New iPads Advice

[Twearden]

Hi guys,

 

We've got a bunch of BNIB iPads from the DfE rollout over lockdown which we haven't even touched yet!

 

Currently the school runs some original iPad Mini & Mini 2's, using one Apple ID for the lot, each one manually configured, and predating my arrival in the school.

 

For the new ones, I'm looking into various options to manage them, much more intelligently than the old ones!

 

We have a Meraki MDM account (which doesn't currently get used for anything) and I've enrolled us into Apple School Manager (but yet to enroll the devices on it).

 

Would be really interested to hear a few opinions on how I should set these up/how other people have them set up.

 

It'll be for classroom use in a primary school, for Y3-4 and we have enough for 1 whole class set (to be shared between 4-5 classes).

 

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Tim

[Brimstone]

There's not much point in enrolling the old iPad Mini's into ASM and MDM as they are so old.

 

For the new iPads..

 

1. Create an MDM Server in ASM.

2. Add Dfe suppliers DEP ID's to ASM, this should be available via the Dfe portal

3. Give your Organisation ID to suppliers so they can enrol them into DEP

4. Link ASM and MDM using token.

4. Add VPP token to ASM.

 

This guide will help you..

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/apple-school-manager/welcome/web

[tg12]

Definitely get them into Apple School Manager and into an MDM, particularly making sure they're supervised as that'll allow you a lot of extra options to lock them down. I would find out what apps the classes currently use, and look at getting them through Volume Purchasing in ASM, and deploy them through your MDM, that's the easiest way I would say to do these.

[RLR]

The proper method for setting up shared iPads is to use the Shared iPad mode. This makes it so students have to sign into the iPad using their Apple ID information. You can create classes in your MDM (as long as it supports it) which makes signing into the iPad fairly straight forward and the pupils will only need to remember a 4 or 6 digit passcode. Any work that they create is then synced to their Managed Apple ID via iCloud. If you haven't used the MDM yet you will need to purchase licenses for the apps you wish to use and deploy them via device licenses.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/deployment-education/iora714f0cdx/web

 

Seems like Meraki have some of their own documentation but might be out of date by now. I think they also have different versions of their MDM so might need to check your version is supported:

https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Profiles_and_Settings/Configuring_Apple_School_Manager_for_Shared_iPad_or_1-to-1_iPad