The trend of student devices in the classroom is growing, with a boost from cloud-based services like younited that can be accessed from any device.

Helsinki, Finland – August 26, 2014 — /BackupReview.info/ — With summer holidays and vacations behind, it’s back to school and work. And like professionals, more and more students are taking their own devices with them. BYOD (bring your own device), a trend in the business world, is also gaining popularity in schools.

With limited budgets, many elementary and high schools around the world are allowing student devices in the classroom. For them, it’s a means to help ensure access to computing devices for as many students as possible. Proponents of the trend say it helps increase classroom collaboration and participation and help students better prepare for the future. Not all schools are on board, however. Concerns about technology being a distraction in the classroom and devices highlighting economic differences between students are also very real.

On college and university campuses, BYOD has already been established for years. For higher education, students using their own devices is the expectation rather than the exception, as the majority of students’ coursework is conducted digitally. Teamwork is also highly emphasized in a college setting, and students use their own devices to collaborate together on shared projects.

Whether schools have bring-your-own-device policies yet or not, one thing is for certain: Devices are the future, and students will only acquire more of them. According to an F-Secure survey, 60% of children under 12 already own at least one mobile device with Internet access.* For teenagers and college students, the numbers are decidedly higher.

A push from the cloud
BYOD in schools has undeniably gotten a push forward from the cloud. With cloud-based applications that work across devices and platforms, there’s no need to load specific software onto every student’s computer. Students can access the application from any computer or device with Internet access.

Younited by F-Secure is one such cloud-based app that works on all devices and platforms. With younited, students have a safe, secure place for homework, ebooks and PDFs, in addition to their photos, videos and music. But it’s not just for storage. Younited’s new collaboration features make it a perfect fit in the classroom at every education level.

With younited’s new Group Spaces feature, students can collaborate on team projects, creating and editing shared documents and presentations together. They can collect photos and videos of class trips or school plays and put them in one shared location for everyone to enjoy. Teachers can place homework assignments and lesson materials in one group space that can be easily accessed by the whole class. And students studying in a remote environment can work virtually with other students.

“Younited makes it simple for students to collaborate and work as a team, crucial skills they will need in professional life,” says Timo Laaksonen, Vice President, Content Cloud at F-Secure. “Younited is simple and intuitive to use for students and teachers alike. And being based in Finland, it’s a solid and secure alternative to US-based cloud services.”

Younited is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, Windows and Mac, as well as a web client.
Students can try younited for free and get 5GB of safe online storage and collaboration. 200GB of storage is €74,99 a year, and 500GB is €120 a year.

Get the app! – http://www.younited.com/

*The F-Secure Digital Lifestyle Survey 2013 covered web interviews of 6,000 broadband subscribers aged 20–60 years from 15 countries: Germany, Italy, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Poland, the USA, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Australia and Malaysia. The survey was completed by GfK, April 2013.

F-Secure – Switch on freedom
F-Secure is an online security and privacy company from Finland. We offer millions of people around the globe the power to surf invisibly and store and share stuff, safe from online threats. We are here to fight for digital freedom. Join the movement and switch on freedom.

Founded in 1988, F-Secure is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd.

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F-Secure Media Relations
Ulla Toivanen
Tel.: +040 752 0688
Email: ulla.toivanen@f-secure.com
Website: f-secure.com

Source: F-secure

 

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