Wise Words for BYOD in VET #3, with Jo Inglis (Head of Learning and Teaching) and Richard Humphreys (ICT Director), The Southport School. And Nina McMahon, Elan Projects.

[Jo, Richard, and Nina are sitting in a room around a round table]

[Nina] We're at the Southport School in Queensland with Jo Inglis who is the head of learning and teaching here and with Richard Humphreys who is the IT manager. Who have got some amazing tips to share with us about a successful BYOD implementation. Jo, would you start?

[Jo] We've had a very long journey, but I think critical to the success of our journey has been the relationship between Richard and myself but more importantly obviously those two roles. So that the manager of IT and the person in charge of the curriculum or learning and teaching. If they have a shared vision and work collaboratively and cooperatively together then it just makes the journey a bit less bumpy I suppose.

[Jo] The other thing that I would say has been critical here and both Richard and I and all of our team here from the teachers, to the students, to the executive have been willing to look up and see what's coming to consider what's possible, to trial new ideas and to not be stuck on one pathway.

[Nina] And Richard?

[Richard] Yes well from an infrastructure point of view, good design and good planning and dealing with experts in the field I would say is critical for a very successful BYOD environment. Yes, so good wireless planning.

[Nina] Now you both said some really interesting things about appropriate use of devices too could you share a little bit about how that's come to pass?

[Jo] Well, here at TSS we do have very clear expectations around behaviour of students so we've never really felt a need to articulate separately about how students work in the cyber area or in any area. We have a really strong behaviour code and we have high expectations of behaviour and if the student is operating outside of that code of behaviour in any sphere then we deal with that.

[Jo] So we haven't had to really lock down anything as such, because we have had that expectation on appropriate behaviour. And also on that digital citizenship, not just here at schools, critical that they behave appropriately outside of school and into their employment.

[Nina] Well thank you so much for sharing your tips and I'm really looking forward to writing up the rest of them in the case study.