[ipad] Copying photos from iPad and storing on server

[Ditto]

Week 1 of new job - the world of iPads have come to me! I've had a crash course on Meraki MDM and Lightspeed. Have discovered lightning charging leads go missing and are the modern equivalent of scissors and staplers - if you got them, you hang on to them! I've learn we have to pay over the odds to replace the leads due to warranty on the leased hardware. Now for my first task that gives me a chance, I hope, to make an improvement. The teachers have 1-1 iPads and take lots of photos of the pupils studying. About once a term, the IT support team copy the photos off the devices and out them on to a server (not sure if a generic location or a folder for each teacher yet) and then clear the photos off the iPad to regain the space. I've browsed some old threads and haven't quite pinned down the most efficient and least labour intensive way to do this. Google Photo apps on the iPad looks like a possibility, but I couldn't quite tell if anyone really got this working - there seemed to be some concerns that deleting locally caused the server copy to go too if it is a synchronisation approach. I think we'd like to stick with the once per term approach; I think we'd like to leave the process largely in the hands of IT support; Any suggestions on how this might be achieved or alternative approaches in place at other schools gratefully received. In terms of number - we're probably around the 30 mark.

[Jamman960]

I would ensure you're using managed apple ids as you’ll get 200gb per id storage, Foldr is pretty good for transferring files to network shares.

 

We leave the staff to sort out their own storage issues, if they need the images they use Foldr to transfer them to the network folders or email them to themselves. If the run out of space(far harder with 200gb iCloud storage) they can find stuff to delete.

[Ditto]

I'll check on the managed ids - I think the answer is yes. I know we have Foldr and it might be what is used currently - I think this might be some of next weeks induction. I didn't think iCloud storage was used but I could be wrong. I know we have GSuite so using all that lovely free space sounds ideal, but at present I think the school wants to go down the M$ 365 route as a platform and move away from GSuite. Currently simple network folders seem to be the approach. How automated can we make this? It looks like the current process is manual one-by-one and that's where I'd like to switch it to something more automated.

[kidpressingbuttons]

+1 for foldr. Nearly 400 iPads here and all are using foldr and works great!

[Brimstone]

Here’s the thing.....

 

You’ve got network shares on a network Server using a paid for solution in Foldr. If you are concerned about student photos on iPads you can configure Foldr per user so that any photo taken is immediately uploaded to Foldr, bypassing Photo’s so there are no photo’s at all on the iPad. Saves you doing anything at all.

 

You’re using G Suite, with tons of cloud storage, Google Photos works in exactly the same way as Foldr, to sync to Cloud GSuite, however the photos have to be deleted on the iPad

 

You’re thinking of now switching to O365....?

 

My concern would be how on earth does anyone find any document at all with all these documents everywhere....?

 

Don’t buy into Meraki, if you want a decent MDM buy Lightspeed.

 

...and before anyone says Mosyle, if the rumours I’ve heard are right this ain’t gonna be free for much longer.

[Ditto]

Here’s the thing.....

If you are concerned about student photos on iPads you can configure Foldr per user so that any photo taken is immediately uploaded to Foldr, bypassing Photo’s so there are no photo’s at all on the iPad.

No concern at present on the photos, it's just off-loading them from the iPad to free up space on the teachers devices. The solution of using Foldr to avoid it being on the iPad sounds perfect - ant more info on configuring that will be great but I'm more than happy to RTFM.

 

Here’s the thing.....You’re using G Suite, with tons of cloud storage, Google Photos works in exactly the same way as Foldr, to sync to Cloud GSuite, however the photos have to be deleted on the iPad

Yeah, the deletion step is ultimately the bit that is a PITA - so avoidance is best

Here’s the thing.....

You’re thinking of now switching to O365....?

Well, that decision has appears to have been made before my arrival. I think I have to live with it - changing strategic decision making in week 1 my be a little ambitious!

Here’s the thing.....

Don’t buy into Meraki, if you want a decent MDM buy Lightspeed.

Good news here. We're a growing MAT. Some schools have Meraki as it's free when the number of devices is small, but the trust has bought into Lightspeed so we're moving that way.

