Practitioner perspectives of using BYOD for Fieldwork. Results from a study of HE educators asking about their use of BYOD for field teaching including benefits and challenges.
2016 EFL Showcase
By Derek France, Katharine Welsh, Alice Mauchline, Julian Park, Brian Whalley
Practitioner perspectives of using bring-your-own-device for fieldwork
1. ‘Practitioner Perspectives of using
Bring-Your-Own-Device for
Fieldwork’
Derek France1, Katharine Welsh1, Alice Mauchline2, Julian Park2 &
Brian Whalley3
1University of Chester, 2 University of Reading, 3University of Sheffield, UK
6th Annual Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Showcase, 12th –13th September 2016, University of Reading
@fieldwork_ntf
2. • Objectives
• Context
• Case study
• Methodology
• Results
• Benefits and challenges
• Faculty comments
• Educational benefits
of BYOD
• Concluding thoughts
• Food for thought..
Outline
3. Objectives
•What are the faculty perceptions of the
concept of BYOD for fieldwork
•What factors are likely to determine the
success of BYOD for fieldwork?
•What are the educational benefits / barriers
to student learning
•What support/resources would be useful
4. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Concept: The idea that an individual makes use of their
personally owned technological device (e.g. smartphone or
tablet computer) in a workplace or educational setting rather
than using an institution-owned device to perform work or
education related tasks.
5. • Most undergraduate students coming into Higher Education
have a smartphone or mobile device (Welsh & France,
2012)
• Morris et al. (2012) found students owned an average of
4.3 electronic devices that could be used for learning
• Recent undergraduate student study (Woodcock et al.,
2012) found that many students who own smartphones are
“largely unaware of their potential to support learning” but
importantly, found that they are, “interested in and open to
the potential as they become familiar with the possibilities”
Context: Literature
6. • “The main benefits in industry are that BYOD provides
productivity and happiness” (Mobile Enterprise, 2011)
• The distractive nature of mobile devices and social networks
has lead to the phenomenon been referred to as “The age of
distraction” (Weiner,2014)
• Welsh & France (2012) state that “ consideration should be
given to encourage students to use their own Smartphone in
formal educational settings such as the classroom or in the
field in order to aid their learning”
Context: Literature
9. Case study example of BYOD:
High tech ways to make this activity more active
10. Methodology
Questionnaire – survey monkey
•Practitioner opinions of BYOD even if they haven’t
used BYOD in the field (Sept – Nov 2015) n=71
•All responses summarised and reported
anonymously
Telephone interviews
•Practitioners contacted for a case study or further
discussion about BYOD (Jan – Apr 2016) n=18
•Thematic analysis used to explore the key
emerging themes
11. Use of BYOD in Fieldwork
What could be the challenges?
12. Challenges
Have used Not used
1. Distraction
2. Range of Devices
3. Inequality
1. Distraction
2. Range of Devices
3. Inequality
4. Insurance
5. Setup time
14. Benefits
Have used Not used
1. Familiarity
2. Data retention
3. Focus on Learning
4. No cost
5 Enhance Employability
1. Familiarity
2. Focus on Learning
3. Access to data
15. Questionnaire Results
1. 71 questionnaire responses - range of fieldwork
disciplines.
2. Roughly half - 52% Had used BYOD in the field 46%
had not.
3. Of those that had used BYOD:-
4. 58% had planned it, 25% was student initiated and 18%
was a mixture - the main drivers were convenience and
no alternative i.e. no funds for institutional provision -
mostly used offline apps in the field for data collection
5. There were differences in perceived benefits between
those that had and hadn't used it. Similar challenges
identified
16. Benefits and Challenges
Benefits Challenges
Have used Not used Have used Not used
1. Familiarity
2. Data retention
3. Focus on Learning
4. No cost
5 Enhance
Employability
1. Familiarity
2. Focus on Learning
3. Access to data
1. Distraction
2. Devices
3. Inequality
1. Distraction
2. Devices
3. Inequality
4. Insurance
5. Setup time
17. How could BYOD change your
educational practice?
“Re-design fieldwork so
so students could use
geo-positioning on their
phones ”
“I could you
apps”
“Sometimes technology can
generate new ideas that you
hadn’t thought about which
could be valuable”
“I don’t think it would
change what we are
doing”
“I would want to
learn by example”
18. How BYOD provides
educational benefits for
fieldwork
Practicalities
Data capture
/access
Empower
students
New styles
of learning
21. Student perceptions using BYOD
for Fieldwork
1. Challenges
Lack of willingness
Concerns about damage
Impact on Groupwork
inequality between students
2. Benefits
familiarity
personalise
Welsh et al. (in review)
22. • Bring your Own Device (BYOD) is emerging as a concept
which will allow students to choose their own platform for
learning, but will offer real challenges to faculty of how to
support and enable such an engagement.
• Inequality is the biggest challenge
• Familiarity with own device biggest benefit
• Insurance liability of personal devices mentioned by both
groups
• Managing a range devices and platforms is a challenge
requiring support and examples.
Concluding Thoughts
