HILLSBOROUGH, N.B. – A school in the small town of Hillsborough is one of the first schools across the province to allow students access to the internet on their own devices.
Starting Monday, students at Caledonia Regional School were allowed to log onto WiFi using their own devices in the classroom.
The program launched by the province’s Department of Education is called BYOD, or bring your own device, and it’s about to drastically change how kids learn and are taught.
Grade 10 student Coby Pugh says he’s been waiting a long time to use WiFi in the classroom.
“It will be easier to have my notes online and I can just re-watch them or reread them whenever I want,” he said.
The days of sitting in class taking notes until your hand aches will soon be a thing of the past. Now, information can be shared across the class with the touch of a screen – using WiFi.
Technology teacher, Benjamin Kelly says teachers will have to closely monitor in-class use, but is excited about what this opportunity could do to improve the learning environment.
“Instead of carrying 13 books into the room or 18 or 30 books into the room you can now visit this one website with me and it’s permanent, they can go home with that website still online so the learning extends beyond the classroom,” he said.
For parents who struggle to help their kids with homework: “We will have tutorials there for them as well and bring everyone on the same page,” Kelly said.
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Mario Chiasson is Technology Coordinator for the Anglophone East School District. He says six schools in the province are now considered BYOD and the average cost to set up a school is about $35,000.
He said the province has taken measures to police use of the internet within the school by blocking access to inappropriate sites.
“Of course we have mechanism in place even though they are using their own devices they are using the BYOD network and those networks are still filtered by the government,” Chaisson said.
Spare tablets are available at the school for kids who don’t have their own devices to bring to class.
Students are even allowed to communicate through social media, as long as it’s done responsibly. Grade 10 student Aiden Christopher told Global News the BYOD program is bringing his school into the 20th century.
“It is definitely more fun now and I think it’s only going to get much more fun,” Christopher said.
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