[ipad] Help on installing apps to multiple iPads

[j224]

How are you handling Office documents and accessing files in the users existing home areas?

 

There is an app called Smart Office 2 which I managed to download while it was free, usually £6.99. You can view, edit and create Office documents with it but we haven't used it yet. You can also download your files directly from Box, Dropbox or Google Docs if you use those services.

 

There's also things like Foldr, FileBrowser, iExplorer or a WebDAV setup which could access shared drives but it's not ideal from an iPad.

 

Personally, I don't think they are much good for Office type work. If you have an IT suite or laptops then use them. A physical keyboard is always going to be better for that. iPads are fantastic but it's the educational apps, many of which are free, which makes it a powerful tool. Without decent apps installed, it just becomes an expensive shiny object.

[JJonas]

I know that but it is not me that wants to use them for office.

[j224]

I know that but it is not me that wants to use them for office.

 

But you are the ICT Technician so you're the best informed member of staff when it comes to tech, so 'they' should take your advice.

[tutech]

I know that but it is not me that wants to use them for office.

 

This is exactly what I'm trying to explain to my school administration. Tablets are great for consuming content, but pretty poor at creating content. You really need a physical keyboard to get any kind of Office work done well or with any reasonable speed, on-screen keyboards take away from your workspace, are error-prone and slow to use.

 

For that reason, they have for the most part heeded my advice and we are only looking at deploying tablets, either Android or iPads remains to be decided, for early childhood classrooms (3 to 7 years old) where content creation is pretty minimal since the students are just beginning reading and writing at the end of early childhood.

[j224]

I wouldn't say iPads are poor at creating content. If we're talking Office type work then yes. But if we're talking Garageband, iMovie taking photos/videos, etc. then they're extremely user friendly and effective tools.

[JJonas]

But you are the ICT Technician so you're the best informed member of staff when it comes to tech, so 'they' should take your advice.

 

LOL you must be a new ICT Technician 'they' should take my advice but....

[Darylrese]

We too have tried giving advice to the powers that be about ipads and such but the stuff turns up anyway! Then when its in use it's 'why doesn't it do this, why won't it do that' 'i need to save a print from them and access the shared areas' and we can stand there and say 'i told you so' The device then quickly gathers dust and the new next best thing is forced upon us and it starts again haha

 

7 years in you will get used to it, welcome to the world of ICT in schools!

Edited March 20, 2013 by Darylrese

[j224]

Lol. I am quite new yeah, 3 years so far. But I guess I'm lucky because my Head of ICT and the Headteacher both rely heavily on my advice and would never buy something tech-related without me agreeing.

[tutech]

Okay. Let me re-phrase. They are pretty poor at keyboard-based content creation.

[Darylrese]

I would advice you quickly nipp it in the bud then with ipads and tell them what they can't do and see if they still want them. They are a bit of a pain in the rear when you get to 10 or more without any training or knowledge of using them.

 

They are 'The way forward' according to our school...im not convinced atall. In some departments great as an additional tool for educational apps but to replace a microsoft network and desktops? NO WAY!

Also they are next to useless for teachers as a sole device because they cant do anything productive on them

 

Considerations against ipads:

 

You MUST have a school credit card or the volume license, many admin departments won't allow this.

Saving documents to ipads then getting them off and back to a windows pc to printer / view / edit requires third party apps such as dropbox / googledrive = more logins

No shared areas

No printing

No email because its a shared device

Adaptors needed to show screen on your board or additional hardware / software

No backup of files should they be deleted

Your wireless needs to be sufficiant

You can't deploy ibooks, you have to install them one by one on every device that needs them

Every time a new app is needed you will have to recall them all back into the office to be resynced manually

You will be forever called into classrooms asking how this app works or how that app works and why has this happened!

 

Theres a lot to consider when implimenting them which many schools will not consider when purchasing.

