6 Top TipsPerfecting the Use

of Tablets in Schools

www.fluent-tablet.co.uk

James has been working within the education sector since 2004 and is the official founder of Fluentblu, specialising in mobile technology he’s the go to guru for anyone wanting to build a successful mobile platform.

In a world of techie jargon and buzz words James has the magic ability of being able to communicate this minefield of options in a way everyone understands. If you’re looking for curriculum impact he’s your man!

6 Top Tips: Perfecting the Use of Tablets in Schools

Contact James: james@fluentblu.co.uk

I’ve been working alongside schools for some time now focusing on implementing tablets successfully and it was after many coffee fuelled chats with school senior leaders and network managers that I decided to write a helpful guide for anyone who was looking into tablets for their school. I love working with people wishing to create a strategy that ends in curriculum achievement, so I thought why not pass on all the information crammed into my head and provide schools with a head start!

There are so many important factors to consider before a single piece of hardware is purchased and after many prods from network managers that I know and trust, I’ve succumbed to the pressure and created my own little “pocket rocket” guide to tablet deployment.

A little about Fluentblu ...and it Helps Schools

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A high density of access points to support individual devices as well as groups of class devices is a must. We would all love to have 1:1 devices so when thinking about a robust Wi-Fi environment, why not cater for it from the off and have the peace of mind that you can comfortably increase your mobile devices, without the dreaded network collapse. Manufacturers are now wise to this and subsequently are offering state of the art technology which now is affordable!

The density of wireless access points requires an efficient system to manage overlapping wireless channels. Always choose a system with a centralised controller that sits on the network, this way you can manage all your access points from the comfort of a network PC or laptop. This is brilliant when sending out new configuration changes or adding additional AP’s plus it will allow your devices to access and perform faster and more reliably, this makes for VERY happy teachers and less stress for the network team.

Cover non-traditional teaching areas, such as the playing field, student communal areas, staff room to encourage ICT use outside of the classroom. We all know ICT is everywhere so why not make it available everywhere. All main vendors include external kit alongside the traditional internal hardware. It’s now easier than ever to be sitting in the playground or the playing field and have access to the internet or better still the schools network. Just watch the use of technology grow when staff and pupils know it’s accessible in not only the classroom!

Provide a system that teachers can be as confident in as a wired PC without concern for moving teaching location -- every area of the school should be a potential ICT classroom. Future proofing is the key here, if it “might” be an area that needs ICT then let’s make it happen. The key to a successful mobile platform is reliability and access. Fundamentally, if it’s available people will use it so lets make accessing the network and the vast resources of the net as easy as turning on a tap. Technology strives when being in the hands of confident users and that will only happen if its reliable.

Tip #1Future-Proof your ICT Infrastructure

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By far the most important aspect of any tablet roll out is teacher training. You wouldn’t buy a car without learning to drive, and the same is true of tablets and especially iPads.

iPads as an example may be simple to use, but properly embedding them into your curriculum takes an entirely new skill-set. You want your teachers to be using iPads for more than just email or showing the occasional video. A good rule of thumb is that 60% of your budget should be spent on hardware and 40% on teacher training.

Tip #2Don’t Forget about Teacher Training

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Steve Jobs was famous for being able to influence those around him with his magnetic personality, but this “reality distortion” also flowed freely through Apple’s marketing. This is great if you want to sell products, but not so useful when making decisions on which technology is the best fit for your school.

Passion is important, but don’t let that get in the way of pragmatism.

Make sure that through each step of the planning process decisions are being made based on objective information.

Remember, under all the sexy marketing and clever design, the iPad is just a computer. It has a screen, RAM, a processor, storage, and needs power. As such you still need to treat it as a piece of technology.

You need to know if the software you need is available, how your teachers and students will store their work, whether you can manage the device to prevent abuse and filter the Internet to meet schools policies.

Do you need to update your school ICT and data protection policies to meet changes in use? Do your teachers know how to handle sensitive information or that they shouldn’t be storing certain documents in the cloud?

iPad and “one-to-one” are great buzz words, and any school would love to announce to their parents that “we’re going 1:1 with tablets”, but make sure the decision is based on improving the education of your students. I’ve seen several schools invest heavily in iPad hardware without taking into consideration any other factors. In the end the devices just ended up sitting in a cupboard never being used.

All stake-holders — teachers, technicians, parents, and students — need to understand that tablets are not just another device to use on your network. It entails setting up an entirely new layer of management, support, networking, user accounts, and teaching practices of those already in place.

Beneath the sexy exterior there are still practical considerations to be taken into account and by taking these seriously you will be in the envious position of having state of the art technology that has a direct impact on the curriculum which at the end of the day is what it’s all about.

Tip #3Break the Reality Distortion Field

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Another important aspect to consider when planning your tablet roll out is strong collaboration between teachers and technical support.

Remember that under all the jazzy marketing and stunning design, the tablet is just a computer.

A collaborative relationship between IT Support and teachers is essential to future development of technology in your school and ultimately student achievement.

Encourage ICT leaders in your school to be forthright and vocal about their view of ICT, and encourage sensible debate.

To improve collaboration in your school consider the following:

• Have regular meetings which include both technical and teaching staff.

• Include ICT leaders and technical staff in all ICT related decisions.

• Communicate the curriculum to your technical staff to allow them to better understand and prepare for the tools you need.

• Communicate issues such as data protection to your teachers.

• Set up a strategy group consisting of ICT Leaders, Senior Management, and Administrators and meet at least once per term to give direction.

