iPads and Network Storage

[MyBrainHurts]

Afternoon all!

 

We're on the brink of ordering several (read: 50!) iPad 2 devices for students to use in various different departments. I have to admit I'm not particularly keen on the idea; I would have liked to have trialed a smaller number (4-5) first, as I think they will be difficult to manage, but the school wants to buy in bulk whilst prices are low ...

 

One of my main concerns is saving files and how to access network stores in order to use the files elsewhere. For example, what if a student takes photos/videos during a lesson and then wants to access those files elsewhere, perhaps on another iPad or networked computer ... I see that there are Apps that will allow you to connect to a Windows network store, a generic folder, but I'm guessing you cannot have it pointing to home folders with username and passwords ... ?

 

I was also thinking about whether it would be possible to have some web-based storage for each individual student, provided either by Apple or maybe ourselves? I'm thinking this method is going to be expensive and is another set of username and passwords that students have to remember! Could you upload files to Google Docs from the iPad (something I haven't tried), and then access them on another iPad/networked PC?

 

Has anyone else solved this problem with their iPads/network, or do you solely use your iPads for Internet and Apps etc? If we can't find a solution, it could be a deal breaker ...

 

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

 

Cheers!

[GrumbleDook]

Presuming you are going to go down the MacMini Server route to run Profile Manager to get some semblance of control, you can also run that with a WebDAV service if you have no luck winning it within your File Server on your AD.

[MyBrainHurts]

Presuming you are going to go down the MacMini Server route to run Profile Manager to get some semblance of control, you can also run that with a WebDAV service if you have no luck winning it within your File Server on your AD.

 

Yeah, with the numbers involved, I think a MacMini server is the way forward in terms of locking them down ... Out of interest, are there any settings on the iPad that the Profile Manager in Lion cannot lock down? Could students mess around with browser homepage/proxy settings etc?

[GrumbleDook]

To be honest, this is the point where I would normally point people to an Apple Solutions Expert to help you work out what your best options are. It is more than just simply working out whether to lock them down, but more about how the devices will be shared, etc.

 

I've been writing up some notes from the recent Apple Leadership Summit so I would suggest looking through those blog posts (only done 3 out of a series of 8 posts so far) but I would also look at people like Fraser Speirs for a lot of real world advice.

[Michael]

You can setup WebDav on 2008 R2 as I did here. It was a little fiddly, but most of it I worked out and the rest I completed with help from fellow Edugeekers.

[speckytecky]

Don't know where you are in the UK but having recently had a set up visit from Education Mac, Apple Education Consultant to set up and integrate our Mini Mac Server I can highly recommend going that route.