1:1 device solutions - What issues did you face?

[mrbios]

I'm looking for some people here who are currently managing 1:1 device solutions. I did try searching but my searchfu was bad today or there aren't many threads answering my questions...

 

A few general questions really:

What sort of issues did you face initially from a technical point of view?

 

Did you find your schools internet connection up to the task of handling the traffic from all the additional devices?

 

What devices did you go for, and what made you choose them over the other options? What reasons would you give towards choosing one over another? How much work has it been for you from an implementation and on going maintenance side of things?

 

Do you find many issues with kids hopping on their own 3G with their devices to get around filtering? (an issue that can be present regardless of whether being 1:1, but i imagine it would be more prevalent in a 1:1 scenario?)

 

We had a new wireless system put in last year, it currently provides 100% coverage to the school, however it's not designed in its current implementation to cope with a 1:1 solution, we would no doubt need another 10+ APs for that. This naturally varies greatly depending on the capability of the APs, but would you say 60 devices to an AP would be a decent limit for a 1:1 solution?

 

I'm after a lot of general information like that really. We're in the VERY early stages of considering a solution, no focus on specific devices yet. I had more questions that i keep musing over as the days go by but i keep forgetting them, so i'll no doubt add to this.

[Brimstone]

I'm looking for some people here who are currently managing 1:1 device solutions. I did try searching but my searchfu was bad today or there aren't many threads answering my questions...

 

A few general questions really:

What sort of issues did you face initially from a technical point of view?

 

Did you find your schools internet connection up to the task of handling the traffic from all the additional devices?

 

What devices did you go for, and what made you choose them over the other options? What reasons would you give towards choosing one over another? How much work has it been for you from an implementation and on going maintenance side of things?

 

Do you find many issues with kids hopping on their own 3G with their devices to get around filtering? (an issue that can be present regardless of whether being 1:1, but i imagine it would be more prevalent in a 1:1 scenario?)

 

 

We had a new wireless system put in last year, it currently provides 100% coverage to the school, however it's not designed in its current implementation to cope with a 1:1 solution, we would no doubt need another 10+ APs for that. This naturally varies greatly depending on the capability of the APs, but would you say 60 devices to an AP would be a decent limit for a 1:1 solution?

 

I'm after a lot of general information like that really. We're in the VERY early stages of considering a solution, no focus on specific devices yet. I had more questions that i keep musing over as the days go by but i keep forgetting them, so i'll no doubt add to this.

 

 

iOS restrictions allow you to control and restrict which networks devices can connect to, to stop hotspotting from phones

[just_david]

I was recently at a school with 1:1 ipads.

 

There were no real issues that came up as teachers were aware to keep an eye out, and students were only allowed them out with teachers permissions

Filtering was site wide and they weren't 3g devices.

 

The school of 1200-1300 was on a 200mb line and bandwidth was not an issue.

 

3g devices to get around filtering was a bit of an issue with 6th formers, but phones were technically still banned.

 

Will they or the school own the device?

 

What 1:1 solution were you thinking, windows laptops? Chromebooks? Ipads?

 

Only real issue was accidental damage which was covered by insurance.

[mrbios]

Thank you, didn't realise you could lock them out of 3G networks. That sounds brilliant. Do you know if that can be done with chromebooks and microsoft devices (intune?)?

 

Will they or the school own the device?

 

What 1:1 solution were you thinking, windows laptops? Chromebooks? Ipads?

 

Only real issue was accidental damage which was covered by insurance.

 

We're looking at parents paying, so they would own the device at the end of the lease term (as i understand it)

 

No idea on which devices yet. A lot more meetings to be had on that front. I personally like the idea of Surfaces and managing them with intune for education.....but that's the most expensive solution that's probably out of financial capability for a lot of parents in this area. I'm guessing it's also the least "tried and tested" option as i don't know of anyone that's gone down that path yet.

Edited June 19, 2017 by mrbios

[flyinghaggis]

iOS restrictions allow you to control and restrict which networks devices can connect to, to stop hotspotting from phones

 

Are you able to control this from your MDM solution? Do the devices need to be DEP'd before you can enforce this setting?

 

The other issue we have is that our pupils own the devices and take them home so we aren't really able to restrict which Wi-Fi networks they can connect to? Connecting iPads to any Wi-Fi other than the school's whilst on site is prohibited in our RUA but I'm sure some pupils are abusing the phone hot-spot connectivity to get around filtering. We don't really have any way to prevent it as far as I can see though other than asking teachers to be vigilant?