• Acknowledge those that have a greater technical knowledge• Don’t pretend to be technical when you are not but do be

involved in the process. Skill sets are different from person to person, make best use out of everyone and watch how motivated they will become!

Tip #4Collaboration between Teachers and Technicians is Essential

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It would be great if Apple simply designed a solution that requires minimal setup and just works, but unfortunately they do love complicating things for us.

For any school that’s thinking of implementing iPads there are some fundamentals that need to be done first and by doing this you will have a centrally managed, organised and scalable platform to work from.

The most effective way to manage iPads is via an MDM (Mobile Device Management) tool and lucky for all of us Meraki have a free version that ticks all the boxes, it will allow loads of nifty lock down polices such as:

• Allow or disallow use of the camera• Allow or disallow installing apps• Allow or disallow Facetime• Allow or disallow in-app purchases• Allow or disallow access to specific built-in apps

such as Safari• Allow or disallow specific age related content• Force storage encryption• Force lockscreen passcode• Configure Wi-Fi settings• Add web clips — shortcuts in my day — to the

homescreen• Remote wipe the device• Push applications to devices

This really is a network manager’s dream and certainly allows them to sleep easier at night and if done right at the beginning it allows a very easy process of securing and managing mobile devices.

Tip #5Get the Admin Right!

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Until recently bulk installing iPad apps was a bit of a minefield when it came to licensing. You either had to use multiple accounts and make an individual purchases for each install or, more commonly, use a single Apple ID that could be used to install an application on multiple iPads — cheaper, but a legal grey area.

Now, however, there is a solution. Apple’s Volume Purchase Programme allows schools, colleges, and universities to bulk purchase iOS applications for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, many at a reduced cost I’ve seen plenty at 50% the normal price.

The VPP has been designed to seamlessly work with your MDM so now you have the opportunity to centrally purchase and distribute apps to individual devices!

THANK YOU APPLE!!!

Knowing where to start is a bit time consuming so I thought I’d save you all the trouble and write down a simple step by step guide including some basic kit that will be needed.

Tip #6Apple’s Volume Purchasing Program is your Friend

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Your Step by Step Guide to Apple’s Volume Purchasing Program:

• VPP account created https://deploy.apple.com/qforms/open/register/index/avs and either a credit card attached to the account or a purchase order for VPP credit

• Mac computer for initial configuration, this will be the device that manages and deploys everything for your tablets.

• A clear list of apps expected to be on the device at the end of deployment. This is really helpful as it allows you to bypass trawling through 1m+ apps trying to find decent ones.

• A sync unit is a bonus but not essential, if you are purchasing more than 15 units I recommend one not only for storage but also to speed up the process of syncing the devices, the network managers will love you for it!

• If you connect to the internet via the local authority’s network, ports and URL’s that MDM servers use may not work by default, so these will need to be opened at both ends. Please check with your local authority if these are accessible:

Firewall Information

Meraki Cloud

All Meraki devices in this organisation initiate outbound management connections to the Meraki cloud using the following addresses and ports:

IP Addresses: 46.165.246.229, 64.156.192.245, 74.50.56.176, 74.50.56.181, 184.72.22.195, 64.62.142.12, 64.62.142.2UDP ports: 7351

TCP ports: 80, 443, 7734, 7752

NTPMeraki devices in this organisation will synchronise time with the following addresses:

IP Addresses: 0.pool.ntp.org, 1.pool.ntp.org, 2.pool.ntp.orgUDP ports: 123

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Systems Manager

Clients using Meraki Systems Manager initiate outbound management connections to the Meraki cloud using the following addresses and ports:

Mac/Windows46.165.246.229, 74.50.56.176, *.amazon.com - TCP ports 80, 443, 993, 60000-61000

iOS46.165.246.229, 74.50.56.176, 50.18.152.159 - TCP port 443* - TCP ports 2195, 2196, 5223

Android46.165.246.229, 74.50.56.176 - TCP port 443* - TCP port 5228

An individual Apple ID needs to be created for every device which will be controlled via the MDM this is new from apple and it certainly has its benefits all be it initially time consuming to setup. Your email facilitator will need to create an email account to be used purely for Apple management e.g. itunesmaster@school-domain.uk followed by itunes01@school-domain.uk , itunes02@school-domain.uk or whatever domain name the school has. My advice would be to setup a primary account then have the others as an alias, this way when the validation email is sent they will all go to the one account. See there a method to the madness!

Once all these boring bits are done you are now ready to start deploying apps to the devices and then letting these shiny little beauties loose on the staff and children.

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I hope you’ve found this eBook useful.

I visit schools on a regular basis on behalf of Fluentblu, providing free no obligation consultations to help schools identify and implement ICT infrastructure solutions that deliver their strategy and create real and lasting curriculum impact.

If you would like me to visit your school for a meeting with you or your colleagues please email me at james@fluentblu.co.uk or call me on 01234 843300.

I look forward to hearing from you!

James Denton Fluentblu01234 843300james@fluentblu.co.ukwww.fluent-tablet.co.uk

Thanks for reading

www.fluent-tablet.co.uk

Fluentblu Ltd1st Floor Offices, 188-190 Bedford Road, Bedford, MK42 8BL

“James, from Fluentblu has always insisted on understanding the needs of the teacher, students and parents to provide a bespoke service to suit. His insistence on focus away from the technology itself and more towards enhanced teaching which engages and excites the youngsters in our schools sets him apart from others in this field. ”

Jacqueline Emkes eLearning Consultant, Biddenham Campus Trust