 

If they still want to go ahead, you can manage it but only with the right equipment and nohow yourself

Edited March 20, 2013 by Darylrese

[KTECH]

Hi guys im having what seems to be a known issue with deploying apps in Configurator. I've bought 31 licences for the apps i want, used one to redeem in iTunes and imported it into configurator. When i imported the spreadsheet i noticed it wouldn't use the code i'd used in iTunes ("unable to redeem code with iTunes store") so redownloaded the spreadsheet and reimported it but still the same. I've deleted the app and reimported it and the assigned codes automatically appeared but importing the spreadsheet again hasn't made a difference...stumped!

[Nase]

Hi guys, recently our school has bought the ergotron tablet management cart with the intention of syncing all ipads at once and not having to do each one manually, now the headteacher wants the garageband app downloaded onto all the ipads and I'm wondering if there is a way I can purchase the app on the master Mac that is connected to the cart and sync it to the ipads together so I don't have to download each one separately? The instructions for the cart says that you can but I think that was written a while back and maybe apple has changed the way it operates to stop this sort of thing from happening? Any advice on the best/quickest way of downloading an app onto 32 ipads preferably using this cart would be greatly appreciated as this is starting to do my head in!!!

[KTECH]

Hi guys, recently our school has bought the ergotron tablet management cart with the intention of syncing all ipads at once and not having to do each one manually, now the headteacher wants the garageband app downloaded onto all the ipads and I'm wondering if there is a way I can purchase the app on the master Mac that is connected to the cart and sync it to the ipads together so I don't have to download each one separately? The instructions for the cart says that you can but I think that was written a while back and maybe apple has changed the way it operates to stop this sort of thing from happening? Any advice on the best/quickest way of downloading an app onto 32 ipads preferably using this cart would be greatly appreciated as this is starting to do my head in!!!

 

I've done that recently using Apple Configurator on a mac mini connected to an ergotron cart and it worked quite well

[gavingil]

Hi folks,

I have an unocart charging and syncing trolley and 26 iPads. I want to install an app onto each one using the same iTunes account (its a free app). The instructions with the trolley are vague to say the least! Normally I would log into each one individually to install the app. Is there a faster way? Also due to pupils abusing the iPads, renaming them, taking selfies and setting them as wallpaper etc can I make the devices supervised to stop this?

[Darylrese]

You can 'Supervise' them using Apple Configurator but it won't stop them changing the wallpaper etc. You can disable the camera all together though if that's what you want to do.

 

For Apple Configurator, you need a MAC and a volume license from Apple (free of charge)

[gavingil]

Thanks for the reply. Probably not worth going down the route of supervising them. I'd ban the camera but they use it for projects for filming and things like that. I have a mac and the VPP license. I plugged the trolley into the mac today and it was asking me to respond on each iPad but I couldn't see anyway of installing the app. I'm currently doing it manually on each iPad as they need them for tomorrow.

[Darylrese]

I wouldn't really lock core features down anyway, its highly likely it will cause you issues down the line when you want to open things up.

 

You download the app on the MAC through the iTunes store (selecting ipad version) and then import the app into Apple Configurator. If you browse to the iTunes folder on the MAC, they are buried in there somewhere.

 

For paid apps, you purchase them through the VPP and import the excel spreadsheet of codes into Apple Configurator. Once you get the hang of it, its quite simple

 

If you only have a small amount to manage, you can do one by one no problem. We do for our class set of 10 because theres apps already on there paid for that we don't want to lose / pay for again.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Darylrese

[calexismedia]

Thanks for the reply. Probably not worth going down the route of supervising them. I'd ban the camera but they use it for projects for filming and things like that. I have a mac and the VPP license. I plugged the trolley into the mac today and it was asking me to respond on each iPad but I couldn't see anyway of installing the app. I'm currently doing it manually on each iPad as they need them for tomorrow.

 

I have made a really simple video on how to purchase apps using VPP because I found the whole VPP thing was a bit of a learning curve, but easy when you do it once or twice.

 

 

I think though with Apple Configurator 2 you will need to choose managed distribution not redeemable codes. I haven't made a part 2 yet for this reason.