Running head: BYOD RESEARCH PROSPECTUS

BYOD Research Prospectus

Crawford Brown, Tynisa Haskins, Wesley Harpold, Mark Livengood
Liberty University

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Abstract

This study seeks to prove that no significant difference in student achievement can be
measured between students taught in classrooms adopting exclusively BYOD programs or
exclusively instructor-led teaching (ILT). The researchers suggest that students exposed to a
blended learning environment will experience the most measurable success. Both qualitative and
quantitative analyses are implemented to create a well-rounded holistic approach to tackle the
difficult questions surrounding successful use of mobile devices in an ever-evolving education
paradigm. Students in selected middle schools will be taught using the two different methods and
given the opportunity to work collaboratively to achieve the learning objectives. An ANOVA
data analysis and Kirkpatrick survey method will be used to analyze data collected throughout
the study.
Keywords: ANOVA, BYOD, Kirkpatrick, Blended Learning, Ethnographic,
Autoethnographic, Phenomenographic

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BYOD Research Prospectus

Background
Recently, educators, students, and parents have become enthralled with the flexibility and
convenience of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) concept. Administrators believe this is the
best option for integrating technology into the classroom with minimal costs. However, there's a
problem with this theory: Learning is not as effective as anticipated with BYOD. The learning
effectiveness of BYOD is not always superior to teacher-led lessons. Certain types of curriculum
lend themselves more to BYOD delivered material and some are better suited to traditional
classroom settings. BYOD limitations still exist with writing capability and presentation
software. Additionally, schools will still need to improve networks to manage influx of devices
and purchase or establish leasing programs for students who cannot afford devices. These
limitations have prevented the widespread adaptation of BYOD delivered instruction.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this research study is to examine the effectiveness of BYOD delivered
instruction. BYOD effectiveness will be compared to instructor-led lessons based on non-biased
test scores. In addition, an examination will be made to determine if there are demographic
factors that have an influence on the universal access of mobile technology. Finally, this study
will attempt to draw correlations of academic performance between the type of curriculum and
the delivery method. The goals of BYOD are to facilitate a personalized learning experience
through social exchange of ideas and information and to help teachers identify common areas of
achievement as they work toward development of educational excellence through technology.
This would tend to indicate that collaborative activities are better suited to BYOD devices.

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Research Hypotheses
The following are the research hypotheses:
H1: Students that use BYOD devices predominantly in learning will not have a higher
academic score than students that use traditional instructor-led methods (Sheng, Siau, & Nah,
2010).
H2: Certain types of curriculum are more compatible with BYOD delivery than other
types of curriculum (Aubusson et al., 2014.).
H3: There are significant demographic factors that influence the universal nature of
mobile technological access.
H4: A well thought out blended approach is the best learning solution for most learning
environments (Lai, Khaddage, & Knezek, 2013).
Research Questions
The research questions for this study are: (a) Do students that learn solely through BYOD
delivery have higher academic achievement than students that learn solely through instructor-led
lessons? (b) Is there a difference of BYOD learning effectiveness between curriculum types
(Math, Social Science, English, etc.) when compared to instructor-led methods? (c) Is a blended
approach between BYOD and instructor-led methods the best learning solution? (d) Are there
demographic factors that influence the universal nature of mobile technological access? (e) What
are students perceptions of personal mobile devices used for learning vice instructor led
teaching (ILT)?

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Null Hypotheses
The following are the research hypotheses in null form:
H1: Students that use BYOD devices predominantly in learning will have a higher
academic score than students that use traditional instructor-led methods.
H2: There is no difference between types of curriculum with respect to BYOD delivery.
H3: There are no demographic factors that influence the universal nature of mobile
technological access.
H4: There is no advantage to blending curriculum delivery methods in classroom
settings.
Research Design
This research will involve both a quasi-experimental design and a qualitative design. A
quasi-experimental design was selected because of the difficulty of creating randomly selected
classrooms in the K-12 school setting. The independent variable in the research is the use of
mobile devices, in particular, those supplied by the student (BYOD), to enhance the educational
experience of the students. The study will involve comparing classrooms that use mobile
devices in all aspects of the learning experience verses traditional classrooms where students are
taught using ILT. Further descriptions of the independent variable will occur in the setting
section. The dependent variable in the research is the academic achievement gained by the
groups of students. These gains will be measured for both the BYOD and the ILT classrooms
and also for subject areas: mathematics and literacy. Further clarification of the dependent
variables will occur in the instrumentation and the data analysis sections.

