Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Consumerization of IT or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) concept is spreading very quickly in the organizations which hugely depend on IT infrastructure and need their employees connected to the organizations computer network for most of their tasks. Simply stating, BYOD means allowing employees to access organization network via their own devices/technology. This has resulted in enhancing ease of work in employees and is contributing in enhanced productivity. Among a lot of challenges, security is the important factor. Also, employers have to decide on working hours and payment procedures accordingly. This paper gives a short introduction to the various advantages and issues involved in general. The paper is mainly focused on how BYOD concept can be helpful in education sector, especially in higher education. Personal devices coming into the workplace are broad and diverse- so there is a challenge for companies to carefully
device their BYOD policies and BYOD management systems. BYOD has small investment cost but longtime operational cost. A lot of important factors have to be considered while implementing BYOD policy either at workplace or at education institutes. BYOD may change the concept of computer or internet lab. This concept has its own advantages and challenges which are discussed below. According to a survey for educational
institutes in US and UK, 85% of institutes allow students and staff to access the school network. It is also found that personal devices are mostly used as much for educational purposes as for private purposes There are also a lot of BYOD policies available for organizations as well as educational institutes. Most of the educational institutes have allowed some form of BYOD onto their campus mostly via network access control (NAC) without implementing any BYOD policy. This may expose institutes to various risks therefore a well documented BYOD policy is essential.

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International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 3, Issue 1, January – February 2014 ISSN 2278-6856
Volume 3, Issue 1 January – February 2014 Page 233
Abstract: Consumerization of IT or Bring Your Own
Device (BYOD) concept is spreading very quickly in the
organizations which hugely depend on IT infrastructure and
need their employees connected to the organizations
computer network for most of their tasks. Simply stating,
BYOD means allowing employees to access organization
network via their own devices/technology. This has resulted in
enhancing ease of work in employees and is contributing in
enhanced productivity. Among a lot of challenges, security is
the important factor. Also, employers have to decide on
working hours and payment procedures accordingly. This
paper gives a short introduction to the various advantages
and issues involved in general. The paper is mainly focused
on how BYOD concept can be helpful in education sector,
especially in higher education.
Personal devices coming into the workplace are broad and
diverse- so there is a challenge for companies to carefully
device their BYOD policies and BYOD management systems.
BYOD has small investment cost but longtime operational
cost. A lot of important factors have to be considered while
implementing BYOD policy either at workplace or at
education institutes.
BYOD may change the concept of computer or internet lab.
This concept has its own advantages and challenges which
are discussed below. According to a survey for educational
institutes in US and UK, 85% of institutes allow students and
staff to access the school network. It is also found that
personal devices are mostly used as much for educational
purposes as for private purposes
There are also a lot of BYOD policies available for
organizations as well as educational institutes. Most of the
educational institutes have allowed some form of BYOD onto
their campus mostly via network access control (NAC)
without implementing any BYOD policy. This may expose
institutes to various risks therefore a well documented BYOD
policy is essential.
Keywords: Consumerization of IT, BYOD, BYOD in
Education, Mobile Device Management (MDM)
1. INTRODUCTION
Bring Your Own Device or BYOD is a strategy
proposed by Intel’s chief security and privacy officer
Malcolm Harkins in 2009[1]. After observing that most of
the employees bring their own smart phones tablets and
mobile storage devices on the job, rather than getting
concerned about loss of enterprise data security and
employee productivity, he proposed a policy to embrace
this trend and use it as a means of cost cutting and
improved productivity.
2. DEFINITION OF BYOD:
BYOD is a concept that allows employees to utilize
their personally-owned technology, devices to stay
connected to, access data from, or complete tasks for their
organizations. At a minimum, BYOD programs allow
users to access employer-provided services and/or data on
their personal tablets/ e-Readers, smart phones, and other
devices [2].
Intel has achieved better productivity improved security
and greater control. It is expected that by 2014, 70% of
the Intel's employees will be using their own devices at
workplace
One of the arguments in favor of BYOD is that it is an
attempt to effectively utilize the resources. Office
computers remain unutilized when office hours are over.
