Any 1:1 Schools?

[bclarke]

We are currently looking at going 1:1 for every student from September 2016. I really like the Microsoft Surface as it fits really well with our current setup, will be easy to manage and everyone knows it already. I am going to move down the Office 365 route too.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has done it already. I am also interested in iPad, Chromebook/Google or Android or anything else and how you are doing it. How has it been received? How is it used in the classroom? What about funding? How do parents/teacher/students take to the idea?

 

We are upgrading our WiFi during the summer holidays in preparation. What else should I be considering that you may have missed during the process?

 

Many thanks

[FN-GM]

What system do you use for imaging Windows machines?

[bclarke]

We are currently using SCCM 2012.

[mthomas08]

We are doing Netbooks this year, previously tried different setups but for us Netbooks with Windows 7 is the best system.

 

We've tried Android Tablets but the issues we had wouldn't be resolved by anything but Windows. Keeping in familiar with Windows 7 because that's what most of our system is.

[Millgate]

Hey @bclarke,

 

As you may know, we offer a 1:1 scheme. Drop me an email and I'll happily put you in touch with schools who have already done this

 

Luke

[FN-GM]

We are currently using SCCM 2012.

 

You will struggle imaging surface then. You have to use a USB network adapter. The MAC address sticks to the adapter not the tablet so imaging breaks. We are looking at the Lenovo tablet and the dock for imaging. The Mac address sticks to the device not the dock.

[bclarke]

You will struggle imaging surface then. You have to use a USB network adapter. The MAC address sticks to the adapter not the tablet so imaging breaks. We are looking at the Lenovo tablet and the dock for imaging. The Mac address sticks to the device not the dock.

 

Thanks @FN-GM I will take that in to consideration. I will be able to get two of these in for testing and configuration well before the rollout so will be able to thoroughly test imaging them. I have also considered asking MS to assist with the mass image too as I did that with Dell many years ago when I worked in industry and it worked really well for the initial rollout.

[flyinghaggis]

We're in the process of going iPad 1:1 throughout our secondary school. Currently all our 3rd year (14/15 y/o) pupils have them. We partnered with a company who have a portal where the parents buy them and on day one of attending we get the pupils to sign up to the schools MDM system to deploy school apps/wifi and security settings to them. We've gone down the Google Apps route so there's a decent selection of apps available for IOS and most work fairly well.

 

IOS/Google certainly aren't as mature as Microsoft's offering and don't have the configurability/control offered by Windows but everything's working OK from a technical viewpoint. Pupils in the main like using them and most teaching staff find them helpful primarily because of the amount of teaching apps available in IOS.

 

Most of the concerns I have regarding iPads are around the lack of control over devices for monitoring pupils (transparent proxy/lack of monitoring software for IOS) and the personal/consumer model Apple tends to lean towards for it's devices. Such as forcing people to use their own personal AppleID accounts which tends to result in school data being synced to people's own personal accounts if users don't change default settings.

Edited June 23, 2015 by flyinghaggis

[bclarke]

We're in the process of going iPad 1:1 throughout our secondary school. Currently all our 3rd year (14/15 y/o) pupils have them. We partnered with a company who have a portal where the parents buy them and on day one of attending we get the pupils to sign up to the schools MDM system to deploy school apps/wifi and security settings to them. We've gone down the Google Apps route so there's a decent selection of apps available for IOS and most work fairly well.

 

IOS/Google certainly aren't as mature as Microsoft's offering and don't have the configurability/control offered by Windows but everything's working OK from a technical viewpoint. Pupils in the main like using them and most teaching staff find them helpful primarily because of the amount of teaching apps available in IOS.

 

Most of the concerns I have are around the lack of control over devices for monitoring pupils (transparent proxy/lack of monitoring software for IOS) and the consumer model Apple tends to lean towards for it's devices (forcing people to use their own personal AppleID accounts which tends to result in school data being synced to people's own personal accounts if users don't change default settings) but so far no major issues.

