Survey: Nearly half of schools to move to BYOT in near future

A recent survey conducted by MDR’s EdNET Insight research services for Mimio, polled more than 150 educational professionals, including school district technology, instructional media services, and curriculum directors, coordinators and specialists. Respondents were asked the impact that consumer technology devices and bring-your-own-technology (BYOT) initiatives were likely to have on future interactive classroom planning and purchases.

Sixty-six percent of poll respondents indicated their district currently allow the use of consumer mobile devices like iPads, 69 percent use district-purchased classroom-specific devices like classroom response systems and only 18 percent use student-owned mobile devices such as smartphones or laptops. But over 44 percent of the respondents plan to move to student-owned or BYOT devices within the next three years.

The survey takers were also asked about the issues they saw as standing in the way of greater use of student-owned devices in classrooms. Eighty percent cited training on the effective classroom use of the devices as their primary concern.