BYOD Solutions - Edugate

[Millgate]

Hi everyone,

 

A lot of you will have seen this at Bett and you may have spoken to me about it already but do you have any plans for BYOD?

 

The general problems are:

 

- budget

- management of rollout

- time taken up with repairs

- no time to chase for payments

- poor wireless

- not wanting iPads

 

These are all valid points however, take a look at our solution - Edugate.

 

Budget

 

It's a parental contribution program where they can choose the terms and they get to keep the device at the end without any huge final payments!

 

EG - iPad mini will cost from £12 per month BUT this includes the tablet, a case, 3 years warranty and 3 years insurance!

 

Management of rollout

 

You get be as involved as you want to be. The parents sign up via a portal (which we can brand as a school portal if you wish), they enter their details etc and we sort out the rest.

 

Time taken up with repairs

 

As I mentioned, the cost includes 3 years warranty so if the child drops the iPad and the screen smashes into a million pieces, they don't darken your door. They go home, the parents log into the portal and report the fault. We then call them, arrange collection, repair it and return the device within 72 hours!

 

No time to chase payments

 

When the parent first signs up, they agree to pay by DD. If there are missed payments, we'll work with the parents directly (unless you say otherwise) to sort the problem out.

 

Poor wireless

 

By rolling out tablets this way, it'll free up budgets for you to improve your wireless, servers, pcs or whatever tickles your fancy! We can also give the school a kickback for every so many parents that sign up.

 

Not wanting iPads

 

Unlike other solutions, you're not stuck with Apple. It can be any mobile device (including laptops)

 

This is just a brief overview but take a look at the attached too. If you have any questions or you would like a demo of the portal, please drop me an email @ [email protected] and I'll be happy to help

 

Edugate Intro.pdf

 

Thanks

 

Luke

[Millgate]

It's also worth having a read through this. This wasn't done via Edugate but it shows a positive impact using1:1 devices

 

Bett Show 2015 - The Positive Impact of Launching a 1-1 iPad Project (The Data from Hove Park School)

[sippo]

Great idea, but what are your thoughts on parents who cannot afford to buy their child one.

 

How is that overcome?

[Millgate]

Great idea, but what are your thoughts on parents who cannot afford to buy their child one.

 

How is that overcome?

 

Good question.

 

To be honest, we haven't really come across that yet. We've pitched this to different parents in different walks of life and they just see it as the same price as a takeaway or a few packets or cigs.

 

However, one way round it would be for the school to buy a few iPads on the Edugate program and perhaps loan them out to the pupils that can't afford to buy their own. It'll be covered on insurance so it wouldn't be the end of the world if the child then lost it or broke it.

 

Another option would be to use the kickback I mentioned. For every some many parents that sign up, we can give the school a lump sum or Millgate credit. You can use that on whatever you like

 

Luke

[zag]

Very interesting scheme!

 

There could be a huge market for this as SMT are always talking about getting 1:1 devices into students hands, but schools can rarely afford it themselves.

[zag]

Great idea, but what are your thoughts on parents who cannot afford to buy their child one.

 

How is that overcome?

 

I think students who receive free school meals get extra grant money given to the school. This could theoretically be used to buy extra iPads.

 

But as millgate says, its not a huge cost to the parents if spread over months.

[Millgate]

Very interesting scheme!

 

There could be a huge market for this as SMT are always talking about getting 1:1 devices into students hands, but schools can rarely afford it themselves.

 

Good stuff.

 

If you need us to come out and see you, run through it in more detail and demo the portal, just say

 

Luke

[mthomas08]

We are signed up to this Scheme, very positive feedback so far but not fully live yet.

 

Costs: You are always going to find those who are not happy but this time around we had more happy Parents. The School can also choose to help those with twins/financial problems etc.

[dave.81]

Sounds very promising this scheme as i'm trying to push a 1:1 deployment and you seem to mention that a school could just purchase and give the kid them to use which for us would be good.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Another method for those families who cannot afford the extra outlay per month is to make sure that the overall monthly total covers a few extra iPads for those childred who's families just cannot meet the expense. This has been implemented to good effect in schemes we've been involved with up here. One scheme canvassed opinion and found that providing 85% of families could cover the cost then 100% of students could have an iPad.

[Millgate]

Sounds very promising this scheme as i'm trying to push a 1:1 deployment and you seem to mention that a school could just purchase and give the kid them to use which for us would be good.

 

Let me know if you need any ammo for your meetings Dave. We can help you with the rollout as much or as little as you'd like

[AWhelan]

Hi,

I was just interested in some feedback on your experience with Edugate/Millgate? I'm investigating the scheme for roll out in my 11-18 secondary and was wondering how you had got on? Company seem very good, organised and keen but they would at this stage when they are trying to get me to sign up! Any negative experiences? Any issues with delivery on the hardware? Another school has suggested there was a big delay but this may have been due to the manufacturer not Edugate.

Can I ask who you used the scheme with in terms of year groups/age? How did parents respond?

Many thanks for your time

Andrew

[Brimstone]

Hi everyone,

 

 

 

Budget

 

It's a parental contribution program where they can choose the terms and they get to keep the device at the end without any huge final payments!

 

EG - iPad mini will cost from £12 per month BUT this includes the tablet, a case, 3 years warranty and 3 years insurance!

 

 

What about VAT...?

 

This is a hot topic and HMRC are coming down very hard on schools buying into this scheme, parents are required to pay the VAT otherwise the scheme is illegal as it is VAT avoidance.

