySloth2]

hi so our first choice sixth form (attached to DS school) has brought in a new starting this September BYOD scheme so "have" to buy a compatible device with touchscreen / stylus that will be used everyday in every lesson. the word compulsory is not used but no is not an option. financial assistance / bursary for those eligible.

I see the benefits (organisation, uni benefits, work place apps experience) so will scrape the money together post results day (if DS gets in). just a bit of a bombshell! won't put us off our first choice.

Anyone else's DC have a BYOD at chosen sixth firm?

Anyone's DC already using at Sixth Form - how do they find it? Good thing?

We’ve just had to order one for DD’s first choice of sixth form. They all have to either have the school organised one, or can bring their own but have to have things added to it/ checked by the IT dept.

They’ve reassured us that if for any reason she doesn’t end up going there then we will get a full refund.

We did know this though from the start of when she looked around and the teachers there explained how well it all works for them and the students.

@CrochetMadRosie that's good you can get a refund it changes mind. I am waiting till results day as his place is grade dependent. i think at DS's choice its only just been brought in so they will be the guinea pigs! 👍

DS is year 12 now and is very familiar with it. He had a chrome book in primary school (provided by the school) then had to have an iPad for secondary. Now at a different school for A levels and needed a better iPad with an Apple Pencil.

All of the schools have worked using teams and students have a school email address. It is great, definitely brings lots of benefits and connectivity. They have teams channels for so many things - sports teams, lessons, extracurricular activities. Also they now have channels for their UCAS and careers.

It is expensive so I’m surprised the school don’t offer a monthly purchase option (at DS’ secondary this came with tech support and device insurance). I hope your son gets lots of benefit from it OP.

And good luck with his GCSE results!

Seems a bit much that they need a tablet as well as - presumably a laptop.

DS had to have a laptop at sixth form as all schoolwork was online

We have compulsory BYOD from year 7 onwards. It’s expensive and as you can imagine, they don’t always get looked after as you might hope - laptops in bags used as football goals at lunch times/abandoned on pitch sidelines in the rain at after-school sports clubs etc, but I have to say, I thought it was a pretty normal requirement these days? Hopefully a sixth former will be better able to take care of and not lose their device!!

And to answer your actual question: from the work perspective for them it’s fine, everything’s available on Teams, they are certainly getting used to the way much of the world of work operates (everything done online, emails 24/7). From a lifestyle perspective, I hate it, having to constantly remind my 11yr old to keep on top of their email inbox, check Teams messages and updates, feels like a second job on top of managing my own work and home admin inboxes! There again, hopefully your sixth former will be able manage their own schedule themself!

@waspie thanks all fingers crossed for DS. seems to be more common that i knew about. DS is used to Teams as used throughout secondary - homework was always set on Teams. I always had a weekly email telling me if he had submitted all required homework so good for that.

Ds already has a laptop at home but now needs one with a touchscreen / stylus and has to be windows compatible due to subject choice. Its a year old!.

Can't be helped!

@Denimrules can be a tablet or laptop with touch screen and stylus but if doing DT a windows laptop. DS already has a newish laptop (homework was set on Teams) but no touchscreen / stylus.

@marmitencrumpets DS isn't sporty nor are his friends so that's a sort of blessing in keeping the device safer. definitely benefits and drawbacks but like you say they will have to engage with it all eventually as part of work.

In my working life I have gone from no computer, sharing a bank of computers in the corner of an office to it being something that when it went wrong you sat twiddling your thumbs as you were wholly dependent on it to do anything!!!!!

Showing my age!

So a lot of textbooks are on line - so being able to interact with them is importaNt
also for some subjects you need to be able to edit answers on a screen so a touch screen is critical - mine had an iPad to use alongside her laptop in the end - she needed both

@knackeredmumoftwo that's good to know, I didn't know that about the online text books. Cheers.

About 10 years ago I was working in a college and as an experiment one group were given chrome books.

From a teaching perspective it was fabulous. I didn't need to worry about printing handouts and hoping the students remembered to keep them at the end of the lesson.

I could set things up on Moodle, games, competitions etc. Instead of asking student to create a poster I could set up a drag and drop exercise. And from a teaching perspective that can be automarked by Moodle.

Obviously things have moved on since then, but I am a big believer of using tech in the classroom.

@sashh i was wondering how teachers would view it. thanks for sharing those positive benefits.

DD has had tech since Y6 for everything, we found best (and cheapest) option was an iPad with keyboard and case - and Apple Care.

Lightweight, the keyboard cases need charging about once a month and the photo function is really handy.

The cases and pens don't need to be Apple, just compatible.

It's lasted way better and been much more versatile than the laptop she originally had; £500 HP type one that was a total nightmare.

We have a Dell laptop each which has a touchscreen and purchased a stylus for them. They use their mobile phone for hotspot since school wifi is a) locked down so they can’t use it for certain things and b) utterly rubbish.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow An iPad would be ideal and preferrable as feels more portable and sturdy. unfortunately school recommendation is an Apple iPad Air which is more expensive than normal iPad.

They said if doing DT in order to carry on work at home they can use school windows laptop in class but will need windows compatible laptop at home (DS already has one but not touchscreen). DS informs me there is a particular programme they use in DT but doesn't require a touchscreen / stylus to use it as he's already been using it last year!

bit confusing hopefully DS can get some direction on results day if he can see DT teacher.

@Glittertwins good to know - DS has a lot of data allowance I think (160GB????) on his phone so that will be useful if needed.

I have a lot of data that I can hand over on top of the 30gig they have if necessary. One of them never seems to run out, the other is a bit more addicted to daft video streaming!
We also bought the extra support pack from Dell so that they were covered for all sorts of damage / issue considering they were being taken out of the house all the time. So far, no complaints at all.

@Glittertwins i'm thinking the 160GB that he rarely uses much of will be enough then. Have already increased out and about home insurance had to anyway in event DD goes to uni! lots of hidden costs!