Edited June 19, 2017 by flyinghaggis

[Achandler]

You do reliase locking down devices like they are school owned but yet expecting parents to pay the lease for a device is a little bit wrong. Personally im against any form of parent shaving to contribute to projects like this, it seems harsh to expect people to pay even more for education because of what school there child goes to. I know that's another debate though.

[mrbios]

You do reliase locking down devices like they are school owned but yet expecting parents to pay the lease for a device is a little bit wrong. Personally im against any form of parent shaving to contribute to projects like this, it seems harsh to expect people to pay even more for education because of what school there child goes to. I know that's another debate though.

 

The school some of my senior management visited recently were able to lock them down only when on the school wireless, then when the kids went home and connected them to their own wireless they got their own apps back and were able to do whatever they want. I don't know what happens when they leave the school, presumably the device resets to factory defaults and is removed from DEP or something...

 

I assumed the setting Brimstone mentioned was able to detect if it was a hotspot or a proper wifi network?

[flyinghaggis]

You do reliase locking down devices like they are school owned but yet expecting parents to pay the lease for a device is a little bit wrong. Personally im against any form of parent shaving to contribute to projects like this, it seems harsh to expect people to pay even more for education because of what school there child goes to. I know that's another debate though.

 

The devils advocate position to this argument is that if the school is asking parents to buy devices then there may be an expectation that the school will implement some level of support, monitoring and control of the devices to prevent misuse, assist with issues and filter websites to keep their children safe online regardless of whether they're at home or in school.

 

Having said that we've currently taken the approach not to implement restrictions on the devices so monitoring/filtering the devices outside of school are left up to parents. This seems to work OK as long as parents are made aware the responsibility lies with them whilst their children are at home.

 

The school some of my senior management visited recently were able to lock them down only when on the school wireless, then when the kids went home and connected them to their own wireless they got their own apps back and were able to do whatever they want. I don't know what happens when they leave the school, presumably the device resets to factory defaults and is removed from DEP or something...

 

I assumed the setting Brimstone mentioned was able to detect if it was a hotspot or a proper wifi network?

 

If restricting the Wi-Fi networks and other settings on pupils devices (iPads specifically) only when used in school is do-able I'd be interested to find out how it was done!

Edited June 19, 2017 by flyinghaggis

[just_david]

The devils advocate position to this argument is that if the school is asking parents to buy devices then there may be an expectation that the school will implement some level of support, monitoring and control of the devices to prevent misuse, assist with issues and filter websites to keep their children safe online regardless of whether they're at home or in school.

 

Having said that we've currently taken the approach not to implement restrictions on the devices so monitoring/filtering the devices outside of school are left up to parents. This seems to work OK as long as parents are made aware the responsibility lies with them whilst their children are at home.

 

 

 

If restricting the Wi-Fi networks and other settings on pupils devices (iPads specifically) only when used in school is do-able I'd be interested to find out how it was done!

 

a few mdm's can do it, at was as having parent modes so between x hours its managed by the school, then outside of those parents can manage them from an app, or not bother at all

[TwistedHelixis]

On my android I have a different app store and different profiles depending if I am using it in work/school mode or personal mode.

[Brimstone]

The school some of my senior management visited recently were able to lock them down only when on the school wireless, then when the kids went home and connected them to their own wireless they got their own apps back and were able to do whatever they want. I don't know what happens when they leave the school, presumably the device resets to factory defaults and is removed from DEP or something...

 

I assumed the setting Brimstone mentioned was able to detect if it was a hotspot or a proper wifi network?

 

You would implement a timed policy whilst the device is in school, that timed school policy locks the device to a single network.(I'm talking about iPads here). When the day finishes devices being used at home are able to connect to any wifi.

 

Student AND parents both sign a safe computing use at home policy ( I have many schools that have done this)

 

If you didn't want a locked down network policy as an alternative you implement a global proxy solution which ensures devices are also filtered as home as well as in school.

 

As for parents making contributions to schemes like these there are hundreds of schools who have implemented this, parents are eager to get involved in their students learning. I have one school who are charging parents for safe internet usage at home on their own devices.

[hardtailstar]

I used to work in a primary school that offered this.

 

We didn't have the issue of students with phones so all laptops connected to our school filtered internet whilst at school and at home they would connect to their own wireless.

Each laptop was locked down enough so that if the student or family member did something they wouldn't be able ruin the laptop.

 

If the laptop was damaged I either repaired it or it was sent off under warranty to be repaired. Any software issues the laptop was wiped and reimaged.

