Shared Tablet Success Stories

[StevieM]

It looks like we will be investing in a class set of 32 tablets in the near future. At the moment, the talk seems to be only about iPads but I think it would be remiss of us to not at least consider the alternatives. I have read numerous horror stories about the problems people have had with mobile device management, but in this thread I want to approach the subject from a positive perspective. If you have a successful shared tablet solution (not 1:1) in your school, please shout out. I'd also be grateful if you could indicate if you would be willing to offer further advice on implementation and management.

 

School background info:

 

• We are a 3-form entry KS2 only school, with approximately 360 pupils.
  
• Currently, we have no wireless network infrastructure, but would be looking to implement one with the introduction of tablets.
  
• Our servers run Windows Server 2012 R2, and our clients Window 7.
  
• We have a Microsoft OVS agreement.
  
• Our email is hosted via Microsoft O365.
  

 

NB - Please don't use this thread to argue against a specific platform. Initially, I want to hear about solutions that have worked for the school as a whole.

Thanks

[abillybob]

Our's is pretty successful although it took over a year to get to where we want everything.

 

We have 120 iPads in school and some teaching iPads. The teacher iPads we basically wipe them and give them to a teacher with an AppleID created by us and a £15 iTunes voucher these are no way managed by us.

 

All iPads are managed with Apple Configurator, we did try the likes of Meraki and Profile Manager though we had issues with both, Meraki I found wasn't bulletproof, apps would deploy fine on some iPads and not on others and there wasn't a pattern to this so there was no reason why this was happening, plus we couldn't activate a Cache Server due to county giving out the same public IP meaning apps where having to be downloaded via the internet, just imagine 120 iPads all downloading Keynote at the same time.

Profile Manager we found worked a bit better although the same problem persisted and the fact you had to give every iPad it's own AppleID annoyed me and would have been a big job, plus then it wasn't bulletproof.

 

The iPads we have are all now managed by Apple Configurator, it's not perfect and you will always have problems with it because it's downright awful piece of software but it gets the job done, the iPads seem to really help the children and teachers in lessons they are a valued tool, though don't expect them to replace computers like most of SLT will because this is not the case. Think of them more like a pencil case, they're there to aid lessons not to produce work.

We have a platform called Filecloud that syncs with AD and allows staff and student to login and use their Home Drives, Staff Shared Area's and Pupil Shared Areas, the students can login and upload and download any file from any app to this which works well. The only issue with it is that it saves the latest login details so must be deleted at the end.

Printing from them is easy enough our Mac Server is setup with Printopia which broadcasts all printers to the iPads and allows for quick saves to the Pupil Share if need be. We also have AppleTV's in every classroom so the teacher can easily show the children what to do on a whiteboard.

We have an SSL page also setup via Smoothwall that makes sure the children login so we can still track their internet use and ensure that the children are blocked from what they should be.

 

It's took a LOT of fiddling and messing about but I'm finally in a place where they don't bother me so much anymore, a LOT of arguments happened with SLT and bare in mind that Apple themselves have said to me that the iPads should not be used in a shared environment, you'll be making the iPads do something they're not designed to do and thus you WILL at some point encounter issues with them.

 

The nicest platform I have come across is the Learnpad. Words can't describe how much easier it is to use these instead of iPads. Only problem being is that the school had already purchased iPads so we missed out.

 

If I where you I'd just buy one of each and see what you most prefer, I would be pretty surprised if you said the iPad at the end of trialling them.

 

Hope this helps!

[fairm010]

Apple themselves have said to me that the iPads should not be used in a shared environment, you'll be making the iPads do something they're not designed to do and thus you WILL at some point encounter issues with them.

 

Alex do you have a source for this? Would you mind emailing me a copy?

[casey]

Hi, I work in a primary with children from 3 to 11 (about 450) and we recently bought a set of learnpads.(A class set of 30 plus one for each teacher/class)

The ICT co-ordinator and I weren't sure of needing any type of mobile devices, as we have an ICT suite and 1 or 2 pc's in each class. However the head wanted some sort of tablet/mobile system.

 

I looked into various types and we had a couple of demos and a visit to BETT in 2014 and we decided on learnpads.

 

From a device management perspective I and the teachers find them very easy to administer and the teachers and children really like them.

 

The latest learnpads come with a wireless charging system, (this came out about 2 months after we bought ours ) and I was talking to the head yesterday and she is thinking of purchasing another set of 30.

 

I installed about 9 additional wireless access points around the school which only the learnpads access.

 

Hope this helps you in your quest.

[abillybob]

Alex do you have a source for this? Would you mind emailing me a copy?

We're talking around 2 year old email now mate, though I did upload it to EduGeek on one of the Apple threads a while back you maybe able to find it.

I'll look up for it again though can't promise anything.

[fairm010]

Cheers

[abillybob]

Cheers

Sorry I have looked can't find it again. As I say it's somewhere on EduGeek. Can't remember where though there has been that many discussions about Apple. Don't know whether there is a way to view all my attachments I've uploaded to EduGeek!?

[fairm010]

Click Go Advanced > Manage Attachments > Browse through pages of attachments.

[StevieM]

iPad ahead in the polls, but comments lean towards LearnPad. Anymore success stories?

 

EDIT: LearnPad not LeapPad!

Edited March 3, 2015 by StevieM

[abillybob]

Click Go Advanced > Manage Attachments > Browse through pages of attachments.

@fairm010 I think this is it

[Meldrew]

We have a class set of 32 learnpads. In a shared environment, I'd say definitely go for LearnPads. Nothing else will work as well as they do as nothing else is designed for shared use, bar a windows tablet.

 

Meldrew

[Gibson335]

We have a few LearnPads purchased last summer. I'm told by users that they are very slow in comparison to I-Pads, but of course there's a significant difference in costs. If you just want a mobile tool to browse with and are also easy to manage, the LearnPads seem ideal to me, but I am concerned about performance. Any thoughts?

[abillybob]

We have a few LearnPads purchased last summer. I'm told by users that they are very slow in comparison to I-Pads, but of course there's a significant difference in costs. If you just want a mobile tool to browse with and are also easy to manage, the LearnPads seem ideal to me, but I am concerned about performance. Any thoughts?

 

Never had a problem with the performance. We have 1 LearnPad here 10" model.

[rickypike]

I have 3 class sets of iPads here, setup using a mixture of Smoothwall (proxy.pac file pulled down) and Apple configurator. They work well and every users logs in with their current ad username/password. Bit of a swine to configure but now works well. We have the luxury of having a Citrix environment so can use them as a traditional tablet but also run a full Windows 7 desktop on them if / when required.

I am looking at the Linx 10.1" tablets for several of our feeder primary schools (around £140 with keyboard/case and Windows 8.1 Pro) - feel free to pm me if you want any more technical info with regards my setup.

[Edu-IT]

Would anyone be willing to post their working PAC file where they've excluded certain URL's from being Proxied? I'm not having much joy.

@rickypike

[Malph]

Thanks for the post,

I am in a very similar situation, iPads seem to have lots of the educational content, but the management and cost mean I need to also do the same thinking. I am based in Newark, Notts and would like to hear of any successful role outs of alternatives. We have 12 iPads in our nursery and foundation classes and 6 for the rest of the primary school at the moment. So we are definitely looking for the most kit we can get for our two form entry primary and nursery school.