Examining 21st century skills in BYOD schools: From programs to practice

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) is a common strategy to increase technology integration in schools and give learners more responsibility in using digital devices for educational purposes. In particular, learners are expected to develop domain-general 21st-century skills when using their personal devices. Although there is no consensus regarding a comprehensive framework of 21st-century skills, most conceptual models incorporate aspects such as collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking-so-called 4C competences-as well as self-direction and the use of digital technologies for learning, among other aspects. The importance of these competencies has been stressed in general and vocational education. To study the relationship between BYOD approaches and self-reported 21st-century skills, we conducted a survey of N = 8265 upper-secondary students from 100 schools in Switzerland. Using multilevel linear modeling, we compared the self-reported 21st-century skills of students with or without personal digital devices for learning in general and vocational education tracks. Our results indicate that learners reported higher levels of 21st-century skills by indicating that they brought their own devices to school, especially with regard to creativity, self-direction, and the use of technology for learning. However, an official BYOD program was no significant predictor of students' self-reported skills. The interactions between an official BYOD program and actual BYOD practice in class were not significant. Further, self-reported levels of 21st-century skills seemed to be higher in general than in vocational education. The study indicates that a BYOD concept alone does correspond to students' 21st-century skills but actual BYOD practices do.