Bring Your Own Device | West Moreton Anglican College

The WestMAC mandatory Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program helps ensure that WestMAC is able to provide learning opportunities anywhere, anytime, that will prepare students with career and life skills for their future.

All students in Years 7-12 are BYOD. Year 7 and new students will have their BYOD induction early in Term 1, and must have their device available from day 1.

The BYOD program helps to ensure WestMAC is:

meeting the Australian Curriculum (P-10) and Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) curriculum (11-12) mandated ICT skills requirements;
addressing College strategic focuses to prepare students for an uncertain future, remain relevant in a rapidly expanding knowledge economy, and make our programs innovative, adaptable and
responsive to unforeseen trends and developments;
individualising learning, increasing independence and self-initiated learning in students.

Device Specifications and Purchasing

We consider WestMAC to be 'device agnostic' – families may choose from Apple or Windows devices, as long as they meet the minimum specifications - please note that Chromebooks are not supported.

The College has provided a vendor option for ease of purchasing devices that meet the specifications for WestMAC BYOD. However, you are encouraged to investigate a range of vendors and are under no obligation to purchase from the supplier we have suggested - this is simply provided as a service to our families.

Please carefully consider the learning needs of your child in terms of their study pathways when choosing a device. There are some specialist subjects (particularly in Senior School) that may mean a certain device is preferred for ease of access and use of particular software. Students following a Music program, for example, should consider if a stylus-enabled device would provide extra value to learning; students following a creative program (eg: Visual Art) may find an Apple Mac laptop works better for their needs.

Regardless of device chosen, students have full access to the Microsoft Office suite of software for the duration of their enrolment at WestMAC, so there is no need to purchase this as an additional extra. This also includes the software Intune that will be required for devices to access the College network. Any specialist subject software will be available for students enrolled in those subjects through the Horizon virtual desktop, or made available through classroom computer access as needed.

When purchasing a device, we urge families to consider the ‘total cost of ownership’ including warranty, technical support arrangements and hardware components which will contribute to the life of the laptop. The cheapest laptop to buy is not necessarily the best option in the end. The school takes no responsibility for any laptop purchasing and/or finance arrangements. All issues with laptop purchases or technical issues must be taken up with the vendor/supplier.

See below for the recommended minimum specifications:

Must be a Windows or an Apple device - please note that Chromebooks are not supported
12+ inch screen (touchscreen optional)
Core i5 or Ryzen 5 CPU
8+GB RAM (16GB suggested for Senior School)
128+GB SSD disk (256GB suggested for Senior School)

WestMAC is pleased to work with JB Hi-Fi Education to provide a guided experience for purchasing for our families, if you prefer to use it:

JB Hi-Fi Education (enter school code WMAC2024)
JB Hi-Fi Education Toolkit for Parents (information package)
BYOD Parent Video

Extra considerations when purchasing

Protective hard case to reduce the risk of a broken screen (avoid soft laptop sleeves as they provide very limited protection from damage).
Onsite warranty and repair (next business day is recommended – having to send a device away for a couple of weeks for a warranty repair can be frustrating).
Accidental damage protection / insurance – must be added at time of purchase in most cases – check home contents insurance policies carefully if you are considering coverage under your existing insurance.
Back-up storage device (USB or external hard drive) to back up files on the laptop.

Device compliance and set up

Intune is a service West Moreton Anglican College will use for managing the access of student-provisioned devices to the digital services the College provides. It does this by checking whether a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) machine is compliant, or non-compliant. A complaint device is a device that meets all the requirements set out by the school.

There will be a specific WiFi network for BYOD on the College campus. Student devices will need to be enrolled in Intune and compliant to be able to use the network. If a device becomes non-compliant at any point, the user will lose access to the network and be delivered a message to resolve the issues before they can reconnect to the network.

To ensure compliance:

a password is required on all devices.
the firewall must be turned on.
an up-to-date version of the device operating system will be required. Windows 10 will require no less than the 21H1 update, and for MacOS, Big Sur 11.2.
for Microsoft devices, Microsoft Defender is required to be turned on and monitoring. Microsoft Defender handles antivirus and antispyware and is built into Windows 10. It is recommended to purchase additional antivirus software; however, is important to note that some antivirus software conflicts with the College security and may need to be disabled at school in order to access the College network.
for Apple devices an antivirus is not required, but appropriate antivirus software may be used.

Application/Services

The Office 365 suite and some other useful applications will be available through the Company Portal via Intune. The Company Portal is the way students will enrol their device to access the WestMAC network. It will check on the compliance of their device periodically. The Company Portal will also provide select apps that students can download, and links to websites/services. The Company Portal is accessed by either website or application.

Links

Download Microsoft Office Suite (free for students to access for the duration of their enrolment at WestMAC)

Intune / Company Portal information

BYOD Enrolment Guide for MacOS - Company Portal

BYOD Enrolment Guide Windows 10 - Company Portal

HOW DO STUDENTS USE THEIR DEVICES THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL DAY?

Students use their devices to complete in class activities, use the College’s learning management systems and school-related messaging/daily notices, complete homework, collaborate in real time, research for projects, access websites with curriculum-related content, keep track of classroom assignments, and other approved learning activities.

The use of devices in the classroom will continue to evolve over time as students and teachers are able to optimise the advantage of their use to support teaching and learning in the classroom, wherever that classroom may be.

Devices are tools that support the development of the student as an information seeker, collaborator, researcher, analyser, evaluator, problem-solver and creator. They use technology to devise ways in which to communicate their findings and become publishers of their work.

Technology is a tool in the day-to-day learning of our students, not a special event or something separate from their everyday experiences. Different teachers in different classes use it in different ways.

Students are not learning in a paperless or wholly online environment, they use technology in classes to support the best possible approaches to rigorous teaching and learning.