 

The worst part of the 1:1 scheme was the payments. The parents could either pay in full or do monthly payments. Some parents never paid so when the child left year 6 they had used a laptop for free whilst the child was at school.

All laptops were collected in when students were near the end of year 6. Laptops were then backed up, wiped, repaired and then used the OEM disc to reimage.

Parents that had paid the full amount could keep the laptop, those that hadn't paid the full amount were told they could pay the remaining amount to keep the laptop or if they didn't want to then the school would keep the laptop.

 

I would suggest that you set out clear instructions in regards to payment and maintenance.

[mrbios]

I would suggest that you set out clear instructions in regards to payment and maintenance.

 

This area won't be my responsibility thankfully. The school my SLT went to see were doing their 1:1 solution through BELF, and they quite liked the positive feedback they received about it, and the way in which it was managed, so it looks likely that's where we might be heading too, but as i say, that's nothing to do with me (thankfully).

[flyinghaggis]

I would try and ensure you partner with a company to handle the payments, insurance, maintenance and purchasing of the devices. The last thing you as as school want is to be in the position of chasing down pupils/parents who haven't returned or paid for devices.

 

Regarding devices, based on my experience, personally I'd suggested going for either iPads or Chromebooks. From feedback I've heard Android tablets are too variable in the quality of the hardware and updates/support and Windows devices are too prone to viruses/glitches and hardware issues. MacOS devices​ are too expensive for most schools to contemplate!

 

Personally I feel it's important for the school to promote a platform (IOS, chrome OS,etc) they want pupils to adopt as going full on BYOD causes to many issues IMO. I think it's important for teachers to know what their pupils can access in terms of resources.

Edited June 19, 2017 by flyinghaggis

[pinemarten]

We have had 1:1 iPads for almost 4 years now, a 3 year lease purchase scheme...

Main issues for us have been;

 

- Many many breakages , and having to supply students with temporary replacement iPads whilst theirs have been repaired by long-winded insurance scheme.

- Abuse during school and at at home by students sending/sharing inappropriate text and images , police involved in some cases.

- Charging cables breaking or developing faults, expectation of a replacement cable even when abuse is evident.

- Inadequate wifi in some areas caused by devices connecting (even when idle).

- Lesson management issues caused by student distraction.

- Students constantly attempting to bypass filtering by using VPN apps etc.

- Conflicts with parents regarding acceptable use at home of iPads which many feel were forced upon them by peer pressure.

- Students causing damage to other students ipads

- Inability to force MDM solution to stay on iPad , unable to use Configurator due to parent/school ownership issue arising from lease purchase arrangement.

- Students locking themselves out due to forgotten passcode.

- File handling issues caused by Apple IOS restrictions and practices.

- Inability to access network resources or print documents.

- Problems retrieving daily loan ipads from students who have decided not to opt into the scheme, and those awaiting repair.

- Lack of suitable ongoing teacher training to enable full and appropriate usage of iPads in lessons .

 

Some of the issues are of school management , some are due to shared ownership issues caused by lease purchase scheme.

All of the above causes much work for many people and it is sometimes difficult to see the benefits to the students, to be honest.

I suppose you could argue that for the benefits to be more evident, even more work and commitment would be needed...

 

And it's a one way decision- once you are committed to 1:1 there is no going back .

[mrbios]

We have had 1:1 iPads for almost 4 years now, a 3 year lease purchase scheme...

Main issues for us have been;

 

- Many many breakages , and having to supply students with temporary replacement iPads whilst theirs have been repaired by long-winded insurance scheme.

- Abuse during school and at at home by students sending/sharing inappropriate text and images , police involved in some cases.

- Charging cables breaking or developing faults, expectation of a replacement cable even when abuse is evident.

- Inadequate wifi in some areas caused by devices connecting (even when idle).

- Lesson management issues caused by student distraction.

- Students constantly attempting to bypass filtering by using VPN apps etc.

- Conflicts with parents regarding acceptable use at home of iPads which many feel were forced upon them by peer pressure.

- Students causing damage to other students ipads

- Inability to force MDM solution to stay on iPad , unable to use Configurator due to parent/school ownership issue arising from lease purchase arrangement.

- Students locking themselves out due to forgotten passcode.

- File handling issues caused by Apple IOS restrictions and practices.

- Inability to access network resources or print documents.

- Problems retrieving daily loan ipads from students who have decided not to opt into the scheme, and those awaiting repair.

- Lack of suitable ongoing teacher training to enable full and appropriate usage of iPads in lessons .

 

Some of the issues are of school management , some are due to shared ownership issues caused by lease purchase scheme.

