Technology Update: BYOD in Year 10 2015

St Mark’s Anglican Community School
St Mark’s Drive Hillarys WA 6025
www.stmarks.wa.edu.au
A School of the Anglican Schools Commission
Technology Update: BYOD in Year 10 2015
21 November 2014
Dear Parents
‘Bring Your Own Device’ program for Year 10 students in 2015
Earlier this year, the School wrote to all parents advising of the move to a Bring Your Own Device
(“BYOD”) model from 2015. This letter addresses the program as it relates to the Year 10 2015 (and
Year 11 2016,Year 12 2017) group, who will be the first to transition to BYOD. B YOD allows for the
student to bring ANY device(s) appropriate to complete the tasks required by the classroom teacher.
Please refer to the original letter for more detail, or contact Mr Peter Brown (Head of ICT) via email on
[email protected] if you require more information.
Recommendations for suitable devices:
• An iPad or iPad Mini
• A Windows tablet
• An Android tablet
• A Chromebook
• A Mac laptop
• A Windows laptop
The minimum specifications are that the device must be able to connect to our wireless network, and
have adequate battery life and storage for the student to perform school tasks. A smart phone is not an
adequate device for this purpose, but may be used as an additional device.
What this means for students
• Students will have a device they are comfortable with, and can use at school and at home. They can
use it to synchronise with their smart phone or connect to a digital camera.
• They can use multiple devices.
• They can change device whenever they choose.
• They can select a device appropriate for their learning style.
• They can bring the appropriate device for the class they are attending.
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What it means for the classroom environment
In all likelihood, very little change:
• Browser directed utilisation will not change:
Research and use of on-line sites can continue
without change. A few old sites may still be
flash based, and will not work on ipads. They
are becoming few and far between as designers
adjust to the web developments that have been
available for some years now.
• Documents in PDF format are platform
independent.
• The School is providing access to Office 365, which means Word, Excel and Powerpoint can still be
utilised, even if Microsoft Office is not installed on the device itself.
• Clickview, our School video library system, is platform independent. We will be providing student
access to their cloud solution. That will enable the School collection, plus more, to be available on all
devices, and from outside the School site.
• Digital textbooks are generally platform independent. Many are browser based, or online.
• Students knowing their device better will allow them to optimise their productivity.
• Web filtering and email monitoring will continue on site.
• Some free software is cross platform. For example, Google Earth
• System specific equivalents are generally available. For example, all systems have a package for
wordprocessing, calculating, painting, viewing pictures, viewing video etc
• Online equivalents are generally available. For example, Adobe Photoshop Express will do tasks for
which students need Photoshop.
• Scholaris and Seqta are essentially platform independent, and can still be used for information
distribution.
• Using free cloud storage such as Dropbox or Onedrive can provide a platform independent means of
distribution.
Printing
Printing is likely to be available only to photocopiers at the School. Arrangements are underway to
provide greater access to photocopiers for students. Long term plans are to provide centrally available
colour photocopiers, rather than monochrome printers in each room.
Loans
Short term loan devices will continue to be available to students if theirs is left at home, is not
functional, or has a flat battery.
Office 365
To ensure access to a common
facility, we have now activated Office
365 Pro for students. Students
can access Office 365 via this link,
(https://portal.office.com/) and
using their school email address and
password.
Office 365 online is browser based
and platform independent. Onedrive
currently includes 1Tb of data
storage. Student email accounts have
already been migrated over to Office
365 online.
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Office 365 provides full functionality for the Office Apps on iPads, Windows phone, iPhone and Android
Phone. Office 365 also includes the provision of five standalone installations of Office 2013 for Windows
8 and Mac. These licences can be utilised by any member of the student’s family. Please be aware that
when the student leaves St Mark’s, all licences will expire. An option to replace the School licence with
a personal one will be available.
What should I do to prepare?
The best device will be one that the student is familiar and comfortable with. Once you have an
appropriate device, look for some functional software. Free versions will often be readily available, and
may already be installed.
The software most likely to be required are:
• A word processor for typing reports
• A presentation package (like Powerpoint)
• A movie player
• An image editor
• A painting or drawing package
There may be some challenges arising as a result of the change, but they will
be solvable, and the advantages are going to be considerable. We have a wellestablished support structure which will continue, and develop to meet our
future needs.
Pre-Testing
We have already enabled student access to our wireless network, so any Year
9 student may bring a personal device and connect it to our network. We
encourage students to bring a wireless device to School before the end of term
and trial the connectivity. The device may be either the device they plan to use
in 2015, or any other device meeting our wireless specifications, the IT staff can
provide advice and assistance if required.
Computer Acquisition
For those families wishing to procure a new device, we cannot specify sources, but the companies with
whom we do business have offered to provide optional features such as extended warranty, finance,
insurance cover, home delivery and school pick up and return for repairs.
Extended warranty and interest free finance options are generally available via any of the technology
vendors. Lay-by facilities offered by the retail stores can also be utilised to manage funding.
If you are concerned about loss or damage cover, it may be worth consulting your Home and Contents
Insurance provider. Many allow specific coverage for personal devices.
Winthrop Australia are our Apple providers, and offer direct delivery, finance,
insurance and school pickup and return for warranty and repairs on the Macbook
Air, ipads and Lenovo products. To find out about package deals available to St
Mark’s families, please visit https://portal.winaust.com.au/a/stmarksacs
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Acer are our Windows system providers. They offer a wide range of Windows
and Android systems and accessories, and offer direct delivery and school pickup
for warranty issues and repairs on their products. To view the available to St
Mark’s families, please visit http://byod.acer.com.au/stmarks
Survey Feedback
Thank you to the families that completed the survey and provided feedback. Some comments that may
be of interest to families:
Why couldn’t this have started in Year 7 to get more value from a device?
The average lifespan of a laptop is three years, which is why the Middle School program is now ending.
Previously we have had families enter a new three year agreement for Senior School. The need for
a common device in Lower Secondary is still an important consideration for student learning, and is
continuing to determine the school direction in those years.
Why can’t the School decide the device?
After six years of a School provided device, the School is acknowledging that the advances in technology
and the wide range of alternatives makes it difficult and unwise to dictate a single device to our Senior
students. The School also recognises that the nature of the Senior School curriculum and the embedded
IT requirements offers little advantage to a mandated device.
Formal technology education on a specific platform will continue to be offered via the School’s
computer laboratories. This ensures that Media, Design & Technology, Music, Business Studies and
Computer Technology courses will utilise the specialised equipment they require.
The wide range of options makes choosing difficult.
The hope is that families will provide the style of technology they are comfortable with. For most that
will be a Microsoft or Apple system. If in doubt, families are free to continue to use the School provided
laptop for 2015.
What if peer pressure to have the latest device becomes an issue?
Our students are exposed to many situations where peer pressure may be encountered. It has been the
experience of other schools offering a BYOD option that peer pressure has not been a significant issue
amongst students.
Further Information
Please contact Mr Peter Brown (Head of ICT) via email on [email protected] if you require
more information on the BYOD program.
If you would like information on what devices will be suitable, or if you have questions relating to
connecting to the School’s network, please contact [email protected].
Regards
Cameron Herbert
Principal
End.

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