Bring your own device (BYOD): Students perception — Privacy issues: A new trend in education?

Bring your own device (BYOD) studies the benefits and impacts of allowing the employees to bring their technological devices to their workplaces. This topic has been studied in educational environments from a pedagogical perspective as well. The main concerns of the studies are to understand how students can be affected. However, there are only few studies that tackle how privacy and personal information of students can be compromised. This paper shows on one hand a clear understanding of how universities can be critically affected if they allow students to bring their own devices to classes, in the other hand, all the concerns that students worry from being observed through their devices by the university staff. Some data is presented based on students' surveys about privacy concerns and security issues. Four main objectives were stated: know if students were aware of the BYOD trend, discover students' preferences, security and network vulnerability, and work efficiency by adopting the BYOD policies in the higher education system. Moreover, conclusions and recommendations are drawn in order to address the procedures to implement BYOD policies in universities.