All of the above causes much work for many people and it is sometimes difficult to see the benefits to the students, to be honest.

I suppose you could argue that for the benefits to be more evident, even more work and commitment would be needed...

 

And it's a one way decision- once you are committed to 1:1 there is no going back .

 

Interesting list!

 

How do you all deal with printing? Can you separate which printers they can see depending on where the students are in the school?

 

How do you have your wireless setup in terms of DHCP/vlans to cope with the quantity of devices? Do you segregate your site to keep vlans down to a minimum size at all for the wireless? Presumably if i had 1200-1500 devices connecting one massive vlan isn't going to look too pretty!

 

I must admit, a lot of the issues you have appear to be down to the way your school has allowed them to basically be 100% personal devices? The way i've been told about it being done is that the school still have control until the student leaves, making MDM a requirement, restrictions a requirement, set app restrictions when in school etc.

Edited June 20, 2017 by mrbios

[pinemarten]

If we had not allowed students full control, far fewer parents would have signed up to the scheme and we could not have afforded to run it as a 1:1 !

We use Meraki MDM , but students are able to remove the profile so not much control there

Site is set up with multiple VLans and wireless controller to balance the load.

Printing is a case of emailing it then print off from PC.

[Brimstone]

Interesting list!

 

How do you all deal with printing? Can you separate which printers they can see depending on where the students are in the school?

.

 

Why in heavens name do you want to give students and teachers access to printing from an iPad???

 

Part of the idea here is to change and improve the way teaching and learning happens in school and to work digitally. I realise that there will have to be "some" printing required but using cloud services means you can print that odd bit from a desktop?

 

If all the school are going to do is work in exactly the same way as before there is no point in buying iPads

[Brimstone]

You do reliase locking down devices like they are school owned but yet expecting parents to pay the lease for a device is a little bit wrong. Personally im against any form of parent shaving to contribute to projects like this, it seems harsh to expect people to pay even more for education because of what school there child goes to. I know that's another debate though.

This is not wrong, do parents expect a say so about activites and accomodation when your school has a trip with a stay overnight that they pay for?

[Brimstone]

If we had not allowed students full control, far fewer parents would have signed up to the scheme and we could not have afforded to run it as a 1:1 !

We use Meraki MDM , but students are able to remove the profile so not much control there

Site is set up with multiple VLans and wireless controller to balance the load.

Printing is a case of emailing it then print off from PC.

Not allowing students full control of devices, didn't you write an AUP for this scheme?

DEP is essential for any large 1:1 scheme

Did you buy Meraki?

 

I also notice you mentioned a lease purchase scheme, I would presume this was direct with parents as it's illegal for state schools to sign up for this kind of lease?

[dhicks]

I'm looking for some people here who are currently managing 1:1 device solutions.

 

Depends on how you mean by 1:1 - I gather you mean devices the children can take home with them. We have a 1:1 ratio of available devices in classrooms to children in a number of our yeargroups now, but those are devices that stay in the school (although we could make them available for loan via the library system). We went for school-owned and controlled devices, and we chose Chromebooks. Logins integrate with Active Directory, so the children can log on to devices with their usual username and password, something which year 3 and up seem to have managed quite well. The devices (Asus Chromebook Flip CP100) seem to have lasted well so far (about 6 months), with no repairs needed - we do have nice children, though.

 

Our 200 Mb/s connection seems to be fine, for around 160 pupil devices and 100-odd staff devices at the moment, with room to add more. Our wireless seems okay, and that's a 4/5 year old Ruckus system - we added a few more access points to cover dead spots and all seems okay.

 

We had some issues tracking devices and distinguishing one identical device from another. In the end we went for printed covers on each laptop, customised with the laptop name and location on and a different picture for each classroom, so you can tell at a glance if you have a class set.

[Andycat]

We have had 1:1 iPads for almost 4 years now, a 3 year lease purchase scheme...

Main issues for us have been;

 

- Many many breakages , and having to supply students with temporary replacement iPads whilst theirs have been repaired by long-winded insurance scheme.

- Abuse during school and at at home by students sending/sharing inappropriate text and images , police involved in some cases.

- Charging cables breaking or developing faults, expectation of a replacement cable even when abuse is evident.

- Inadequate wifi in some areas caused by devices connecting (even when idle).

- Lesson management issues caused by student distraction.

- Students constantly attempting to bypass filtering by using VPN apps etc.

- Conflicts with parents regarding acceptable use at home of iPads which many feel were forced upon them by peer pressure.

