BYLD stands for 'Bring Your Own Learning Device'. Some schools and businesses call it BYOD for Bring Your Own Device, but it is all the same. Schools and Business cannot keep up with the variety of platforms and devices hitting the store shelves, PLUS - we've become such an individualistic society with regard to our personal technology preferences it is impossible to please everyone when you try to rollout one technology product for all to use. It is much easier to be flexible with technology. Helpful apps and software are becoming more universal and not so exclusive.
I'm an Instructional Technology Specialist at Renfroe Middle School in Decatur, GA. Basically, I'm a point-of-need professional learning goto. With technology we are all different. The students aren't necessarily savvy at using technology--it's just part of their lives. We as teachers must provide opportunities and experiences for students to grow with technology, because at this pace, when they hit the workforce--the technology will have totally changed from what we taught them.
The purpose of BYLD is to seamlessly integrate technology and information management into their education, so they can develop these skills for the workplace. There are basic and obvious BYLD activities like looking up words, events or issues for facts, but then there are some less obvious experiences for students like keeping yourself organize and on timing tasks with calendar and timer apps. Using more than one app to 'mashup' media and create projects, reflections, or portfolios make BYLD activities higher on the Maslow chart. Teachers will need professional learning to develop a variety of BYLD activities. This wave of professional learning will again change the way teachers teach--OR at least it should to be effective.
