Bring-Your-Own-Device: Turning Cell Phones into Forces for Good

Abstract

Over the last few years, classroom response systems (or “clickers”) have become increasingly common. Although most systems require students to use a standalone handheld device, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) systems allow students to use devices they already own (e.g., a cell phone, tablet or laptop) to submit responses via text message or through a Web browser. In this article, the author discusses the benefits and costs specific to using a bring-your-own-device system and compares these systems to traditional handheld clickers. She particularly focuses on the issues associated with allowing the use of cell phones and laptops in the classroom and offers some advice based on her own experience with a bring-your-own-device system.

Keywords:

• audience response
• cell phones
• clickers
• student engagement

JEL code:

• A2

Notes

¹The one catch is the instructor needs a way to monitor those comments throughout class. If you are already using the computer for something else (like your PowerPoint slides), you could (depending on the system used) either use a second device (smartphone or tablet) to keep an eye on the Web site or stop every so often to check for responses. Derek Bruff (2012) has a nice post on backchannels in education if you are interested in more about the how and why of backchannels.

²For example, one team application asks students to choose whether to use family income, personal income, or household income for a comparison of median income across geographic areas. There is not necessarily one “right” answer, but through the team discussion, students are able to identify the pros and cons of each measure.

³Note that in this situation, I did not need to track responses so students must not have accounts or register their phones. Some BYOD systems offer free, trial, or institutional accounts, but for those that do not, this sort of occasional use would still require payment (either by the students or the instructor) for a license.

⁴I drop 10 percent of the clicker points at the end of the semester so I tell students that any technical glitches will just be part of that 10 percent.

⁵In fall 2010, I taught the same data class using handheld clickers; the questions themselves and how the technology was used were the same as in the classes using PE. That semester, roughly 35 percent agreed (22 percent disagreed) they would select a section with clickers over one without, and 45 percent agreed (22 percent disagreed) they would like more professors to use clickers in their courses. When I taught a 500-seat section of principles, the percentages agreeing were 45 percent and 52 percent, respectively.

⁶Because my university had an institutional PE account, students did not have any individual fees. Other BYOD systems are designed so that students pay a licensing fee even if they are using their own device.