Ipads and apps in Schools

[speckled]

Hi Guys,

Hope someone may have some guidance regards deploying apps on ipads in a school environment, I have a Lion server that I will be using to configure the ipads when i get them in the next week or so but was wondering how you guys manage your apps for these regards to how you achieve this using itunes. A lot of the info I have found is conflicting and very grey, any tips would be great.

 

Regards

[glennda]

Without meaning to sound rude possibly it would have been better to work these things out before buying the iPads?

[speckled]

In an ideal world that would be great but when someone buys kit without consulting you we have to make the best of a situation, as many of you will no boubt have experience of.

[Marci]

Thanks to no VPP system in place for UK yet, you have two choices. Users are issued a voucher to purchase required apps... and devices are used as personal devices, Or... Try to use them as shared devices where a master iPad is used to purchase apps. Back it up in iTunes. Set all other iPads up as a restore of the master. Use voucher to cover cost of apps, don't tie your institution account to a credit/debit card. In 'store' preferences tell each iPad to auto download new purchases, then you simply purchase an app on the master iPad and it'll automagically appear on the others, or leave it off and manually kick off a wifi sync for each device when new apps are purchased.

 

You'll need master accounts for every group of ten devices.

 

Then delve into the restriction settings in profile manager to prevent users doing anything you'd rather they didn't.

 

If going with first option, set up a course on your VLE with links to necessary apps and setup guides (eg: guide to adding AD shares in FileBrowser app), but pre enrol each device with MDM before handout so that you can manage the device (remote lock / wipe, minimum passcode strength settings etc)

 

 

Whilst MDM implies & refers to the ability to deploy apps, this only works for self-authored enterprise apps, not regular AppStore apps.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Marci

[Marci]

I'd also suggest a separate vlan with it's own dhcp and dns, with each device allocated ip via dhcp reservation, and a proxy set to ident by IP, that way you can still filter net access by IP range etc, and ensure staff keep a record of which student uses which device during the lesson (if they're for student use) or you have a list of which member of staff has which device by MAC id (if they're for staff use) so that you can identify users from their IP in the logs. In these instances, use MDM to prevent changes to network config.

 

Add extra NICs/virtual adapters for the new vlan to any local servers you may need to access, ensuring that you can't route thru to traverse onto other vlans, to retain access to network shares / local web services.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Marci

[Rozzer]

You can deploy apps with MDM solutions but its very very expensive! You can send application gifts to users if you have a list of email address.

[GrumbleDook]

Hi Guys,

Hope someone may have some guidance regards deploying apps on ipads in a school environment, I have a Lion server that I will be using to configure the ipads when i get them in the next week or so but was wondering how you guys manage your apps for these regards to how you achieve this using itunes. A lot of the info I have found is conflicting and very grey, any tips would be great.

 

Regards

 

Have you seen the RM Tech Seminar threads? Are there any in your area as this is one of the workshops that would interest you.

[speckytecky]

You are quite right Glenda but I had the same problem coming up to the end of the FY a sister school is well into these devices and my teachers liked the way they use them there so before I could blink these devices started to appear then I was requested to get them set up with access. First time I had touched one so heck of a steep learning curve!

 

Still very much ongoing!

 

Without meaning to sound rude possibly it would have been better to work these things out before buying the iPads?

[glennda]

That's where you have an SLT that listen to you and finance staff who give you the heads up to make sire the stuff being ordered is correct and not teachers doing things on a wim - our head has actually donated his own iPad for testing of what they can use them for. He prefers his HP Touchpad to his iPad as he just can't get on with it and hes an iPhone fanboy.

[cookie_monsta]

Hiya...

 

several weeks ago the school (against my will) purchased 16 iPad2s, Sync/Charging cabinet, Mac Mini server and a Macbook (all part of a bundle from a company that shall not be named because of their very poor after care service....well not the company itself but the Sales 'manager' i had to deal with...but thats a different story for a different day)

 

anyway back on track....

 

the main issues that I faced was that the ipads couldnt surf the internet and look at 'wiki' pages on the mac server at the same time. This was due to conflicts with EMBC and proxy settings etc.

 

To get round the embc/proxy conflict, I installed Squidman on the Mac server. using this program you can set proxies and exceptions here. The ipad setting for the proxy is made to look at the IP address allocated to the Mac server on port 8080. Within Squidman the normal embc proxy gumpf is entered.

 

Been testing for 2 days and it has been working with no problems.

 

Regarding apps etc...

The way I got around this was to use the Macbook to control the iPads. Macbook has iTunes installed and via USB it is connected the Sync/Charge cabinet.

 

Once iTunes is launched, any apps downloaded for free or purchased, automatically sync to all the iPads.

