Bring Your Own Device
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) stands for the use of personal laptops in teaching. BYOD will be mandatory for all students starting a new degree programme at ETH Zurich in the autumn semester of 2024.
Information on BYOD in study programmes for students
Information on BYOD in teaching for lecturers
Information on BYOD performance assessments for lecturers
Digital learning environment: potential for teaching and learning
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) plays a decisive role in the design of the individual learning environment. Personalisable equipment enables students to use their preferred applications for learning. In addition, BYOD facilitates collaboration with other people to work together on projects, exchange ideas or develop innovative solutions, which can also be incorporated into the design of teaching. Most students and lecturers already use their own laptops.
Basic digital skills are an indispensable part of education at technical universities. Students should not only have sound subject-specific knowledge but should also be able to use digital tools to solve complex problems or develop innovative approaches. Integrating digital skills into the curriculum enables students to prepare for the demands of the modern working world and broaden their career prospects.
Technical realisation
A good technical infrastructure is a prerequisite for the smooth use of digital devices for teaching and learning. The institution needs adequate technical equipment in auditoriums, study rooms and the general building infrastructure. Students need well-equipped and well-maintained personal laptops with the appropriate basic and specialised software.
To ensure a minimum standard of digital devices, a minimum configuration for a personal laptop has been created. It can be found on the information page on BYOD for students and is periodically adapted to current developments.
ETH Zurich offers all students the entire range of office applications via Microsoft 365 free of charge. In addition, certain other software packages licensed by ETH Zurich can be obtained free of charge from the IT shop under ‘Product Inventory’.
The Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle offers a secure, data protection-compliant digital platform for teaching, learning and collaboration in learning groups with its wide range of application options. A wide range of other applications and services in support of teaching are offered by EduIT. Cloud services from Microsoft and Google for online collaboration are also available via the ETH account. These also offer a data protection-compliant environment.
The WLAN capacities in many auditoriums and rooms at ETH Zurich are already suited for the use of BYOD and, within the scope of technical possibilities, will be further expanded as required. Further information on the WLAN offer can be found in the IT knowledge database.