In the hundreds of conversations I have had with instructional designers, teaching excellence centers and instructors, I often end up resorting to colloquialisms and imagery to succinctly describe the relentless changes in student engagement and learning.   So what’s the big deal?  Do we really need all this change? And what will the “new normal” be for how instructors deliver content and teach with the rapid technological transformations that are happening? The reality is that the vast majority of students in today’s digital age have persistent access to the internet through a variety of devices. Therefore, we should leverage these devices as tools for learning.

The single largest driver in the “new normal” of learning is student preference. The Educause Center for Applied Research discovered that 64% of students agree or strongly agree that technology elevates the level of teaching, and approximately 75% of students have taken a class with online components. At Via Response, we have had universities state that large hybrid courses (500-2500 students) often reach maximum attendance levels, while the same course offered inside a traditional classroom struggles to get students. They indicated that 14:1 ratios are not uncommon.

Economic pressure faced by both students and educational institutions has been a catalyst for change. In today’s economy, more students are working while going to school, and thus have a greater need for the schedule flexibility offered by hybrid classes. A survey conducted by the Center for Teaching at Estrella Mountain Community College stated that 74% of surveyed students indicated that “convenience and flexibility” were what they liked best about hybrid classes. Students in these classes can attend in person, watch a live lecture from a remote location, or review the lecture at a later time if they have a schedule conflict, such as work. This revolution in higher education course delivery is all about choice.  The trends in hybrid course offerings is expected to see unabated growth because this new course delivery model enables students to experience on-campus life while leveraging technology to balance school, work and other life demands.

Financial performance pressures have also changed how public and private institutions support students. Administrators are grappling with the complex challenge of providing quality education and protecting their institutional brand while competing with for-profit online learning institutions that offer innovative course delivery models.  The past two decades saw tremendous growth in updated on-campus amenities and building infrastructure; however, now there is renewed fiscal scrutiny around the most efficient ways to deliver learning. Building new lecture halls and buildings is now secondary to technology innovations that deliver flexible, high quality education. To cover these growing costs while facing budget cutbacks, blended “Bricks and Clicks” learning environments are now the ideal solution.

There are challenges with hybrid course models however.  Instructors need to promote live student engagement and in-class assessment for all students, even those not physically present, to make these blended classrooms effective. While learning management systems (LMS) have robust asynchronous assessment capabilities, they are limited in their ability to engage students in live hybrid class configurations since they are passive in nature. In fact, some LMS-based asynchronous courses have students choosing to not watch the lecture at all; instead they focus on the information presented in the textbook to save time.

LMS platforms have limited capabilities on mobile devices, thus requiring students to use a computer to participate. In comparison, next generation BYOD student engagement platforms enable students to participate in class using any device they own, such as smart phones, tablets, eBook devices and laptops. These platforms can be seamlessly integrated with LMS platforms. BYOD-based platforms also provide instructors with blended synchronous/asynchronous tools that increase student engagement and content retention by as much as 37%, according to one University of Central Florida professor. They also help instructors and institutions measure active student participation. For example, these tools can take attendance, even from students attending remotely, enabling institutions to accurately document student participation. This is essential in situations where attendance confirmation is mandatory for students earning scholarship credits.

In addition to adding value in LMS-based courses, the benefits of using a BYOD student engagement platform in hybrid, online and flipped classroom configurations are significant. In particular, remote students can participate in live polls or assessments that occur in a live lecture from any device and location, alongside students present in the classroom. . Real-time access to poll, quiz, and assessment results are immediately available, and can be easily shared with the class as a kick-off for discussions. This capability provides both the instructor and students with insight in to how well the entire class, as a whole, is absorbing and retaining course content.

Top tier schools have recognized the ability to leverage their brand through these new educational delivery methods.  As a result, a student can now pick the brand with little or no regard to geographic location.  Will this trend stop? I think not. In the end, institutions should ask themselves whether it is better to board the technology innovation train as it departs the station, or after it is heading west at 80MPH. In my opinion, it’s far less painful to get on board now than try to catch this speeding train later.

Why? Economic pressure faced by both students and educational institutions has been a catalyst for change. In today’s economy, more students are working while going to school, and thus have a greater need for the schedule flexibility offered by hybrid classes. A survey conducted by the Center for Teaching at Estrella Mountain Community College stated that 74% of surveyed students indicated that “convenience and flexibility” were what they liked best about hybrid classes. Students in these classes can attend in person, watch a live lecture from a remote location, or review the lecture at a later time if they have a schedule conflict, such as work. This revolution in higher education course delivery is all about choice.

However, instructors have a key concern with hybrid course delivery; it’s the ability to track how many students are actually watching the lecture at home. Most fear students are only doing the assigned reading and homework without participating in the lecture sessions online. The complex task facing higher education institutions is determining how to take full advantage of the latest technology innovations, such as cloud-based student engagement platforms, to help resolve this concern. As a way to support the “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement, student engagement platforms allow students to access their assignments from any location through smartphones, tablets or laptops. By blending synchronous and asynchronous assessments, even for large hybrid or online courses, instructors can ensure students are actively participating throughout the term.

Synchronous communication takes place like a real-life conversation. Students located remotely can watch the live lecture through a video-streaming platform alongside classmates located inside the lecture hall.  Student engagement platforms enable every student, no matter where they are located, to participate in synchronous polls and quizzes through any smart device. Because these devices are used (versus a legacy clicker), questions can incorporate images, essays, and other advanced media. Remote students are able to ask questions and participate in discussions alongside their on-campus classmates. Responses from polls and quizzes are available immediately for review, providing both students and instructors with real-time feedback on the content being presented.

