At Mater Maria Catholic College, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program supports 21st century teaching and learning. In order to achieve the goal of developing Engage, Positive, Independent and Connected (EPIC learners) the College encourages the use of resources that provide diverse learning opportunities matched to each student’s individual needs. The use of personal technology allows for more active and collaborative engagement in learning inside and outside of the classroom and specifically provides opportunities:

• To use specific apps to support diverse needs
• For self-paced and/or self-directed learning
• To demonstrate learning in a wider range of ways
• To prepare students for a modern workplace where the so called 21st century skills including creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, independence and time management are highly valued
• To meet the requirements of the Australian Curriculum to develop the same set of same set of general capabilities mentioned above as well as literacy, numeracy, ethical behaviour, personal and social competence and intercultural understanding.

BYOD Program Code of Conduct

Information relating to the program is formally communicated via the Parents Portal on the College website such as the:

• Policies and procedures that students will need to follow
• Prescribed free College apps
• Prescribed eTextbook list

What will this mean for our students?

Students will still need to have a written work book for the majority of their subjects – the device will continue to be a resource that is used to support learning at the discretion of the teacher.

Students will need to submit homework and assessments in a format that can be accessed by staff e.g. through the Google suite of apps for education. Students will be able to connect a single device to the school’s Wi-Fi – the device should be a laptop or tablet and meet the specifications below.

NB: The College will connect the BYOD device to the school WiFi, however, all warranty, support, accidental damage and loss/theft issues are the responsibility of the parent.

Please note that we do not support iPads and Google Chrome Books.

iPads were phased out at the end of 2021.