Open Educational Resources and BYOD Initiatives

BYOD and the Brain: Transitioning from iPads to Various Student-Owned Devices
An Alma College pilot project eliminated textbooks and assigned iPads to students enrolled in Physiological Psychology. Use of various apps and websites on the iPad resulted in measurable improvement in the understanding of neuroanatomy, electrical activity of the brain, and neurological diseases. In a step toward sustainability and scalability, the course eliminated the iPads and moved to a BYOD model. The goal was to compare data and determine if the same measurable gains and approach to the course could be sustained when students used the variety of mobile devices they already owned.

OUTCOMES: Explore the challenges of transitioning to a BYOD model and gains in student learning from a BYOD model * Apply our lessons learned to your own institutional approaches to mobile learning

The Yale Nature Walk: Engaging Students with Mobile Active-Based Learning
Yale Academic Technologists partnered with biology professor Marta Wells over three years to develop a mobile pedagogical framework to engage students with authentic, collaborative, and creative active learning. The professor wanted the student projects to promote digital literacy, interdisciplinary thinking, and biophilia. Students were tasked with a project using mobile devices, mapping and web technology, research, and creative assignments. They added their trees to a collaborative map and the course site, all on location using iPads. The webpages for the trees contained scientific research and photographs taken by the students. Student presentations combined fact and feeling: dance, scents, songs, food, stories, painting, and more.

OUTCOMES: Learn how to craft engaging research assignments that integrate mobile and mapping technologies * Choose tools and pathways to develop a collaborative mapping project * Plan the integration of multiple technologies: mobile devices, mapping tools, and course websites