Albany Senior High School/BYOD

Overview
We say to all students that you are welcome to bring your own device (BYOD) and use it for learning. We believe that students should be free to use for learning the device that works best for them. For some students this is a school desktop computer, but for many others this is their own laptop or portable computer. We don't discriminate between 'serious' devices like laptop computers and other computers such as iPods, mobile phones and tablets. If it can be used for learning, you are welcome to bring it to school.

How it works

 * Bring a wireless device for learning.
 * Connect to the wireless network ASHS-Students
 * Open a web browser and enter the address of the site you would like to visit (like http://start.ashs.school.nz/) You will be prompted for your ASHS username and password, then be taken to the site you wanted to access.
 * This gives you authenticated, monitored, filtered internet for the rest of the day.
 * Only web browsing is enabled on this network. You cannot access game servers, peer-to-peer networks or anything outside of the core teaching and learning functions provided by the school.

The school provides

 * Wireless access to the internet. We provide monitored, filtered access to the web once you log on. It means that your use of the internet is searchable by the IT department and you may be asked to explain the connection between your access of a particular site and your learning. Peer to peer filesharing, game sites etc. are not available through the school network. Social networking sites like Facebook are available during the school day, but these should only be used for learning during class time.
 * Web-based environments to promote teaching and learning. This means that any device (regards of make, model or operating system) can access teaching and learning material through a web-browser.
 * Free software for use on most operating systems. A full list of the free software ASHS uses is available here.
 * Lockers which students may use to securely charge their digital devices. Put your laptop into a locker and lock it up using your own padlock or combination lock. When you have finished charging your device, remove your padlock and lock it onto your bag somewhere. All of the lockers have power sockets in them so you can be charging your device while keeping it secure.

The school doesn't provide

 * Support for your laptop. Unfortunately if it breaks, you will need to take it to a computer repairer yourself. We will try to connect your device to the wireless network but if there is a problem with your hardware, wireless or browser, we won't be able to fix this for you.
 * Printing facilities. If you would like to print a document you are working on, we recommend you use Google Docs, then print the document from one of the school computers. Using Google Docs also allows you to share documents with others rather than printing everything.