[bodminman]

We've signed up to this with Millgate/Edugate. It was a complete no brainer!

 

The setup couldn't have been simpler and choices you want to offer either the staff, pupils or both is endless.

 

We have only recently sent out info to the parents so it'll be a few weeks yet before we see what the take up is.

@Millgate have been superb right from the start with setting things up!

[Achandler]

I get that schools get extra money for pupil premium students. But that money has to buy a huge range of things for them, and for a school with a few students on pupil premium, that is all well and good. As a school with nearly 40% of our pupils on pupil premium, the school would have to buy huge amounts of iPads to loan to students. iPads that would have to be replaced by the school over and over again.

 

Some schools might have the money to buy extra iPads to "loan" to students, but suggesting pupil premium money that has some other big demands on it (school uniforms, and employing staff to ensure students turn up and stay in school), I can't help but think that although it may be beneficial to some students, pupil premium money has better uses.

[jcs808]

Who actually takes out the finance on each device, the school or parent?

[edutech4schools]

I work in a Primary school and you say the pupil creates an account and you look after everything else, I take it the school still needs some kind of management system to deploy apps etc.

[Millgate]

Who actually takes out the finance on each device, the school or parent?

 

The lease agreement would exist between the school and the finance company, but with no exposure and a full managed solution which includes collection of payments, insurance warranty and support for end users, this is cash neutral scheme for the School. It's much easier to explain over the phone or in person. If you drop me your details, I'll happily answer any questions you have & put you in touch with some schools that have signed up

 

Luke

[Millgate]

I work in a Primary school and you say the pupil creates an account and you look after everything else, I take it the school still needs some kind of management system to deploy apps etc.

 

We offer a full managed service for the school and the end users, via a managed portal where the end users can log claims, check the progress of their claim, make additional payments or speak to us direct. It saves you guys the hassle of dealing with the small, time consuming things. We also help deploy apps for the educational program and can assist in training for staff and pupils

[mattianuk]

I work in a Primary school and you say the pupil creates an account and you look after everything else, I take it the school still needs some kind of management system to deploy apps etc.

 

You would use something like Meraki or Lightspeed for this. Or, if your filtering is good, and kids are reliable (high school perhaps) let them install the apps and manage the ipads themselves. The worse case is they need to install an app in the lesson (again, probably only high school kids)

 

get that schools get extra money for pupil premium students. But that money has to buy a huge range of things for them, and for a school with a few students on pupil premium, that is all well and good. As a school with nearly 40% of our pupils on pupil premium, the school would have to buy huge amounts of iPads to loan to students. iPads that would have to be replaced by the school over and over again.

 

Some schools might have the money to buy extra iPads to "loan" to students, but suggesting pupil premium money that has some other big demands on it (school uniforms, and employing staff to ensure students turn up and stay in school), I can't help but think that although it may be beneficial to some students, pupil premium money has better uses.

 

Perhaps. But, the impact these devices can have on allowing a pupils education to continue at home, or get them more engaged in lessons could well produce whole curriculum better outcomes for students because of the cross curricular impact they would have. It falls to each school tbh I think - it depends where you are - our school has IT so embedded at every stage, one2one makes real sense.

[Achandler]

It is very hard to establish IT is all areas of the school and in homework, when students may not have Internet Access or a computer/ laptop to use at home. Unless government is going to pay for every household to have an Internet Connection and a decent computer at home (which it won't) then you cannot put IT it all parts of a school in every school. Unless you want to make some students stay at the school later to do their homework, as they do everything out of school on paper.

[mattianuk]

It is very hard to establish IT is all areas of the school and in homework, when students may not have Internet Access or a computer/ laptop to use at home. Unless government is going to pay for every household to have an Internet Connection and a decent computer at home (which it won't) then you cannot put IT it all parts of a school in every school. Unless you want to make some students stay at the school later to do their homework, as they do everything out of school on paper.

 

Not true! The percentage of pupils who don't have access to the internet, and some kind of laptop or PC is so small - that it becomes a possibility that pupil premium can bridge that gap, or the cost of something like edugate enables those without to get a device that they can use at a sensible monthly payment.

 

Furthermore, with remote desktop solutions, all our pupils have access to software and files from home, so it is completely possible.

[Achandler]

Not true? Depends where you are. According to some sources (Frog research) "Only 57% of the lowest ten per cent of households with children, by income, have access to the Internet via a computer." Well if a school's student makeup is 40-50% pupil premium. That can equate to almost 25% of all pupils! It can be literally 100s of different households!

 

The problem is probably worse in other more deprieved areas too.

 

Anyways. This is off-topic now.

[localzuk]

Not true? Depends where you are. According to some sources (Frog research) "Only 57% of the lowest ten per cent of households with children, by income, have access to the Internet via a computer." Well if a school's student makeup is 40-50% pupil premium. That can equate to almost 25% of all pupils! It can be literally 100s of different households!

 

The problem is probably worse in other more deprieved areas too.

 

Anyways. This is off-topic now.

 

57% of the lowest 10%? So, 5.7% of households with children then. That doesn't discount the idea of using something like Pupil Premium to provide access to those who need it.

Edited October 20, 2014 by localzuk

[Achandler]

If your school has the average intake then yes. If your school took only from the poorest 10% they it would be 57% of pupils wouldn't it?

 

it depends entirely on the intake, maybe you should re-read my post, where I said 40%- 50% of our intake is from that poorest 10%. Some schools probably have 1-2% from the poorest 10%.