@flyinghaggis thanks for this. Do you have any IT suites with Windows PC's? Would you consider getting rid of those with the iPad solution or will they still be needed?

[flyinghaggis]

@flyinghaggis thanks for this. Do you have any IT suites with Windows PC's? Would you consider getting rid of those with the iPad solution or will they still be needed?

 

We are primarily still a Windows(7) based school. There's a Windows PC connected to the teachers computer in every classroom and all our labs are Windows PC's/laptops. There aren't any plans so far to reduce the number of Windows computers in the school or directly replace any with iPads. We're still dependent on a lot of Windows based apps and peripherals like Smartboards so I suspect the Windows PCs will be here for at least another 5-10 years but I imagine at some point in the near future most staff and pupils will likely find they no longer need a desktop/laptop for their day to day work.

[SimonRushton]

@flyinghaggis thanks for this. Do you have any IT suites with Windows PC's? Would you consider getting rid of those with the iPad solution or will they still be needed?

 

Aren't 'IT suites' and 1:1 from different ages (with the IT suite being the dinosaur overdue for extinction)?

[gshaw]

We're in the process of going iPad 1:1 throughout our secondary school. Currently all our 3rd year (14/15 y/o) pupils have them. We partnered with a company who have a portal where the parents buy them and on day one of attending we get the pupils to sign up to the schools MDM system to deploy school apps/wifi and security settings to them. We've gone down the Google Apps route so there's a decent selection of apps available for IOS and most work fairly well.

 

Just out of interest what's the reaction been like in terms of parents being asked (told?) to buy the iPad? Always been interested to see how these schemes work in practice as it's somewhat taking the cost of equipment and passing it onto the students depending on how you look at it.

[Steve21]

Just out of interest what's the reaction been like in terms of parents being asked (told?) to buy the iPad? Always been interested to see how these schemes work in practice as it's somewhat taking the cost of equipment and passing it onto the students depending on how you look at it.

 

Seems to fall one of two ways really, really well or really bad lol There's few schools we were looking at this year when debating it that nearly got bankrupt from it by people not paying (or refusing) and then the school has to pay it really as its a donation, pupil premium top-ups, damages etc etc

 

Others seem to be doing great and everyones loving it, parents happy to pay the small monthly amounts and kids looking after it etc

 

Steve

[snagrat]

You will struggle imaging surface then. You have to use a USB network adapter. The MAC address sticks to the adapter not the tablet so imaging breaks. We are looking at the Lenovo tablet and the dock for imaging. The Mac address sticks to the device not the dock.

 

There is an easy fix for this provided by Microsoft.

[flyinghaggis]

Seems to fall one of two ways really, really well or really bad lol There's few schools we were looking at this year when debating it that nearly got bankrupt from it by people not paying (or refusing) and then the school has to pay it really as its a donation, pupil premium top-ups, damages etc etc

 

Others seem to be doing great and everyones loving it, parents happy to pay the small monthly amounts and kids looking after it etc

 

Steve

 

I think the way to avoid financial liabilities for the school is to get a third party company to offer the finance/lease and get the parents to sign directly with them rather than through the school. That way they take on the risk. Either that or charge the parents directly through fees if that's an option for your school. Parents also had the option to purchase their iPad directly, or use one they already own, rather than leasing it though in that case we did recommend they take out insurance on the device to cover themselves.

 

We haven't been directly in communication with parents as, since SMT made the call, they agreed to speak to any parents with issues rather than putting them in touch with us. SMT arranged a few parents evenings to discuss the iPad rollout with them since as you can imagine it's important to get people involved for such a large project. A few queried why we went with ipads rather than windows/android/etc but we took the approach that it was better to recommend a device rather than let individual pupils choose their own. That way it's easier to us to support as we know the platform/device works without issues(generally!) and teachers can choose IOS apps to use with the pupils safe in the knowledge their pupils will also be able to run them. I think it generally works better than way rather than going totally BYOD and letting people use whatever they want.

