Teachers and students alike are warming up to the idea of allowing students to bring in their own devices. With the teacher’s permission, students are using these devices in their classes. This could be one more step into the digital age for Nashoba.

This new plan is called BYOD, which simply stands for Bring Your Own Device. BYOD isn’t just kids being allowed to bring their iPhones to school; it’s to allow students to use their own electronics like computers, iPhones, and other mobile devices inside the classroom to enhance learning.

Several teachers are excited to use this to their advantage, including math teacher Mrs. DeCristofaro who’s excited that her students can use graphing calculator apps in her class.

Mrs. DeCristofaro has been working at Nashoba for five years and this is the first year that she hasn’t had to lend a graphing calculator to someone. Graphing calculators are required in her class, but there were still many who don’t own one. This year, with BYOD, Mrs. DeCristofaro said that all of her students have a graphing calculator, whether it’s an app or a real calculator.

Another passionate faculty member who is helping BYOD get off the ground is Mrs. Marotta. Her job in the high school is to help teachers with incorporating technology into their classes. She too commented on the graphing calculator being an app, but that’s not the only change that she described. Marotta commented, “When students bring in their own devices they can use programs they are familiar with and have access at home.  Students are also starting to use more cloud computing tools such as Google Apps for Education and other web-based tools.”

Marotta also described how BYOD is still growing slowly as Nashoba’s network was  recently updated and is being tested by teachers and students.  A BYOD group has been formed at the high school so teachers can meet with administration and technical support staff to address any issues.  Marotta indicated she hopes to see more technology in the building at the start of the new year.