 

Hope that this makes some sense as it did in my head but to me its very very early in the morning lol

 

Cheers

 

Cookie

[speckled]

Thanks Cookie_Monsta, this was what I had in my head sort of: itunes set up on the lion server with master account which purchases the apps, then gift them to the ipads or sync using the same itunes account from the lion server.

 

Cheers

[GrumbleDook]

I'm at the Apple Leadership Summit and will have more info later.

[Sean-OC04]

You can deploy apps with MDM solutions but its very very expensive! You can send application gifts to users if you have a list of email address.

 

Sorry but Apps can not be deployed in Europe using any MDM solution yet as they all use Apple US only VPP program to embed the redeem codes into the profile, using application gifts to users just sends that user an email with the link to the App and implies that the iPads are being rolled out on a 1:1 basis.

[GrumbleDook]

I'll be doing a comprehensive blog post shortly on gifting, but a if you have a read through Fraser Speir's blog Fraser Speirs - Blog you will find a wealth of information.

[Destinova]

The 10 device limit applies to iCloud services. You can sync an unlimited number of iOS devices to a single iTunes account.

[Achandler]

Sadly the rules for the USA and Canada are totally different to the UK

[soveryapt]

Without meaning to sound rude possibly it would have been better to work these things out before buying the iPads?

 

Gah .. I'm in the same situ where I had (last year and only just got a Mac Mini server to help with it all) 25 iPad 1 thrust upon me by someone who thought it would be a good idea .. until I pointed out they could have waited a week or so and got iPad 2 instead ..

 

Sometimes, as I'm sure everyone who works in Educational ICT is aware, people think they know better than the professional they pay to know better .. lol ..

[Destinova]

Sadly the rules for the USA and Canada are totally different to the UK

 

This isn't a regional restriction. Several other UK based techs have pointed this out in some of the other iPad discussions here.

 

The limitations are as follows:

 

5 computers authorized for iTunes content

10 devices sync'd to a single iCloud account

Unlimited iOS devices sync'd to a single iTunes account - this includes iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Apple TV's

 

Using a single master account you can synch all of your devices and apps. Yes it's a clear licensing violation, but until the VPP is available in your area, it's the simplest workaround.

[Marci]

Yes it's a clear licensing violation, but until the VPP is available in your area, it's the simplest workaround

 

...and it's also the official line on how to do it in this country (UK), direct from the mouths of the Apple Education/Business team at Meadowhall.

[Destinova]

...and it's also the official line on how to do it in this country (UK), direct from the mouths of the Apple Education/Business team at Meadowhall.

 

Excellent. I'll be attending our local Apple Learning Tour tomorrow morning and hope to elicit the same from them. Really, until they make the VPP available, what else are we to do?

[GrumbleDook]

Excellent. I'll be attending our local Apple Learning Tour tomorrow morning and hope to elicit the same from them. Really, until they make the VPP available, what else are we to do?

 

It all depends on how you deploy the devices, how much user responsibility there is and what range of tools you are using to deploy / manage / assign the devices. I've put up the first 2 posts about the Leadership Summit here and here but it is going to take quite a few posts to go through everything which was discussed ... but some of the delegates are aware of a number of workarounds ranging from gifting to designated AppleIDs to some other things ... but the lack of VPP and present limitations was appreciated by all present. I am not sure whether it has come up in this or another thread but instructions for creating a non-credit card account can be found at Creating an iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store account without a credit card.

[drewp]

...and it's also the official line on how to do it in this country (UK), direct from the mouths of the Apple Education/Business team at Meadowhall.

 

So Apple can't come knocking on the door about any licensing violations in the UK?

 

If you had a class set of iPads and only used free apps and sync’d to a single master iTunes account, I guess that would be fine but, if you were rolling out the pages app to 10's, or 100's of iPads I’m sure that Apple or any other App developer would want their money...

[difinity]

What about this ? Meraki Systems Manager

Looks like it might do what you want.

[Max_Power]

Have you seen the RM Tech Seminar threads? Are there any in your area as this is one of the workshops that would interest you.

 

I agree, I attended the latest round of RM seminar and it gave some valuable information on how to licence the apps correctly without lots of individual email addresses, however it did confirm that there isn't a way to deploy the paid for apps legally without gifting them and then starting the install on each iPad manually, which is down to the schools preference of whether you want the staff, student or ICT support to carry out.

[soveryapt]

I agree, I attended the latest round of RM seminar and it gave some valuable information on how to licence the apps correctly without lots of individual email addresses, however it did confirm that there isn't a way to deploy the paid for apps legally without gifting them and then starting the install on each iPad manually, which is down to the schools preference of whether you want the staff, student or ICT support to carry out.

 

Gah .. I suppose I should deliver the bad news to the SLT here .. Eik ..