Should the Government Widely Promote the Use of Byod (bring Your Own Device) Scheme in Secondary Schools in Hong Kong?

Liberal Studies

Independent Enquiry Study

Should the government widely promote the use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) scheme in secondary schools in Hong Kong?

Table of Contents

Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3

Literature Review------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

Research Method------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

  Questionnaire---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

Interview---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

Site-Seeing------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7

Research Findings-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

  BYOD scheme can help improve students’ learning------------------------------------------------------------------9

  Some obstacles faced by the government and schools during wide promotions---------------------------------14

  Related measures the government imposed to suit the launching of BYOD------------------------------------19

Reflection---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23

Limitation--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24

Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------25

Suggestions------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------26

Introduction

Topic

Should the government widely promote the use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) scheme in secondary schools in Hong Kong?

Definition

The term ‘widely promoted’^[1]is understood as to urge the adoption of (the scheme) on all government-subsidized secondary schools, whether public or private secondary schools.

The term ‘Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)’^[2], refers to the technology applied in classrooms in which students can bring a technological device personally owned by the student themselves to school for the purpose of learning, such as iPad, laptops and other electronic devices.

As BYOD scheme is a form of e-learning, the term ‘e-learning’^[3] is understood as the delivery of a learning, training or education program by electronic means involving the use of a computer or other electronic devices to provide training, educational or learning material.

Social Phenomenon/ Trend:

The current education system in Hong Kong faces constant challenges on its availability to enhance students’ learning quality as well as learning attitude. With much criticism and disapproval, the education board now seeks help from a newly-introduced learning system: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme. Nowadays, many secondary school students in Hong Kong fall ill with severe stress due to their studies. Naturally, students lose interest in the knowledge they acquire during classes and, lead to an escalated academic performance. A student, Phoebe Choi quotes that “I realized that there was no happy learning when I was in Secondary Four.”^[4] Besides, due to the rapid improvement in technology, it is vital that schools integrate modern technology into learning to catch up with the current digital progression as well as equipping students with the skills needed in future careers.

Objective

The objective of the following project is to investigate and evaluate the BYOD scheme in terms of its benefits and drawbacks for students’ learning, possible obstacles faced when implementing and measures the government can impose to alleviate these obstacles. Through researching, it serves to examine whether wide promotions by the government on the BYOD scheme is applicable to current Hong Kong secondary schools in terms of its benefits to the current teaching system as well as its aims uplift independent, effective learning for students.

Background of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Bring Your Own Device, also called the BYOD is a scheme in which require participants to bring along their own electronic device for individual working or learning. The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme was originally an office scheme aiming at increasing employees’ working incentives through encouraging them to bring their own laptops and iPads to work.^[5] The scheme was so successful that many recognized its effectiveness, including schools. Since then, various elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and even universities distributed in different countries such as America, Singapore, England and Shanghai decided to launch the BYOD scheme independently as a newly-appointed teaching model. With its fruitful improvements on students’ learning, many are attracted to conform to the practice.

Focus Question

1. How can BYOD scheme help improve students’ learning?
2. What are some obstacles faced by the government during wide promotions?
3. What related measures should the government impose to suit the launching of BYOD?

Literature Review

This academic year, my school officially introduced the BYOD scheme amongst secondary one students. As I pass by secondary one classrooms, I often hear students engaging themselves in discussions and sharing. I noticed that they were all participating energetically as a class and the classroom atmosphere was very lively. This discovery stimulated me to research about the BYOD scheme’s effects on secondary school students’ learning performance.

Improvements in students’ learning