• Bring Your Own Device - Policy & Guidelines

     

    BYOD Policy

    On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 the PPS Board of Directors passed a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy (8.60.042-P) for our students and staff. This is an exciting step forward in our efforts to support personalized learning, enable collaboration and communication, provide greater accessibility to digital resources, and empower students to explore, engage, and "own" their learning.

    To view the Informational Report and Board Resolution, view the Board Meeting Materials for May 23, 2017 in the 2016-17 Board Meetings Archive. The BYOD Policy 8.60.042-P is available from the Board Policies page.

    The district is forming an enterprise project to develop the implementation and support plan for BYOD. If you are interested in providing feedback please email itfeedback@pps.net.

     

    BYOD Guidelines

    The following BYOD Guidelines have been established in order to support the approved policy. These guidelines outline district, staff, and student expectations and recommendations when participating in BYOD. If staff have any questions about these guidelines, please contact OTIS Support at https://support.pps.net , email support@pps.net, or call x63375.

     

    View a PDF version of the BYOD Guidelines

    Bring Your Own Device Guidelines 

    Overview
    These guidelines have been established to ensure consistent and detailed support of the Bring Your Own Device Policy (8.60.042-P). Portland Public Schools (PPS) allows and encourages, but does not require, its students and employees to bring their own device to school and work to foster a modern learning environment. Students and employees may be allowed to use personal electronic devices that support academic activities and independent communications. PPS supports the use of personal devices in accordance with the provisions of the Bring Your Own Device Policy and these guidelines.

    OTIS strongly recommends employees who are provided a district device use the assigned device for work related activities. At this time, employees choosing to use a personal device for work related activities will receive extremely limited, if any, support. The district is not responsible for issues arising from support provided or accessing the district’s network.


    Definitions

    For the purpose of these guidelines, the following definitions apply:

    1. “BYOD” means bring your own device.
    2. “CIPA” is the Children’s Internet Protection Act”.
    3. “Personal Electronic Device” means a privately owned wireless and/or portable electronic equipment that can be used for word processing, wireless Internet access, image capture and recording, sound recording and information transmitting, receiving, storing, etc. The definition of “device” continues to evolve as new technology is developed. This Administrative Directive should be broadly interpreted to include any new technology that meets the definition above.
    4. “Employee” is any person employed by PPS.
    5. “FERPA” is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
    6. “Independent Communication” means communication that does not require assistance or interpretation by an individual who is not part of the communication but may require the use or assistance of an electronic device, such as a listening-in device.
    7. “Student” is any person registered and attending PPS.


    District Guidelines

    Students, families, and employees are allowed to bring personal electronic devices on district property. Use of personal electronic devices in the classroom is at the discretion of the classroom teacher, and may not be prohibited at a school-wide level by the building or other administrator.

    1. The district shall not require, and shall not rely exclusively on, students and employees bringing their own personal electronic devices for the purposes of completing student assessments, curriculum, or instruction.

    2. The district is not responsible for any physical damages, loss of data, issues relating to support attempts, issues resulting in accessing the district network on a personal electronic devices, lost, or stolen devices.

    3. Instructional staff and building administrators are responsible for either ensuring all students have access to a device or are provided equivalent access to content and instruction for students without a device.

    4. Administration, teachers, and staff may require students any time to turn off their personal electronic device. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action and possible revocation of bring your own device privileges; exceptions must be clearly defined in a student’s Section 504 plan or Individualized Education Plan.

    5. As described in the Student and Staff Acceptable Use of District Technology Administrative Directive (8.60.041-AD), employees and students will not use any software, utilities, or other means to access Internet sites or content blocked by the district filtering solution.

    6. Use of a personal electronic device during class time is at the discretion of the classroom teacher. Without permission from the instructional teacher, during class time students are not allowed to: make or receive phone calls, use earbuds or headphones, or listen to music on their devices.

    7. Without prior, annual district approval there shall be no stipend provided to staff that choose to use their personal electronic device for work purposes.

    8. Limited technical support, if any, may be provided for personal electronic devices at the discretion of the district and subject to resource availability. The district is not responsible for issues arising from support provided or accessing the district’s network.

    9. The district will not join personal electronic devices to the PPS domain.

    10. Administration, teachers, and staff may not require students to share their personal electronic device with another student or other individual. Administration may not require employees to share their personal electronic device with another individual.

    11. With the exception of software for curriculum as defined in the Bring Your Own Device Policy, the district will not install software on personal devices.

    12. At the district’s discretion, personal devices may be removed from the network if they are found to be showing malicious behavior. The employee or student may receive appropriate discipline.


    Employee and Student Guidelines

    Students and employees are expected to follow the Student and Staff Acceptable Use of District Technology Administrative Directive (8.60.041-AD) at all times, including when using a personal device on PPS property. When students and employees participate in PPS bring your own device, they are expected to abide by the following guidelines as well as any rules of conduct that apply in other school and work settings.

    1. Access to the District’s wireless network, shall be made available to students and employees bringing their personal electronic device to school for academic activities and independent communications.

    2. In order to comply with CIPA, all personal electronic devices must use the District’s Guest wireless network (pps-wifi-guest) to access the Internet while on district property.

    3. Personal electronic devices shall not be used in any way that disrupts or distracts from the education and work environment.

    4. Listening-In technology is a violation of FERPA and may not be used on district property without prior written connect of all parties being listened to.

    5. Voice, video, and image capture applications may only be used with prior permission for use during directed classroom instruction. Use of voice, video, and image capture applications outside of directed classroom activities is not the district’s responsibility.

    6. Devices such as gaming and personal wireless access points are not acceptable without prior written approval.

     

    Employee and Student Personal Device Recommendations
    Employees and students participating in BYOD should consider the following:

    1. Personal electronic devices should be engraved or otherwise permanently identifiable with owner information.

    2. Personal electronic devices should be protected with an antivirus program.

    3. Personal electronic devices should be secured with some kind of theft management.

    4. Students should obtain permission from other individuals when using voice, video, and image capture applications outside of direct classroom activities.

     

    References
    The following links are either referenced in the above guidelines or are additional resources for support.