Device choices

In the learning content that follows, we’ll be exploring the research evidence and practicalities of device choice as part of your strategy for the use of education technologies.

You might feel initially as though the decisions you make about devices might be dictated by your budget, existing software subscriptions, or your current infrastructure. You’ll have seen through the case studies in Week 1 that ideally, a longer term outlook is taken towards your use of education technologies and therefore devices may not be the first decision or action you take but one you work towards through other actions.

The decision is incredibly context dependent and there are often positives and negatives to any route you choose to take and the decision may well be dictated by your available budget and infrastructure. It could be that you take one approach for now before moving to a new one in the future. This decision should be lead by your purpose for using education technology – which device approach will suit that best? Might you:

• Continue to make use of existing desktop devices
• Continue to make use of staff desktops, whiteboards and projectors at the front of the classroom
• Replace staff desktop PCs with tablets and mirroring software or visualisers for projection
• Part or fully-fund devices for individual pupils, starting with a pilot in one year group before moving to the next
• Have devices available for pupils’ families to purchase with spare devices on site
• Purchase class sets of devices that can be borrowed by teachers for lessons
• Ask that all pupils bring in their own devices for learning use
• Have a mobile phones in the classroom policy
• Have a no mobile phones in the classroom policy
• Purchase only staff devices as pupils won’t need their own

We’ll hear from a few school leaders and academics about their approaches and the research evidence before discussing our thinking with each other.

Once you’re ready, click the ‘Mark as complete’ button below and then select ‘Why ‘Bring Your Own Device’ might be your best strategy to begin engaging with the first argument.