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The qualitative design of this research was chosen to study the perceptions of students
and teachers involved in the study. Qualitative information will be collected from informal
classroom observations, exit interviews of the participants, and surveys.
Participants
In light of the broad context of ILT and BYOD online learning opportunities, this study
involves a defined population of K-12 teachers and students. The participants identified for the
study will contain teachers familiar with curriculum that facilitates blended learning and students
that have been introduced to the BYOD concept. The participants will be selected in a
nonrandom fashion. For this study, the specific group of participants will be determined by
course of study and the number of participants is predetermined by class size. An administrator
will select two schools from different districts and the principals of those schools will select two
classes within their respective schools. Participant selection will be limited to teachers within
the disciplines of math and literacy.
A mixture of qualitative and quantitative sampling will be used; ethnographic and content
analysis are the preferred methods. According to Spector (2014), the ethnographic approach is
versatile and can be used in the digital environments. Thus, using ethnographic sampling in this
study is beneficial because the researcher will ask each teacher to focus on two methods of
delivery for one specific discipline. Teachers will be asked to teach using ILT and then BYOD
for the same discipline, but with different groups of students. Each student will be given the
opportunity to participate in a recorded observation and collective interview by a case study
researcher. A consent form will be sent to all participants and their guardians if applicable prior
to the start of sampling and their identities will remain confidential. At the end of all lessons,
teachers will be asked to complete an online survey.

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Setting

The setting for this study will be in a traditional classroom environment in the selected
middle schools. The teachers will prepare two separate lessons within the same discipline and
same learning objectives. Two math lessons will be taught in one classroom over the course of a
week using the BYOD delivery and the same two math lessons will be taught over the course of
a week using the ILT delivery method by a different teacher in an adjacent classroom. The same
will be done for the literacy lessons taught by different teachers, using different delivery methods
in different classrooms. The assignments will be completed through the use of the personal
devices and school issued tablets as well as standard textbooks and handouts. The classes will be
55 minutes long and this study will take place over the course of 2 weeks. The researcher will
ensure the teachers are knowledgeable about the subject matter and technology use in class.
Each teacher must present two succinct teaching strategies for delivering the lesson with and
without technology. The researcher will observe the classroom silently.
Using collaborative software such as WIKI, blogs and Google Docs, students will work
collaboratively and independently to broaden their technology skills. Furthermore, the BYOD
students may use text chat and shared whiteboards. The ILT students will participate in small
group discussions, work collaboratively on course assignments, and provide class presentations.
The curriculum variations will be analyzed through the students survey response.
Instrumentation
Eight classes will participate in this study, two literacy classes and two math classes in
School District A and two literacy classes and two math classes in School District B.
Researchers will conduct a total of four focus group sessions for the identified participants.
Each class should consist of no more than 30 students (totaling 120 students). The BYOD

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groups should have a mix of students using school-issued technology and personal devices.
Researchers will focus on interpreting the participants individual learning experience through
autoethnographic accounts and phenomenographic methods. Autoethnographic methods will be
used to understand the role of language in pedagogy education. The researchers goal is to
examine the depth of BYODs ubiquity in different subjects and compare learning outcome of
ILT and BYOD delivery methods. The phenomenographic method will help our researchers
better understand the participants perspective of the learning event and reveal commonalities
among the participants that capture the shared learning experience (Spector, 2014 p. 177).
Several traditional and informal learning measures will be used throughout this study.
The ILT students will use a peer assessment and the BYOD students will use an embedded
assessment in a technology-based game. At the end of each class, the ILT students will be the
subjects of an unstructured interview with a minimum of five questions presented in a free-form
manner to evaluate learning in the non-technology environment. The BYOD students will be
provided with an online survey to evaluate their learning in the technology-integrated
environment. The assessments will aid the researcher in discovering how the students believe
the use of mobile devices or the lack of a mobile device impacted their learning outcome.
Researchers will also survey the teachers to determine if students typical learning behaviors
varied during the study.
Procedures

Two months prior to the start of the study, the researcher will submit an Institution
Review Board (IRB) request and obtain approval to conduct the research. Three weeks prior to
the execution of research, the researcher will meet with the school administrators to articulate the
goal of the study and review the research details. The researcher will also prepare a letter about
the study to seek permission from the supervisors and parents of the participants. This timeline

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will give the selected teachers an opportunity to anticipate any necessary curriculum
modifications and inform the students of the benefits of student participation in this research.
The researcher will also have ample time to ensure the selected classrooms foster an authentic
learning environment. This particular setting situates learning tasks in the context of real-world
situations and allows participants to experience the same problem-solving challenges in the
curriculum as in their daily lives (Spector, 2014 p. 402). This will be highly beneficial for the
math class participants.
The researcher must accurately analyze the collected data to conduct a concise
comparison between BYOD and ILT delivery methods. The range of methods used in this
study to include interviews, ethnomethodology and content analysis of mathematical
development in a small group of students (Spector, 2014 p.554) are critical to the researchers
assessment. Additionally, the researcher will have an opportunity to reference any previous field
research and consider the impact of use of software designed to enhance literacy development.
The research in this study will help to develop a better blended learning model that bolsters
personalized learning experiences with and without technology.
Data Analysis
For this study, both quantitative and qualitative data measures will be used. The
quantitative data will be derived from raw test scores based on the embedded assessment in the
BYOD technology based game and compared to the empirical data derived from peer-assessed
summative written tests for those students receiving ILT delivery. In addition to this collection of
quantitative data, qualitative data will be accumulated to assess the attitudes of teachers and
learners in the affective domain. This qualitative data will be collected from online surveys, faceto-face interviews, and observations of embedded researchers.

