The thought of letting kids bring their own technology to school is enough to cause panic in most teachers, parents, technology staff — and even students.

Perhaps by listening to districts where they have these policies in place, we all can learn lessons.

In this blog post, Ken Royal interviews Jeff Crawford, Manager of Networking and Security at East Grand Rapids Public Schools, MI. The East Grand Rapids schools have had a bring your own devices program for many years. He discusses technical details, pitfalls and distinct benefits.

I was most impressed by Jeff’s statement that allowing student to bring their own devices allows students to use the tools that let them learn best. Students are given responsibility to determine the best way to demonstrate their knowledge, and to determine their own tools.  Isn’t that what will develop responsible, capable adults in the long run?