Edited June 24, 2015 by flyinghaggis

[Millgate]

One way to avoid the school being stung is to increase the monthly contributions made by the parents by a small amount (eg £1 per month per pupil). That money goes straight to the school so they can use that to cover any missing payments

 

OR

 

ask for a deposit up front

[Steve21]

I think the way to avoid financial liabilities for the school is to get a third party company to offer the finance/lease and get the parents to sign directly with them rather than through the school. That way they take on the risk. Either that or charge the parents directly through fees if that's an option for your school.

 

I may be wrong but from my understanding you can't, as it's school equipment etc so can't force them to pay for it, only to give "donations" towards it. The lease etc still falls back to yourself if it's not paid correctly, the third parties only deal with the collection of money. (Again may be incorrect, but don't see why any schools would pay for it themselves if that's the case?)

 

Steve

[flyinghaggis]

I may be wrong but from my understanding you can't, as it's school equipment etc so can't force them to pay for it, only to give "donations" towards it. The lease etc still falls back to yourself if it's not paid correctly, the third parties only deal with the collection of money. (Again may be incorrect, but don't see why any schools would pay for it themselves if that's the case?)

 

Steve

 

That was my understanding of the agreement but that side of it would have been left to our bursar so I'm not 100% on whose liability it ultimately is. We are a fee paying independent school so I don't think we're under that same obligations to provide equipment that state schools would have to abide by. I can imagine if you were a state school and you wanted to go 1:1 with a school provided device in that instance presumably the school would have to ensure devices were available to pupils and hence need to take on the liability.

[Norphy]

You will struggle imaging surface then. You have to use a USB network adapter. The MAC address sticks to the adapter not the tablet so imaging breaks. We are looking at the Lenovo tablet and the dock for imaging. The Mac address sticks to the device not the dock.

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2014/07/28/how-to-use-the-same-external-ethernet-adapter-for-multiple-sccm-osd.aspx

 

Effectively, there is a PowerShell script that you can run post OSD which removes the binding from the USB NIC and attaches to the Wireless NIC inside the Surface instead. This is what I've been using for my Dell Venue tablets when I had the same problem

Edited June 24, 2015 by Norphy
Wrong link :o

[SimonRushton]

A trustworthy third party who can manage payment collection and help with publicity for a parental purchase scheme (of any sort of mobile device) is a charity called the eLearning Foundation, e-Learning Foundation - Options, well worth a look before jumping in with a commercial provider of kit/finance or going it alone.

[matt40k]

One way to avoid the school being stung is to increase the monthly contributions made by the parents by a small amount (eg £1 per month per pupil). That money goes straight to the school so they can use that to cover any missing payments

 

That's a very unpopular choice at the moment - ICT business folds leaving schools in the lurch | Schools Week

[Millgate]

That's a very unpopular choice at the moment - ICT business folds leaving schools in the lurch | Schools Week

 

I know Instar Digital Ltd & to say they were cowboys would be a complement! As with anything, you need to be careful who you choose. As long as you work with the right company, you'll have no problems

[SimonRushton]

Your comparing Oranges with Pears. The eLearning Foundation is a charity.

[bclarke]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. The funding issue isn't too relevant at the moment. I am interested more in who has gone down the route, why and how. Have you gone entirely 1:1 with no suites available or do you still need them with your solution? Perhaps a partial rollout with more planned.

 

Many thanks

[SimonRushton]

It's an interesting thread! In 2011 at a former school although we did fall foul of the credit control pitfall (because we did not go with the eLearning Foundation) the decision not to have suites as such and to comprehensively adopt a wireless network/mobile device strategy was entirely vindicated by learning outcomes/student progress. Today I would have thought the decision aken then would not so much be leading edge/out there as the mainstream/safe bet option. Would be interested to know who, in what role argues otherwise and on what basis.