BYOD - Bring your own Device

PurposeAt WIC, we understand that technological literacy and proficiency is key to not only academic success, but also to enable students to be connected to the global community beyond our school building.

As such, when students bring their own technology into the classroom, they have greater ownership, personalization, and flexibility over their learning. Additionally, the use of digital tools broadens students’ platforms for communication and collaboration not only with their teachers and students at WIC, but also beyond the classroom.

At WIC, we understand that technological literacy and proficiency is one of the keys to success in a rapidly changing world and interconnected global marketplace. As such, by empowering our students to bring their own technology into the classroom it facilitates greater ownership of learning, collaboration, communication, creativity and personalized learning via devices that best suit their learning needs. Ultimately, we believe that this direction allows us to more fully meet our Purpose to unleash the potential of passionate and creative problem solvers, ready to contribute to a better world.

Technology in school is not about the hardware and accessing the internet. It is developing digital literacies, leveraging tools and resources to enable learning. Technology in the classroom will enable better personalized learning, encourage growth of technology skills, leverage of tools and resources online, connect us to the world, enable research, and help develop critical thinking skills that will help our students succeed in a global marketplace.

School Requirements

Grades 7 to 12, All Students
Students will be expected to bring their devices to school every day and use their technology resources to support their learning.

Students that do bring their own devices will be responsible for maintaining their own device, charging, and virus protection. If students are unable to bring their own device, they may sign out a computer from the College on a short-term basis.

An important component of BYOD will be the education of students around appropriate online behaviors.  We will review cyber-safety rules with students frequently throughout the course of the school year and will offer reminders and reinforcement about safe online behaviors.  In addition to the rules outlined in these guidelines, students will be expected to comply with all class and school rules while using personal devices.  The use of technology is not a necessity but a privilege and a distinct advantage when it is used effectively.  When abused, privileges will be questioned and sanctions will be administered. Students will not only learn technology skills but will develop the self-regulation skills required to be successful.

BYOD Device Requirements
 

Our PlatformTo facilitate our BYOD program we have invested significantly in our Campus Connect solution. Campus Connect allows you to access all online resources from a single portal. From Campus Connect you may access Office 365, Canvas, MyBlueprint, PowerSchool and more!
 

Office 365Each student has their own free copy of Microsoft Office for Mac or Windows, we recommend installing the Microsoft Office on each student’s device.

Students connected to the “West Island College” Wi-Fi are also able to print directly to the student printers and use their print code to release their print jobs.

Students can work in the Microsoft Office suite, and upload their files to their OneDrive. This provides a cloud storage solution so that student work cannot be misplaced or lost.

BYOD DevicesMicrosoft Surface Devices

Any of the Surface Pro generation 7 or later will meet school needs.
The school currently uses 50 Microsoft Surface 4 Pro devices daily.

If you wish to purchase a Microsoft Surface, below is what’s recommended.

• Any current Surface Pro 7 or greater. Surface Typecover (Keyboard) is a must.

• Any Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Laptop 4

• Recommended Specs: 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Core i5

Customers to the Chinook Mall Microsoft Store can mention they are from West Island College and receive a discount.

Apple Macbook Devices

If you currently have a Mac that you wish to bring to school it will need to be running macOS Big Sur (macOS 11) as a minimum and 8 GB of ram is recommended.

If you wish to purchase an Apple MacBook, below is what’s recommended.

• Any current MacBook, 256GB SSD will work – 512GB is recommended.
• Any current MacBook Pro, 256GB SSD will work – 512GB is recommended

WIC currently uses 200 Apple MacBook devices daily.

Standard Laptop

Have an old laptop that works great still? Please see the Minimum Specifications list below to ensure the device meets requirements.

 

Google Chromebooks are not supported at WIC. The device must have Apple OSX or Windows 10/11

Minimum Specifications

Wi-Fi Connectivity	The student’s personal device should be capable of 5 GHz dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity. This means that the device should have 802.11 a/b/g/n or ac as the Wi-Fi standard. Also, be aware that if your student’s device is equipped with wireless standard 802.11b/g/n, then it’s unlikely to be 5 GHz compatible.
Screen Size	The student’s primary device must be larger than 10” diagonally.
Keyboard	It is required that the student be able to type essay-length text into their device without hinderance. The device must have a physical keyboard.
Operating System	We require that all student’s primary devices utilize a standard operating system such as Windows 10, or macOS 11 or later. Android, Linux, or command line operating systems are not acceptable operating systems for a student’s primary device. Windows S Mode is not supported, must be full version of Windows 10 or higher.
Battery Life	The device must be able to hold a charge for at least 5 hours without needing to recharge.
CPU, RAM, HDD	The device must have at least two cores over 2GHz. Minimum 8GB of RAM. 120GB of storage on a Solid State Drive.
Security	A password must be set to login to the computer.

Multimedia Specifications

If the student would like to engage in multimedia experiences on their device, we recommend these specifications. Multimedia experiences would be classified as, video editing, 3d rendering, CAD design, gaming, or processing large datasets.

Wi-Fi Connectivity	The student’s personal device should be capable of 5 GHz dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity. This means that the device should have 802.11 a/b/g/n or ac as the Wi-Fi standard. Also, be aware that if your student’s device is equipped with wireless standard 802.11b/g/n, then it’s unlikely to be 5 GHz compatible.
Screen Size	The student’s primary device must be larger than 10” diagonally.
Keyboard	It is required that the student be able to type essay-length text into their device without hinderance. The device must have a physical keyboard.
Operating System	We require that all student’s primary devices utilize a standard operating system such as Windows 10, or macOS 11 or later. Android, Linux or command line operating systems are not acceptable operating systems for a student’s primary device. Windows S Mode is not supported, must be full version of Windows 10 or higher.
Battery Life	The device must be able to hold a charge for at least 5 hours without needing to recharge.
CPU, RAM, HDD	The device must have at least four cores over 2GHz. Minimum 16GB of RAM. 512GB of storage on a Solid State Drive.
Security	A password must be set to login to the computer.
Video Card	The device must have a dedicated video card for graphics. A midrange Geforce or Radeon brand work well.

 

 

Secondary Devices

 

These types of devices are also great tools for learning, but will not meet the requirements of the Primary Device a student will use to learn at WIC.

iPad Devices

Tablet Devices

iPad Devices