Here’s the thing........and before anyone says Mosyle, if the rumours I’ve heard are right this ain’t gonna be free for much longer.

I mentioned the name and it was not recognised so that one is off the radar - need to keep it simple! Plus they've spent the money on Lightspeed so the path forward is clear for now.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Ditto

[edmokeski]

We are 1:1 iPad+GSuite with about 1k devices (granted, we avoided buying the bottom-tier storage option on them). Teachers and students are in charge of managing their own storage. We have Foldr so teachers can access files on legacy network shares, but everyone is encouraged to use Google Drive. We're constantly repeating "save it to Drive," etc.. Everyone is taught to enable auto-backup on Google Photos. Where storage is an issue, the photos/videos can then be removed from the device without a problem -- Google Photos even encourages you to do it (see screenshot).

 

I also make sure teachers lower the quality settings for video recording -- nobody needs 4k HDR video of little Susie's poster presentation, and 720p/30Hz saves a ton of space over 1080/60 or 4k/anything. The other advantage of Google Photos is that it's automatic, so when teachers need to send a photo to someone or use it for something, it's already right there in their Google Drive - no need to wait forever while it uploads over their lousy home DSL as they prep for a lesson at 10pm the night before (not that anybody ever does that, of course!).

 

I think it's definitely worth querying the move to 365 - especially since you ARE new. I always find you get a certain amount of "new guy" credit to spend querying existing decisions and processes in the name of understanding the organisation, which sometimes puts you in a better position to initiate change or a rethink than if you'd been there all along. A change is apt to be very disruptive to teachers, putting them off device use, and I still think GSuite is the hands-down winner among the three major workflow solutions (MSFT/APPL/GSuite) - Classroom is hard to beat and collaboration is at the very core of the productivity apps. When we initially started planning our rollout, we had IT and management at the centre of our mindset and 365 appeared to be the obvious answer. As soon as we got our focus "right" and put teachers and pedagogy at the heart of the program, 365 went out the window in favour of actually rolling out out with GSuite (& Classroom), and we've not looked back.

 

That's not to say we've ditched MSFT entirely. Our desktop suites, e-mail, and ID management are all still MS (w/ ID sync'd to Google), and staff can still use Office to access legacy MS documents, or for features unavailable in GSuite (rare, but sometimes an issue for Geography and science b/c Sheets is a bit limited compared to Excel. Word is also still popular w/ admin staff who need advanced features like mail merge.), but Google is the only mobile productivity suite and workflow we support. Too many choices just leads to confusion and muddle, as @Brimstone suggested above. It's what I call the "diner menu syndrome."

 

OK, have yammered on for too long. Basic summary = Google Photos solves your problem w/o the cost of e.g. on prem storage, and definitely make sure they've thoroughly thought through this planned move to 365 and that it's really in the best interests of teachers & students.

[Stevecee]

Hi

 

Biggest worry about this that I would have is who is going to get rid of the duplicate photos the photos of a finger or the floor? My experience is that now that is so easy to take a photo (in increasingly higher resolution) nobody will look through their photos and clear the rubbish out. You could be just filling your servers with 60% unnecessary data?

 

You can't expect your team to do this, maybe its better for the iPads to run our of storage and force the issue?

 

Steve

[Brimstone]

No concern at present on the photos, it's just off-loading them from the iPad to free up space on the teachers devices. The solution of using Foldr to avoid it being on the iPad sounds perfect - ant more info on configuring that will be great but I'm more than happy to RTFM.

 

Here's how to use the Camera function from within Foldr, the photos are immediately uploaded into the Folder on the server and are not on the device.

 

https://kb.foldr.io/foldr-support/taking-photo-and-video-with-foldr-for-ios/

[j224]

...and before anyone says Mosyle, if the rumours I’ve heard are right this ain’t gonna be free for much longer.

 

I hope the rumours are wrong. They told me in February that the free features would remain free.

[tmoon-mint]

I hope the rumours are wrong. They told me in February that the free features would remain free.

 

I was told the same however Cisco also said Meraki would remain free but they slowly started removing features and then eventually made it completely paid. To be honest I think Mosyle is good enough to justify paying for it so if the rumours are true we will just do that.