'Bring Your Own Technology' Pilot Program Keeps Internet at Fingertips of Hoover High Students

Monday was a different kind of day for sophomore Morgan Landy.

She arrived at school with a laptop computer in tow, something she normally doesn't do. And she was able to use that technology in her Spanish class at the encouragement of her teacher.

In fact, Landy was one of several students using laptops, iPod Touches, iPads or other Internet-accessing devices that day as part of the school’s Bring Your Own Technology pilot program, which takes place during the next month and involves eight classrooms.

"Bring Your Own Technology is one of those options to say, 'Hey, this could be a way to get newer technology into the school district,'" said Eric Curts, technology director for North Canton City Schools. "So that's one of the reasons we're looking at it."

“We’re basically going to encourage these teachers to do at least a few activities (with the technology). We’re not expecting them to turn their class around and be able to use this technology every day.”

Students and parents had filled out BYOT surveys starting March 11, giving school officials a clue as to whether Hoover High and students and teachers could benefit. (The high school is the only building taking part in the pilot program, though.)

Landy and Brendan O’Toole, a junior at Hoover High School, stand behind the BYOT program. O’Toole said it will help students transition into college.

“I think it helps prepare us for college," he said. "When you’re in college we’ll be able to have these things out and available to us in class."

And with a world of Web pages at her fingertips, Landy said she worked on her laptop without distractions Monday.

“It was fine. Everyone worked,” she said.

Curts said about 1,000 Hoover High School and North Canton Middle School students took the BYOT survey (about a third of the student population). Curts said he wanted to find out a couple things: what technology the students owned, whether they would bring those items to school and what kind of challenges they think they would face.

And what did he find? A little more than 90 percent of high school students owned at least one piece of Internet-accessing technology they could bring to school. And about 94 percent of those students said they were willing to bring in their device.

Crunching the numbers, Curts said that means 85 percent of students would have a piece of technology at school.

Parents weren’t as willing. About 220 took the survey, with 78 percent saying they support their kids bringing a device to school. Curts wasn’t discouraged by the lower percentage of parents, saying he understands their concerns that students’ property could get damaged, stolen or misused during class time.

BYOT programs also could create a divide between the haves and have-nots, which means the district would either need to provide devices for those students (how much money that would require is unknown), or the students would need to share.

Curts said the the concept of BYOT helps combat the problem of the district’s outdated technology, saving money by using tools the students already own. But financial challenges exist. Take the equity issue, or the fact Hoover High School would need to update its wireless coverage to be available throughout the entire building.

The district had passed a a 4.5-mill, $2.9 million levy in November, and now those dollars, which would have been used for planning, will be used to maintain the district’s current level of service. And district officials still anticipate cuts in state funding to be announced this year.

“In our school district, we appreciate everything our community has done to support us,” he said. “But we’ve been hit hard by everything everyone else has been hit by. The technology department is one of the areas it shows a little quicker.”

Curts said the district won’t adopt the BYOT program in the coming school year, but this pilot program was “just the first step in many.”

He said he and other school officials have their eye on Perry Local Schools as a role model in implementing the program.