Similarly certain colleges don’t allow their students to use
their devices in the campus premises, most often
requesting to switch them off.
This idea, also called as consumerization of IT, got
widely accepted and adopted by both employers and
employees. Employers were considering it as an efficient
means of cost cutting in organization IT infrastructure
and equipment. For employees this idea is attractive as it
provides an enhanced level of comfort in using a
technology of their own choice to do office work. In
January 2012, Avanade released the results of a survey of
more than 600 business and IT leaders in 17 countries
that has contradicted common myths about factors driving
the Consumerization of IT. The study, “Dispelling 6
Myths of Consumerization of IT” [3], indicates a fast-
moving shift in the use of consumer technologies in the
workplace and a surprising level of investment in this
trend by IT employers. Following is the brief summary of
this report about assumptions and fact about
consumerization of IT
 Enterprises are not resisting but rather embracing this
change
 Companies are investing in staff and resources to
enable this change
 It is also a fact that allowing personal technologies in
the workplace is not a recruitment or retention tool
particularly among younger employees
 When employees bring their personal devices at
workplace, they use it to access enterprise applications
like CRM, ERP etc rather than checking emails and
face book updates
 Personal devices coming into the workplace are broad
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in Higher
Education: Opportunities and Challenges
Rahat Afreen
Course Coordinator (MCA), Millennium Institute of Management,
Dr. Rafiq Zakaria Campus, Aurangabad.

International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 3, Issue 1, January – February 2014 ISSN 2278-6856
Volume 3, Issue 1 January – February 2014 Page 234
and diverse- so there is a challenge for companies to
carefully device their BYOD policies and BYOD
management systems.
 Finally and most importantly majority of companies
have already encountered a security breach as a result
of consumerization of IT
BYOD has small investment cost but longtime
operational cost. The BYOD does not mean mere
permission to employees to use their personal devices or
technologies to access sensitive enterprise resources, it
also means that employer should provide a proper
infrastructure to incorporate efficient working and
communication among various types of devices and
technologies on enterprise IT infrastructure. There are a
lot of issues needed to be resolved for this purpose. You
must take care of various technical, legal, financial and
other aspects. Following are some of them
First of all, it is a general observation that devices
possessed by individuals are more up-to-date than the
device owned by organization. They vary in type,
technology and a lot of other factors depending on users
own comfort in using a device. Accordingly
organization’s technical infrastructure must be sound
enough to support this diversity.
Personal devices contain their own data like photos,
videos, favorite books, data about the articles books and
blogs they are working on etc. When connected to
organization’s server these data is accessible to employer.
Privacy of such data must be maintained. Issues regarding
loss of such personal data have to be addressed properly.
Loss of employer’s sensitive data is also a critical issue.
What if a worker sells out its device or leaves the
organization or shares his/her device with relatives or
friends.
Further, employer can track out employee’s behavior,
likes dislikes from the information stored on personal
devices, locate his/her whereabouts using GPRS locator
and such other apps. That can be used against employee.
Personal devices also have certain software and
programs use of which may be not allowed within an
organization. So, employees must be educated properly.
If employees are connected to organization’s network
via their personal devices, they can work from anywhere,
even in holidays. Calculating working hours and
payments become a difficult problem in such cases
Some employers consider costs and risks of employees
getting hurt on the job. They may offer solutions in the
form of insurance, safety training and other available
alternatives. Repetitive stress injuries of deskbound
employees can also be covered in this. What if such
injuries occur to an employee while he/she is doing office
work on his/her own device?
So, an organization adopting BYOD must have a sound
BYOD policy. This is implemented using any suitable of
Mobile Device Management (MDM) application. There
are a lot of MDM policy providers in the market;
AirWatch has emerged as a leader. MobileIron, Citrix,
Good Technology are few others [4].
It is also essential that employers organize training
sessions to properly educated employees regarding
advantages and issues that can be faced by them while
adopting for BYOD.
