What is BYOD?
Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is a technological trend in education and in the corporate world.
BYOD recognises that technology and choices about technology are very much personal.
BYOD acknowledges technology in education means more than meeting specific curriculum requirements.
BYOD is designed to give you, as students and families, freedom to make technology choices that suit you and all your circumstances.
How does it work?
Year 7 students from 2024 at Vincentia High School are expected to bring their own computing device to school every day.
We are making recommendations as to the model of device you may choose to bring.
If you have a strong technical background, there may be something of your own choosing that meets our Device Specification (found in the BYOD Handbook) that you choose to bring.
You are required to sign a User Agreement that sets out how the device can be used at school.
Our school staff member, the BYOD Technical Support Officer, is available to answer questions and to give assistance.
However, the school does not manage, support, own or warranty the device - it's your device.
What type of device can we bring?
A range of devices in a range of price categories meet the Device Specification.
Smaller tablet devices may be half the price of a large and powerful ultrabook. You should carefully consider all your options for purchase and lease/rent-to-buy. Consider also that a good quality device could comfortably last four years.
Some of the Device Specifications (found in the BYOD Handbook) requirements are quite particular. If you choose one of our recommended devices, you won't have to worry about whether it ticks all the requirements. Additionally, it's possible you already own or use a device which meets the Device Specification that you can bring to school.
Purchasing a Recommended Device
Vincentia High School has partnered with JB Hi-Fi Education to make our recommended devices available for purchase by the school community.
The process for purchasing can be found in the BYOD handbook, and you can Visit our purchasing portal.
For further information about using the purchasing portal, JB Hi-Fi Education have prepared a set of common questions and answers to assist you.
In order to provide best value to you, orders are sourced through JB Hi-Fi's retail store network. This works as follows:
- You can nominate your local or other preferred store for pickup.
- All models are stocked by JB Hi-Fi's warehousing system.
- Orders will generally be fulfilled in two weeks:
- Check the current availability of each model inside the purchasing portal
- JB Hi-Fi Education will notify you that it is ready for collection in store.
Why do we operate a BYOD program?
The BYOD program is being implemented in 2024. It was designed to replace the use of mobile phone technologies in classrooms.
Our teaching staff have expressed their desire to introduce this program. This allows each subject to move from physical to electronic texts over time, to deliver lessons with a unified teaching methodology across all year groups and to bring the rich learning experiences to all schools. All faculties are committed to developing increased integration with the BYOD program over the coming years.
Cost Concerns
The purchase of a device is a major decision and a significant expense. A good quality device may last from Year 7 to Year 10 and viewed over four years the expense is considerably less. Vincentia High School has taken strides to integrate device use into many aspects of teaching and learning. Your investment allows the school to maximise learning outcomes for all students.
We are committed to our obligations as a public education institution to deliver the same learning outcomes to all our students no matter their families' financial means.
We have developed an Equity Policy to operate alongside our BYOD Policy. The Equity Policy outlines a number of strategies the school may take, in consultation with you, to augment access to information and communication technologies.
Device Security Concerns
The school does not own the device, support the device or warranty the device. Experience from the previous Commonwealth-funded Digital Education Revolution scheme indicates that students who took good care of their device and considered themselves the device's owner rarely had device security issues.
If you are concerned the device is going to be broken, lost or stolen, you may wish to consider specific accidental damage insurance for the device. You can specifically list the item on your home contents insurance, or you can purchase an Accidental Damage Protection plan for your device. Accidental Damage Protection is available as an option for all our recommended devices.
You may also consider using a device locator service. These services include the "Find my iPad" or "Find my device" service built in the operating system, or third party products such as "Prey" or "LoJack for Laptops".
Internet access on the device will be filtered at school and students will be prohibited from connecting to other networks while at school.
Follow the links below to BYOD documents:
Acceptable Use of Technology Policy