FILE BROWSER SOLUTION WITH IPADS IN SCHOOL

[Teknosgirl]

Hi,

Problem - how do you easily transfer files between iPad and windows network?

 

I have tried using Dropbox but needs admin rights which in itself poses problems. Are there any other solutions to this? Looked at File Browser which apparently is great but costs £2.99 .

There seems to be a constant clash between consumer device and products versus commercial setting.

 

Thanks,

teknosgirl

[glennda]

AppSense datanow is an app which will do the link from a users home directory on a file server and links to the ipads/droids windows and osx machines

 

I'm not 100% sure but will HAP+ not work for this? Or It might be silverlight based can't remember.

[plexer]

No HAP+ won't solve this I've allready asked that as I was looking for something similar.

 

Ben

[Ashm]

What files are you looking to transfer between the iPad and network? I think the File Browser app or Webdav are probably the best options for this. Possibly even Dropbox set up on a network share?

[Tanios]

Why not a web-app that sits on your server, students login and there files are displayed.

 

Would not have a clue how to write it though! (I'm more of a C++ Man myself)

 

Cheers

Dave

[actech]

I think the File Browser app or Webdav are probably the best options for this.

We are investigating setting up Webdav on a local server that the students can log into to access the files. It can all be done through IIS 7 apparently.

[Arthur]

Are there any apps that let you edit documents directly from a WebDAV share?

 

Let's talk a little bit about WebDAV and the iOS environment. One reality we must come to understand is iPad is NOT like your laptop. Unless someone programs the functionality in (and I've only seen this in QuickOffice, which doesn't allow user defined WebDAV servers) you won't be able to just edit off the WebDAV files. In most cases you will need to copy the file to the iOS device, edit it, then copy it back. The applications I've tested this with (Apple's Pages, Numbers and Keynote) don't overwrite but instead make new copies of files so you can end up with a vast confusion of files if you're not careful. Just be aware. (Source)

[bwestlake]

how much on average us app sense data now, not had a proper look into it just heard a rather lot about it

[edutech4schools]

Would google drive not work. You would then have both a local copy of the files and an online copy.

[CyberNerd]

Would google drive not work. You would then have both a local copy of the files and an online copy.

 

Google apps is the ultimate solution for bBYOD. It has significant advantages for home access but requires a change in practice that some schools will find difficult to cope with given their current ms infrastructure.

[bossman]

Google apps is the ultimate solution for bBYOD. It has significant advantages for home access but requires a change in practice that some schools will find difficult to cope with given their current ms infrastructure.

 

In what way would school practise have to change?

 

We are currently looking at both Google apps and Office 365 for education to find out which would benefit our organisation.

 

Could you be a little more specific please?

 

Thanks in advance

[CyberNerd]

In what way would school practice have to change?

 

To get the pedagogical benefits from Google apps you really need to be working in Google apps format. You can upload and share MSOffice formats (or any other file type) but then you limit yourself to using MSOffice which isn't available on 95% of mobile devices. Unfortunately Office365 doesn't come close to the features that Google apps has so to get these benefits staff need to convert their documents to Google apps. The MS Office plugin simply uploads files without converting them, as does the Google drive app. The best solution we have found is simply to ditch MSOffice, hence a change in working practice. Staff should write their documents in Google docs in the first instance because they don't understand the difference between a converted MSOffice file and a 'real' MSOffice file in Google apps. They end up trying to use the features of Google apps on unconverted MSOffice files and get stuck because their students can't edit these unconverted files.

[SYNACK]

Apparently google apps is still very limited on stuff like iPads and even Googles own tablets, sure you can install the app but there is still limited function. Oddly although the Office365 stuff is also limited in a browser at least the apps are there to grab and edit the documents, native or not.

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/techies-for-schools/7X2O1Kdas2U

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/techies-for-schools/AgdxGe3HAUA

I’ve recently been getting ready for BYOD, so have looked at the functionality of an iPad2 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1 (Android 4.0.3).

 

 

 

Both Office 365 and Google Apps on iPads and Android devices were extremely lacking.

 

For testing I used the standard web browser on I haven’t gone looking for any apps that may improve functionally.

 

 

 

The results are as follows:

 

Office Web Apps in Office 365

 

IPad: it was almost impossible to get the keyboard to come up so that text could be entered into a document, hence for practical purposes, documents could not be edited.

 

Android: Viewing of documents is supported, editing is disabled.

 

 

 

Google Docs – Word-processing and spreadsheets

 

iPad: Text only editing. If you change to desktop mode you can change the format, but as with Office 365 the keyboard wouldn’t appear. It was also difficult to navigate around the page in desktop mode.

 

Android: text only editing. Could not do any formatting of documents

 

Google Docs – Presentation

 

IPad and android: view only access.

 

 

 

If you’re looking at collaborative work using real computers, Google Docs allows multiple people to easily edit the same document simultaneously, whereas with Office 365 the simultaneous editing can only be done if all users are running the full version of MS Office on their computers; Office Web Apps only allows a single user to be editing a document at a time.

 

 

 

Moving to Moodle, the Android didn’t allow uploading of files out of the box, however if ‘Documents to Go’ is installed files can be uploaded from the flash memory. The iPads don’t provide the functionality to upload files from the web browser.

 

 

 

I hope these notes from my research help.

 

In a decently funny bit of irony the MS tablet with its fuller browser probably supports both of them better.

Edited November 11, 2012 by SYNACK

[CyberNerd]

I've not found any of those limitations on Android when using Chrome. IOS may be different.

[Arthur]

The iPads don’t provide the functionality to upload files from the web browser.

That isn't strictly true. iOS 6 allows you to upload images in Safari.