web analytics

BYOD – its happening where I work! #EDUScotICT

I posted some time ago concerning the provision of support for pupils and teachers to “bring their own devices” see http://www.ruachonline.org.uk/blog/?p=466 if you want to read what I said.

Today, I was reading some information about the support for BYOD that my own company provides to allow its employees to bring their own devices and connect them to the Corporate network.  My company is of course very concerned about the security and integrity of it network which spans the world.  I can walk into any Cisco office in any country and gain access to the building by swiping my ID badge on an RFID sensor and then gain access to the Cisco Network by either connecting to the wired or wireless network.  In the latter case I do have to enter my user credentials before access is premitted.  I can do this using my Cisco provided laptop or using my iPad!!!!  The latter is a presonal device and is not funded/provided by Cisco.

So here is a summary of the statistics for the last calendar year!

  • 50k users of mobile devices
  • Growth spurt in the last year with an increase or 52%
  • employees are purchasing their own devices including iPhones and iPads
  • 10% growth of iPad use to a current total of 8,000

Read the source post for this which provides some further data at http://blogs.cisco.com/ciscoit/collaboration-is-hot-…-a-“bring-your-own-device”-mobility-update/

It seems to me that if a large corporation like Cisco is able and willing to support BOYD then this certainly provides a signal that this is an approach that could and should also be adopted by other organisations.

Is this a trend that we can ignore in Education?

Of course I do not mean to take the naive view that what is good for the corporate world is necessary best for the world of Education – but do feel that we do need to take a more open view on what is best to facilitate the best education for today’s learners.

Education decision making and policy making should always be driven by education objectives in my view.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.