Typical asynchronous assessments, such as homework case studies and take-home exams, are a great way to engage students on complex issues and verify deeper understanding of a topic. This process, however, tends to contribute to the common practice of students procrastinating to study and learn course materials until an assignment is due. They often neglect watching the lecture videos, and instead focus solely on these assignments, leading to limited participation throughout the term.

Robust student engagement platforms with both synchronous and asynchronous assessment capabilities, give instructors the right tools to encourage and measure student participation. For example, an instructor can launch polls and quizzes during a live lecture and leave them open for a set period of time, allowing students that are participating asynchronously to take the same assessments. In this case the student must watch the lecture to in order to know the material presented and accurately answer the questions to earn points. The University of Central Florida’s College of Business uses a student engagement platform in this exact way for a very large hybrid class with over 2500 students; most of which participate from several remote campus locations.

These innovative student engagement platforms are also used in traditional classrooms. Students prefer using the devices they carry every day, smartphones, tablets and laptops, instead clickers that they lose or forget, are problematic at times and expensive. Teachers often hear statements like “I forgot my clicker” and “did you get my response?” far too often. Students also dislike having to purchase multiple clickers based on the model a particular instructor chooses to use in a given class. At the end of the day, students want instructors to embrace technology innovations in their classrooms – especially solutions that leverage smart devices and provide flexible course participation.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has forever changed higher education. Most college students carry one or more mobile devices with them to class, whether it is a tablet, laptop, or smartphone.  According to the Educause Center for Applied Research, almost 9 out of every 10 students own a laptop, and the ownership rates of technological devices among students continue to increase. BYOD has forced student response systems into the digital age where cloud-based platforms are rapidly becoming the new standard. Cloud-based student response systems provide a simpler, more effective way to engage students through the mobile devices they use every day.

Clickers were innovative devices that gave life to the student response phenomenon.  The problem, however, is that these devices are an unnecessary hardware for today’s tech savvy college students. Other issues such as cost, difficult implementations, no blended learning support and assessment limitations have become harder to overcome when competing with newer cloud-based platforms. These new platforms, especially those available as mobile applications, are inexpensive, easy to set up and support a variety of assessments to keep students actively engaged in and out of class.

A clicker device can cost students anywhere from $30-$65, and often times aren’t transferrable from class-to-class if instructors are using different devices, whereas a subscription to cloud-based student response systems can be as low as $10 a year and have options to pay for single semesters and available  across any class. The implementation process for clickers requires hardware and cables, which can make it a confusing process for professors to tackle alone. Cloud based systems are really student assessment systems and go far beyond 1^st generation student response systems.  Through mobile devices cloud-based assessment platforms require no additional hardware and the setup process can be completed in as little as fifteen minutes. Additionally, clickers are limited to only a few, multiple choice question types. Professors using student response systems on mobile devices can create and share a wide range of assessments both synchronous and asynchronous across sections such as live in-class polling, quizzes, homework, free form text responses, image displays, and much more.  Another very important differentiator is the student’s ability to review their responses to study for higher stakes tests.

If the costs and limited functionality of clickers aren’t enough to showcase why they are an outdated option for enhanced student engagement in higher education, data privacy will most certainly be the final nail in the coffin. Until recent years, data privacy issues weren’t a universal concern. When clickers first hit the market, no one worried about the security and safety of student data that was stored on each professor’s computer. Today, virtually every industry has explicit data standards – higher education is no exception.  Cloud-based student response systems upload data automatically in real-time and are immediately available to both the professor and the student to review and confirm. The data is securely encrypted and stored, eliminating all of the common FERPA violations found with clicker systems.

Only time will tell how long it will take for clickers to be replaced entirely by cloud-based student response systems, specifically those that also have native applications for smartphone and tablets. One can bet, however, that BYOD will help to expedite this switch. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education’s 2010 Technology Plan states that leveraging these advanced technologies results in improved student learning, accelerated adoption of effective practices, more engaged experiences and content, complements measurements of student achievement and collaborative teaching strategies, along with data that can be used to help improve the education system over time.

A recent whitepaper published by EdTechMagazine.com states, ‘postsecondary students once looked to academic departments for recommendations on which computing products to purchase and bring to class. But today’s generation of college students is far more technologically savvy.’ The whitepaper goes on to discuss that student’s feel technology is as a key component of their overall success and have an expectation to have their technology needs supported by their chosen college or university. According to the 21st Century Campus Report, 87 percent of current college students considered technology offerings when deciding which institution to attend. And 92 percent of current high school students said that technology will be key differentiators during their university selection process.

Of course as with most things, there are two sides to any issue. Supporting faculty, students, and staff in BYOD-mode has become an increasingly demanding challenge in higher education. Opposition typically is encountered by those who are worried about security breaches and the potential catastrophic impact to a university’s network infrastructure. Critics do often agree that defining and implementing a BYOD strategy is the best way to ease these concerns.

A multitude of online resources exist to help develop an effective BYOD strategy. Cisco outlines three steps to success as being strategy and governance, network readiness, and security in a recent blog. CDW-G’s three step approach includes securing faculty support, deploying virtualization and rethinking support policies. Cherwell advises that higher education institutions should create clear data policies, ensure no student is disadvantaged by the lack of available technology, secure sufficient investment in infrastructure and implement appropriate security measures.

Regardless of one’s position on BYOD, it is clear that it will not be an option much longer, but rather a requirement. The sooner higher education institutions develop and deploy effective BYOD strategies the better. They will be able to remain competitive in recruiting students and producing a high percentage of graduates.