According to a global survey done by OVUM [5],
percentage of BYOD acceptance for India is more than
80% and implementation of BYOD policy for India is
around 40%. Where as in US, percentage of BYOD
acceptance is 40% and implementation of BYOD policy
is around 30%. This survey shows that lack of efficient
BYOD policy is an issue everywhere. It is also interesting
to note that India shows a higher percentage of
acceptances for BYOD and BYOD policy implementation
when compared with both growth and mature markets.
3. BYOD IN EDUCATION:
Although not as a specific concept but since almost one
decade educational institutes are observing tendency of
students and teachers to bring their laptops, smart phones
and tablets as a resource for enhancing their learning
experience.
According to Tom Murphy of Bradford Networks,
“Education institutions have been at the forefront of the
BYOD trend for years and in many ways provide a road
map for enterprise organizations that are just starting to
embrace freedom of device choice for their
employees.”[6]
Below is the global picture of mobile device ownership
by students [7]
Figure 1 Percentage of mobile device owned
by students and teenagers
According to a survey conducted by Educause, most
college and university students (86%) own laptops as
their primary computer device for academic purposes, but
more students in 2012 than in previous years owned
tablets (15%), smart phones (62%) and/or e-readers
(12%)[8]. Another survey by Bradford Networks for
educational institutes in US and UK [9] found that 85%
of institutes allow students and staff to access the school
network. This is higher in higher education (89%) and
lower in K-12 (primary plus secondary education in the
UK) where it is just 44%. It is also found that personal
devices are mostly used as much for educational purposes
as for private purposes: 78% said that the devices are used
in their school systems “for personal use by teachers and

International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 3, Issue 1, January – February 2014 ISSN 2278-6856
Volume 3, Issue 1 January – February 2014 Page 235
students,” while 72% stated that students used the devices
to complete class assignments. These surveys clearly
reflect a wide acceptance of BYOD in education.
The reasons behind these levels of acceptance may be that
the very purpose of any education is to provide knowledge
which is achieved by providing more and more
information about particular subject. Contrary to IT
organizations, where data and information is sensitive in
nature and may not be allowed to access from outside or
by some unauthorized person.
Today internet is the major source where information is
available in abundance on any subject in the form of
eBooks, blogs, forums and a lot other web based
resources. Institute may have subscription to e journal and
e Libraries which again most of them provide for free to
the students .With BYOD Students can access them from
anywhere easily. Teachers can share their knowledge
easily with students in or out of classrooms. This concept
proves beneficial to the students with all types of
understanding levels. Students with high IQ level can
achieve expertise in their subject of interest in relatively
small period of time. Introvert students who hesitate to
present their doubts in classroom can email or post their
doubts either to his/her teacher or in any online forum.
Like for Industry, there are also a lot of BYOD policies
available for educational institutes. These policies are
provided by market leaders like CISCO and others which
can be relied upon [10]. Also, there are a lot of education
guidance providers who have chalked out guidelines on
how to make an educational institute BYOD supported.
Following is the layout provided by Weebly for schools.
[11]
Most of the educational institutes have allowed some form
of BYOD onto their campus mostly via network access
control (NAC) without implementing any BYOD policy.
This is very risky as institutes are exposing their networks
to various threats like unauthorized access, attacks of
malware and viruses from student devices connected to
institute network, loss of data etc.
FIGURE 2 A Byod Policy Guideline for Schools
Now as BYOD is emerging as an independent concept,
it will become essential for educational institutes to
understand what exactly is needed to be done when they
decide to BYOD their network.
When cornered about younger generation, the very
essential challenge will be concerned that institute
resources should not be used for juvenile purpose. Access
to various resources should abide by the national and
international laws and regulating policies.

International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 3, Issue 1, January – February 2014 ISSN 2278-6856
Volume 3, Issue 1 January – February 2014 Page 236
Further government education regulating authorities
should play an important role in designing such policies.
