[ipad] Help! iPad roll-out turning into a nightmare.

[duzzie]

Hi Guys, We have recently bought a small number of iPad's, created each there own itunes account and enrolled them in Apples MDM.

 

A few issues though that have appeared,

 

Can passcode locks be disabled? or not changed?

Is there anyway to stop students from doing a factory reset?

 

If there is anyone out there that manages to successfully roll out iPad's In the classroom and works in the North/West Yorkshire area that we can pop in and see it would be much appreciated.

[SovietRussia]

No to both, this stuff cannot be disabled which puts a huge workload on everyone deploying them.

[abillybob]

iPad deployment is always a night mare +1 @SovietRussia - there is no way to disable these things!!

[duzzie]

Thank you, guess I just have to live with an increased workload. Do you know if Android devices are any better at been locked down with 3rd party software?

[Norphy]

Passcodes can't be disabled but the problem can be mitigated.

 

If you use Apple Configurator to make the iPad a supervised device, any passcode set by your little darlings can be removed with Profile Manager or any other suitable MDM.

[Joanne]

This is a good question. I've created an image and I just slam it on the ipads... if a kid sets a passcode, will I be able to plug into itunes and restore from backup? hmmm... might have a go actually.

[Grey-gear]

I don't think there is a way dissable the factory reset or passcode, but I have heard of some software called meraki that can be used to help manage iPads. I have not used meraki though so I can't say for sure.

[Joanne]

I use Meraki... not looked at the passcode bits though.... hmmm... I've disabled facetime and imessage though...

[Roberto]

I don't think any of these class of devices are that far along in the nitty gritty details of business management. Or actually educational management, as a business can take the attitude that staff that stuff up their work tablet by fiddling with stuff like this will be disciplined.

 

This actually has some merit even if it cannot be directly translated to education; there's always going to be some way to get around a software block and it's not a technical problem as much as it is a discipline issue if students are (essentially) breaking school resources. Any technical precautions that you put in place to make it difficult to "break" a tablet in this way should be supported by disciplinary procedures too.

[sted]

I don't think any of these class of devices are that far along in the nitty gritty details of business management. Or actually educational management, as a business can take the attitude that staff that stuff up their work tablet by fiddling with stuff like this will be disciplined.

 

they arnt they are designed as and best used as a single user who is the administrator device multi user stuff is like windows 95 was multiuser sure you could log in as 2 people but you tended to end up with the same settings etc and without xtra software (like winsuite or whatever ms had to lock it down that as so awful ive forgotten the name of) every user was an administrator

 

using them as class devices just isn't something they were even designed for or has really been thought about imo by apple (and android is no better really)

 

im not saying you cant do class sets with them ive even done it myself but its a fair chunk more work than a pc and unless apple alter how things work always will be

[foofighterjim]

there's always going to be some way to get around a software block and it's not a technical problem as much as it is a discipline issue if students are (essentially) breaking school resources. Any technical precautions that you put in place to make it difficult to "break" a tablet in this way should be supported by disciplinary procedures too.

 

This is possibly a little facetious but if you applied the same logic to a 'normal' network device. Its like making all students local admins on every network computer and saying everything will be fine because they know they aren't supposed to be breaking anything.

 

Back to the iPad. On a device with little or no auditing how are you supposed to find out who did what, when and where? Without logging who has what device at the start of each session you simply can't (unless you are 1:1).

[Roberto]

This is possibly a little facetious but if you applied the same logic to a 'normal' network device. Its like making all students local admins on every network computer and saying everything will be fine because they know they aren't supposed to be breaking anything.

 

Couldn't agree more. The current state of MDM is that when you lock things down, it's like all the posts I see from people who want to make users admins on a machine but prevent them from shutting the machine down or installing software. The correct answer is "stop making them admin".

 

Back to the iPad. On a device with little or no auditing how are you supposed to find out who did what, when and where? Without logging who has what device at the start of each session you simply can't (unless you are 1:1).

 

Totally agreed. I can only echo what @sted says, because its an argument I've made here many times but it isn't understood by people who don't really understand IT and who assume we're just "being difficult" and "throwing up obstacles" when we talk about things like this but they're all designed to be personal devices, "owned" and used by only one user throughout their life, not at all as shared devices.

[SovietRussia]

MDMs can only operate to the limits that Apple provide them, with the MDM APIs etc. If Apple refuses to release or even develop APIs to disable people setting passcodes or restricting the Reset button then no MDM will ever be able to do this remotely. The buck stops with Apple and its damn outrageous how they push these devices to schools and expect them to just 'work'. Schools cannot afford a 1:1 deployment (Which would solve all these things as if a student sets a passcode they can remember it, its their device).

 

I've been doing iPad stuff now for 2 years and MDM has got a lot better with iOS 6, 7 and its getting better with 8. They just need to add more functions like disabling the changing of a wallpaper, or disabling the entire settings menu.

[edutech4schools]

Do you know if Android devices are any better

 

have you looked at learnPad, a dream to use compared to ipads.

 

EDIT: LearnPad - Simple Classroom Tablet Solutions

 

Everything including layout is controlled from web based server. You can switch between different layouts wither from the website or from each tablet.

[duzzie]

Totally agree Roberto, I have just been and spoke with a member of staff regarding this issue, explained I had asked the question on this forum and the replies I have received so far and got "thank you, i will have a look into this myself" obviously they just think i am been unhelpful!

And yes SovietRussia agree about Apple, maybe we are not a big enough market for them? lots of school do buy devices for 1:1 so this is obviously the way Apple expects all schools to go regardless of diminishing school/IT budgets.

Is there any research to show these mobile devices actually help students get better education/results? Is it a bandwagon we need to jump on or is a faze that will last a few years?

[Quackers]

If you want the ability to disable wallpaper changes and pass codes go to https://www.apple.com/feedback/server.html and tell Apple thats what you want. Select Profile Manager as the server product at the end of the form. They do read these things as i found out and seem to be implementing some of my Mac OS X requests for Profile Manager. If EVERYONE on this website did the same thing I'm very sure it would get noticed by them and might actually implement it in the future.

[dwalsh24]

i think the best most practical option for any school for tablets would be something that has a full version of Windows 8.1 Pro on so that you have full functionality and control rather than iPads which you can't actually use any apps for that aren't on the app store.

 

there are some decent ones around for pretty cheap!