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To analyze the collected quantitative data, this research experiment will use the analysis
of variance (ANOVA) method. The ANOVA method of data analysis is used in the analysis of
group comparative experiments, those in which only the difference in outcomes is of interest
(McHugh, 2011). The group comparisons in this particular study will be literacy class groups vs.
math class groups, BYOD groups vs. ILT groups, and both formative and summative test score
performance comparisons between autoethnographic groups. A contrast is a measure of the
difference between means of two groups from the ANOVA. There are two contrast categories
among the groups tested by ANOVA are simple and complex. A simple contrast is a comparison
between a single control group and an experiment group. A complex comparison involved the
analysis of combination of groups (McHugh, 2011). For the quantitative analysis purposes of this
study, the Bonferoni (Dunn) ANOVA method will be chosen because of its ability to assess
families of contrasts. This research study will attempt to correlate data from these multiple
families of contrasts (McHugh, 2011). A measure statistical significance will be derived to
formulate differences in the control groups and experimental groups.
For the purposes of qualitative measure, the feelings and attitudes toward BYOD
instruction among the study participants will be collected. Qualitative measures attempt to derive
meaning from human feelings and behaviors. Initially, participation in interviews conducted by
unbiased researchers will provide data regarding the affective domain of the participants.
Additionally, performance effectiveness measures in the classroom will also be derived from
observation by these researchers. At completion of the lesson, an online Kirkpatrick survey will
be conducted for the students and teachers to ascertain the effectiveness of the learning
experience (Naugle, Naugle and Naugle, 2000). The Kirkpatrick survey will measure the
participants attitude towards the lesson using their response in four areas of interest. The first

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area will measure learner reaction, or in other words; were the learner and teacher both satisfied
with the training experience? The second area of testing will involve evaluation of the level of
learning, or what did the student learn? The third level tested by the Kirkpatrick survey will be in
terms of behavior. Did the course result in a desirable change in a behavior for the learner?
Lastly, the long term results of the course will be measured by asking the teachers at a later date
how the learning affected the organization as a whole. Do they feel that the new BYOD delivery
method resulted in an increase in school teaching efficiency?
Research Study Assumptions and Limitations
A variety of validity threats exist in the execution of this study, and if not carefully
mitigated, can result in experiment failure. Initially, the educational performance background of
the students participating in this experiment needs to analyzed. A significant difference cannot
exist in the mean academic test scores between classes chosen for the control group and the
experiment group. This holds true for the teachers involved in the study as well. It is assumed
that students may be moved across organizations borders to equalize this parameter.
Experience with digital device operation should also be considered. Students and teachers
from economically challenged environments may be victims of the digital divide that exists in
classroom settings. This would be manifested by inexperience in manipulating the digital device
with the same efficiency as a participant that has unfettered access to digital technology. It is
assumed that a preliminary inquiry will be made to ascertain the digital experience of study
participants and measures taken to either provide additional training to those who need it or
relocation of the subject to the ILT control group.
Lastly, an analysis of the types of devices that will be brought in by the students need to
occur. One of the BYOD experimental groups cannot have access to significantly better

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technology due to economic status. Attempts need to be made to equalize this variable when
possible. To ensure threats to the validity of this study are mitigated, it is assumed that all groups
will not have a statistically significant difference in the variables of education ability, digital
device operation experience and access to adequate technology.

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References

Aubusson, P., Burke, P., Schuck, S., Kearney, M., Frischknect, B., (2014). Teachers Choosing
Rich Tasks. The moderating impact of technology on student learning, enjoyment, and
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http://edr.sagepub.com/content/43/5/219.full.pdf+html?ijkey=kdBLXrzrf4bBU&keytype
=ref&siteid=spedr
Lai, K., Khaddage, F., & Knezek, G. (2013). Blending student technology experiences in formal
and informal learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29(5), 414-425.
doi:10.1111/jcal.12030
McHugh, M. L. (2011). Multiple comparison analysis testing in ANOVA. Biochemia Medica,
21(3), 203-209.
Naugle, K. A., Naugle, L. B., & Naugle, R. J. (2000). Kirkpatrick's evaluation model as a means
of evaluating teacher performance. Education, 121(1), 135-144. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/196429101?accountid=12085
Sheng, H., Siau, K., & Nah, F. F. (2010). Understanding the values of mobile technology in
education. ACM SIGMIS Database, 41(2), 25. doi:10.1145/1795377.1795380
Spector, J. M. (2014). Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology
(4th ed.). New York: Springer.
Squire, K., & Dikkers, S. (2012, November). Amplifications of learning: Use of mobile media
devices among youth. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New
Media Technologies, 18(4), 445-464. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/10.1177/1354856511429646