To be, or not to be: that is the question:
William Shakespeare
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
The theme for February is Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD. While I assume most of you know what that means, for the uninitiated I’ll start here with a little background. BYOD is exactly what it sounds like: the end user brings their own device (typically a laptop, tablet, or phone) to an audiovisual equipped space and can connect that device to share video and audio off the device with the other participants in the room. The connect method is often a cable (HDMI, USB-C, or, *gasp*, VGA) provided to the user, although increasingly wireless sharing solutions are also becoming common. While come BYOD capability is almost ubiquitous today in all classrooms, in many situations BYOD is the only sharing method provided. For the purpose of the remainder of this article, when BYOD is referred to, it means these “BYOD only” configurations. The alternative to BYOD configurations is to have a computing device already installed in the room, typically a compact desktop PC or Mac, that all users can choose to log into via the provided keyboard and mouse and use for their presentation. They would provide their credentials and then access their content from shared network drives, cloud storage, or a USB flash drive.
For those of you who have been in pro audiovisual for a while, it will come as no surprise to you that there is significant debate on which method is better. (We have a great ability to debate on pretty much everything in pro AV!) While I operate on a largely BYOD campus, there have been many times when I have strongly considered installing in-room computers, so I can see both sides. What that said, I will take some time in this article to briefly share some of the pros and cons of each solution.
First, let’s start with the benefits of the BYOD solution. The primary benefit is that users are working on a device they are comfortable with, has all the software they need, and has their content readily available. I’m not sure we can put a price on the value of familiarity to bring confidence and calmness as they prepare to give their presentation. One specific example is that Apple fans get to work in a MacOS environment while PC fans get to work in a Windows environment. A side benefit to bringing your own device is that each user has the specific special software they need with them on their device – medical, engineering, chemistry, desktop publishing, art, etc.
Of course, there are challenges with the BYOD solution as well. The biggest challenge: inconsistency. In a BYOD scenario, the AV system needs to work with a wide variety of new and old devices with different hardware configurations, versions of OS, and AV drivers. Add USB connections that are becoming common to provide peripheral camera and microphone support for conferencing and lecture capture, and there is a whole new range of software and hardware issues that can trip up a user. Inevitably some very old or very new device will have an issue that prevents the user from easily connecting and presenting from their device. Frankly, this wide-open hodgepodge of possibilities is a Technology Manager’s nightmare. The care and feeding of the user’s device is largely out of our control – and, let’s be honest, we crave control over our AV systems for the sake of consistency! Are they applying updates? Did they adjust settings to get it to work right in their office that then broke the ability to connect in the classroom? The device might work one day and then not the next after some update happened. And whose fault is it when their own device doesn’t work in the room? Ours, of course.
Let’s switch to the in-room computer scenario. The primary benefit of the in-room computer is a hassle-free experience! The technology manager can set the computer up exactly how it needs to be, make all the connections correctly, and update the hardware and software as needed. Once all the software and settings are functioning for the room, the manager can then apply a software solution that locks down the system configuration from any changes. As our campus had to move to online and hybrid solutions, I really sensed the benefit that could come from an in-room computer. You can make the camera and audio connections and then configure the software to select the correct devices. In our BYOD environment, we had to provide instructions for faculty on how to choose the correct USB device in several different applications like Zoom, Webex, Teams, and Panopto. The odds that an instructor might choose the wrong device setting in the BYOD scenario are higher than we would prefer. None of that is a problem with a well configured and locked down in-room computer. In addition, the instructors can travel light in this scenario – they don’t need to bring a laptop or tablet with them because they just use the computer installed in the room.
The main disadvantage of the in-room computer is ultimately cost. While each instructor almost certainly has a computer of their own to use, this will require the purchase of additional PCs to install in the classrooms. In addition to the added hardware cost, you also need to account for both the additional labor required to support those computers and the software licenses for every unique bit of software an instructor may need to access. I suspect it can be incredibly difficult to maintain an accurate survey of all the various software packages each instructor needs to have installed on the computer for their use. Above that, decisions will need to be made on the core platform to support: Apple or Windows (or Linux)? To a large extent, those decisions would vary by discipline with a program like engineering more like to request a Windows PC while programs like arts or graphic design would likely require the use of a Mac. In a general university or general pool classroom, where any number of different disciplines could instruct during any semester, having to decide on a platform can be daunting – short of supporting a dual-boot system and the potential headaches that could cause – someone is going to be disappointed.
So, which is better? Unlike my usual brash style, I’m actually not going to provide an opinion on this one. As we have covered above, each option has real and significant benefits and challenges. I am personally more comfortable with the BYOD option, but that is largely because I’ve never had extensive experience providing in-room PCs that we had to be responsible for. Would I like in-room computers better? There are certainly some attractive benefits. The decision of which direction to proceed ultimately comes down to personal, departmental, or institutional preferences.
Oh, I can’t stand it! I have to give an opinion! Personally, the overarching consideration for me is the comfort of the instructor. From that perspective, I really believe the BYOD is the better solution. The instructor is using their own computer that they have configured and are comfortable using. In a strong science and engineering school, I also think maintaining licenses for a variety of specialized software applications on the in-room computers would be both administratively burdensome and financially challenging.
To BYOD or not to BYOD? Let’s make this a two-way conversation! What are the preferences of you, your department, or your institution when it comes to BYOD-only vs. in-room computers? Let us know in the comments below or on social media!