For professional education, such authorities provide
specific norms regarding IT infrastructure and institutes
must abide to them. BYOD may change the concept of
computer lab.
Same will be the challenge for institutes running IT
related courses .Institutes have to subscribe various
programming and development software and applications
for teaching purpose and deal with licensing. Although IT
industry provides educational licensing for such software
but now they must consider BYOD aspects of these
licensing.
From the beginning while proposing the BYOD, Intel
has accepted that is will be one of the cost cutting
strategies. While adopting such strategies in education,
we will be facing a lot of issues. In countries like India,
students may get reluctant for institute not providing IT
infrastructure. A solution of such problem can be given by
providing financial assistance from the cost cutting
obtained via BYOD. Institutes may support eligible
students in procuring educational resources or provide
such other suitable financial support.
4. CONCLUSION:
While a person is at work or at school, a computer may
be laying unused back at his/her home, a switched off i-
phone in the pocket. Similarly, after schools are closed
and office hours are over, the computer labs there are
remaining unused for more than 8 hours. According to
Professor Stephen Heppell, University of Bournemouth
“Every turned off device is a turned off child” So, BYOD
is an effort to better utilize available resources. It cannot
be denied that BYOD is a cost cutting strategy of
organizations, yet the level of its acceptance by workers is
very high. For educational institutes, BYOD has its
existence in some form or other since more than a decade.
The only need for them is to have a well stated and
organized policy. Government authorities and IT
industries may support educational institutes in this. The
ultimate goal should be to provide enhanced learning
resources to the students within their comfort zone.
REFERENCES:
[1] Jeffrey Roman, BYOD: Get Ahead of the Risk-
BankInfoSecurity, 11th Jan, 2012 [online]
Available:http://www.bankinfosecurity.in/byod-get-
ahead-risk-a-4394/op-1
[2] Bring Your Own Device A Toolkit to Support
Federal Agencies Implementing Bring Your Own
Device (BYOD) Programs, August 23, 2012[online]
Available:http://www.whitehouse.gov/digitalgov/brin
g-your-own-device
[3] Avanade Research &Insights, Global Survey:
Dispelling Six Myths of Consumerization of IT,
[4] Thor Olav surd, 10 Mobile Device Management
Leaders That Help IT Control BYOD, , July 02,
2013[online]
Available:http://www.networkworld.com/slideshow/1
08897/10-mobile-device-management-leaders-that-
help-it-control-byod.html
[5] Adrian Drury, Richard Absalom, BYOD: an
emerging market trend in more ways than one,
Employee attitudes to work/life balance drive BYOD
behavior, Logicalis white paper, ovum
[6] Education Institutions at Forefront of BYOD,
Infosecurity magazine, 22 May, 2013[online].
Available:http://www.infosecurity-
magazine.com/view/32549/education-institutions-at-
forefront-of-byod-/
[7] Best Practices for Enabling BYOD in Education,
Palmer Research white Paper, 2013
[8] Eden Dahlstrom, Ecar study of undergraduate
students and information technology 2012,
September 17, [online]. Available:
www.educause.edu/library/resources/ecar-study-
undergraduatestudents-and-information-technology-
2012
[9] The Impact of BYOD in Education, Bradford
Networks
[10] BYOD in Education, The Cisco Bring-Your-Own-
Device Solution for Education: Getting Mobile
Devices Simply and Securely Connected [online]
Available:http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/ed
ucation/46096_byod_ed_aag.pdf
[11] Writing Your Own Policy, Bring Your Own Device
Support 6th Dec, 2013
[online]Available:http://byodsandpit.weebly.com/writ
ing-your-own-policy.html
AUTHOR
Khan Rahat Afreen, B.E, M.E(CSE),
Completed PhD on the topic “Implementing
Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Embedded
Systems Using Hash Table to Achieve Large
Key Size”. Currently working as Associate Professor and
Course Coordinator for MCA at millennium Institute of
Management, Dr. Rafiq Zakaria Campus, Aurangabad.