BYOD or not: A comparison of two assessment strategies for student learning

Highlights

• BYOD approach demonstrated a valuable benefit on students' long-term transfer of learning.

• BYOD approach advanced students' second language learning experiences.

• BYOD students exhibited a steady learning growth, and retained more content knowledge.

• Schools should explore creative ways to integrate traditional and BYOD approaches.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of the BYOD (bring your own device) approach on student language learning. In the research scenario, junior high school students brought their Android-based smart phones to class in order to engage in language evaluation activities, where an application (app) called Socrative was used as a learning assessment tool. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design was used to answer the research question. 46 eighth-grade students from two classes at a public junior high school in Taiwan participated in the four-week educational experiment. Student participants received 6 quizzes as a formative evaluation during the experiment. A learning achievement test (summative evaluation) was developed to measure the students' understanding of English vocabulary and grammar. One month after the completion of the summative evaluation, the same achievement test (delayed summative evaluation) with different item numbers was administered to assess the long-term transfer of learning in the students. A self-report questionnaire and an informal interview were used to ascertain the students' learning experiences. The formative evaluation results showed that students in the traditional instruction class outperformed those in the BYOD instruction class because several BYOD students were not familiar with the BYOD approach. Although the BYOD and the traditional instruction approaches yielded similar summative evaluation and delayed summative evaluation results, the BYOD approach demonstrated a valuable benefit on the students' long-term transfer of learning. Students in the BYOD instruction class exhibited a steady growth on learning outcomes and subsequently scored higher on the learning retention segment of the study. In addition, the BYOD teaching practice advanced the students’ second language learning experiences, particularly regarding learning motivation and interest. The results of the study suggested that schools and teachers should explore creative ways to integrate traditional and BYOD approaches.

Introduction

Because of the rapid growth of reliable mobile technologies, BYOD (bring your own device) has become a feasible instructional strategy for promoting students’ active engagement during the learning process (Nortcliffe & Middleton, 2013). In the educational setting, the phrase “bring your own device” refers to students bringing their mobile devices into classrooms for learning purposes (Nelson, 2012). When students are asked to bring their own devices to class, their mobile devices (e.g., smart phones) must be authorized by the schools (Hockly, 2012). According to the 2015 Horizon Report (New Media Consortium, 2015), K–12 schools worldwide have begun adopting the BYOD policy as an innovative approach to support traditional teaching practices.

Although the trend of BYOD continues to grow in popularity, the practice has created a number of behavioral and security problems on campus. First, students may use mobile devices to access inappropriate materials and websites; this, indirectly creates a classroom management issue for instructors (Mittal, 2014). Second, mobile devices that students bring into the classroom may pose a security threat to school network systems (Dickerson, 2013). Finally, because some students use more technologically advanced (or “better”) mobile devices than other students, the BYOD method contributes to learning inequality in classrooms (Hockly, 2012). However, perceiving the learning potential of the BYOD approach, educators express a willingness to address and overcome these potential hurdles (The Journal, 2012).

This study investigated how a public junior high school attempted to transform the learning process by implementing a BYOD policy. Prior to the study, the research team and the school administration collaborated to create a pilot test designed to assess the feasibility of the technology infrastructure and instructional planning. During this three-month preparation period, the research team and school administrators discussed the logistics of the study, considering the issues of classroom management, cyber security, app (application) selection, and device hardware. A preliminary analysis indicated that soliciting support from parents was a crucial aspect of the BYOD adoption since parents are the ones that provide their children with the required devices. On the basis of data acquired during a pilot project, a formal experimental evaluation in an English course was conducted to verify the effect of the BYOD approach on student learning.