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The Outcome of the Student Technology Survey

Mr. Curran’s technology survey was filled out by 434 Belmont Hill students. According to Mr. Curran, the goal was to evaluate the success of the newly implemented Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Program, which was created by Belmont Hill in 2016. An additional objective was to investigate different usage experiences with Apple products versus PCs and the students’ perspectives with the current technology system. 90% of the students who responded were in favor of the BYOD program since they enjoy using the same computer at home and school, and they appreciate the freedom of using their own device. Negatively, students felt that the program favors Mac users and discourages students from using PC brands. For example, teachers often demonstrate online programs using the Mac version, which can be troublesome because the software is different for PC computers. In extreme cases, some students felt so disadvantaged that they spent their own money to buy a costly Apple computer just for school work. Surprisingly, only 36% percent of the students say that they would use the computer lab regularly; this most likely reflects the students’ pleasure for using their own computer for all work. Additionally, 65% of the student body had concerns about what websites are blocked, specifically Wikipedia. 35% percent of the student body admits to using a VPN to get around blocked websites. that option. Mr. Curran and the Academic Technology Committee are taking steps to use this data to improve the technology system at Belmont Hill. For instance, less than five days after Mr. Curran received the data from the survey, he sent out a video to the school explaining how to access Wikipedia, which was a major concern illustrated in the survey. Mr. Curran will take the data he gathered to the Academic Policy Committee and they “will take a look at it, and use it for food for more thought.” As we continue to move into a more technologically oriented world, it is vital that our community keeps taking these surveys seriously as they help to continually improve the system and eliminate flaws.

 

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