- Students causing damage to other students ipads

- Inability to force MDM solution to stay on iPad , unable to use Configurator due to parent/school ownership issue arising from lease purchase arrangement.

- Students locking themselves out due to forgotten passcode.

- File handling issues caused by Apple IOS restrictions and practices.

- Inability to access network resources or print documents.

- Problems retrieving daily loan ipads from students who have decided not to opt into the scheme, and those awaiting repair.

- Lack of suitable ongoing teacher training to enable full and appropriate usage of iPads in lessons .

 

Some of the issues are of school management , some are due to shared ownership issues caused by lease purchase scheme.

All of the above causes much work for many people and it is sometimes difficult to see the benefits to the students, to be honest.

I suppose you could argue that for the benefits to be more evident, even more work and commitment would be needed...

 

And it's a one way decision- once you are committed to 1:1 there is no going back .

 

Similarly, 5 years running ipads. Now have 1500 student and 100 staff, with 100 spares.

 

Agree with everything above. I think we're giving them a device to distract, especially at home, that then the parents can't confiscate because "they need it for school"

 

Not a fan. We used Meraki, and now InTune.

[mrbios]

Why in heavens name do you want to give students and teachers access to printing from an iPad???

 

Part of the idea here is to change and improve the way teaching and learning happens in school and to work digitally. I realise that there will have to be "some" printing required but using cloud services means you can print that odd bit from a desktop?

 

If all the school are going to do is work in exactly the same way as before there is no point in buying iPads

 

I ask the question as I'm bound to be asked at some point. Whether it's something that's in place as a permanent thing, or as a partially allowed thing, or a case of phasing out printing gradually. It's not my position to decide that printing will or will not be available on them, senior management will make that choice.

 

The IT side of the curriculum have already moved 90% paperless, we're trying to persuade others to do the same, but i can't guarantee that will happen from the offset.

 

EDIT: also iPads aren't nessecarily the way we're going. We don't know yet.

 

Depends on how you mean by 1:1

 

Parents pay, kids take them home at night, bring them in on school days, locked down settings during school hours. Kids own the device when their time at the school ends (assuming their parents paid the full amount). Senior management is only looking to use them as an additional learning tool, rather than a replacement to the way things are done now, so I'm told.

Edited June 20, 2017 by mrbios

[rogerdnixon]

We are 1:1 with Chromebooks. We have issued Acer R11 touch/flip devices - so they have managed Android apps - so very versitile. Being Chromebooks, management and setup of 1000+ devices is simple and just works. We have various options for parents ranging from day loan through to buy out right. You can see out current programme here

 

The main challenges we have faced have been the time it takes to engage with every parent in the school and get them onboard. So this has involved parents events and a lot of phonecalls.

 

However, feedback has been very positive and its certainly well worth the effort.

 

Parents have the option of £10 annual insurance and this comes to use in IT Support. We keep a stock of Acer spares and turn around most repairs same day. Physical damage has been restricted to a handful of devices - most issues have been delt with by warrenty claims and Acer have been pretty rapid in their turn around. I'd not bother with third party insurance as we tried that with our first roll out and they were pretty expensive and useless!

 

We did not start this until the use of G Suite was very firmly embedded in the school - we have had trolleys of devices for many years. Staff training is key. Staff have god like powers over devices with Hapara Highlights.

[mrbios]

We are 1:1 with Chromebooks. We have issued Acer R11 touch/flip devices - so they have managed Android apps - so very versitile. Being Chromebooks, management and setup of 1000+ devices is simple and just works. We have various options for parents ranging from day loan through to buy out right. You can see out current programme here

 

The main challenges we have faced have been the time it takes to engage with every parent in the school and get them onboard. So this has involved parents events and a lot of phonecalls.

 

However, feedback has been very positive and its certainly well worth the effort.

 

Parents have the option of £10 annual insurance and this comes to use in IT Support. We keep a stock of Acer spares and turn around most repairs same day. Physical damage has been restricted to a handful of devices - most issues have been delt with by warrenty claims and Acer have been pretty rapid in their turn around. I'd not bother with third party insurance as we tried that with our first roll out and they were pretty expensive and useless!

 

We did not start this until the use of G Suite was very firmly embedded in the school - we have had trolleys of devices for many years. Staff training is key. Staff have god like powers over devices with Hapara Highlights.

 

I do like the idea of chromebooks, however having ourselves quite firmly engrained in Office 365, is there any drawbacks to us not using G suite? Can they work as/or nearly as seamlessly with Office 365?

 

What's the management like?