RLR

Currently use smoothwall and works well. There's a few things we'd like extra but we have to pay extra for the modules. We'll probably look into Fortinet when the time comes round. Rob

Ah Okay. Not sure what it could be then. Have you checked the Fetch New Data settings to see if any of those are turned off? Under settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Fetch New Data

Hmm. Are you adding the staff calendar account to the Ipad as well as their own calendar? I don't think there is any benefit either way. Both ways should work fine. I guess if you're adding the staff calendar as a separate account you have to provide the user with the account credentials which can't be good.

Staff have to add the staff calendar to their own calendar. This is done from the calendar Web interface (calendar.Google.Com). Once added they can chose to sync from that url

We have a similar setup but don't have any issues. We usually have to go to https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect and select the calendar.

We wanted to do this so we could get all new student accounts ready before September. Although I think it is possible, our Data Manager didn't want to do it in-case any students didn't turn up. This would mean students would be on our census data but never actually attended and causes a lot of work, or so I'm told.

Our School is currently using some eBooks for certain classes. I think it's going quite well as they can use the iPads for other things at the same time. We're also creating iBooks which have interactive content and animations. I think the iBooks are far better than picture books as the children can engage more with the content.

There's also an event on next week in London for iPad deployment: https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1801992 4 Spaces left.

We have staff and students created with Salamander. Staff are created from SIMs based on their Staff code which are their initials. As long as the informaiton is in SIMS, it will create them. It use to create their accounts based on their start date but this was a bit late so we got them to change it. Students are created using their admission number. The only issue we have with this is the admission number is only populated when the student is admitted. It is possible to admit students early but it apparently messes up census data if that student doesn't actually turn up after they've been admitted. So we usually have to wait for the day after they start to give the student their login details. Salamander's support is very good. They always email back and get things done within a day or two.

We just did this for the first time last month. We had to clean the computers of asset tags but other than that it was fairly straight forward. They provided the shipping labels so we didn't have to pay for sending them off but we did have to take them to the Post Office.

Sent PM.

You can't lock down a pool of apps but you can lock iPads to a single app. I'm not sure how you can do single app mode in Meraki as we use casper an we have to setup classes using an app called Casper Focus.

Thanks for this. I'll take a look.

What do you mean about not over riding admin permissions? I've always thought files and folders are shared with only those in the sharing list. Is it possible for admins to see all folders in a domain?

Yep, 30 days seems to be the retention period which isn't very long. We use Google Drive quite extensively so we had to do some testing and talking with Google. This is what we found: If a user deletes something in their Google Drive it will appear in their Bin/Trash. Once deleted from Trash there is a further 30 day period where data could potentially be recovered from the Google Apps admin backup. If someone deletes something from a shared folder things get a bit more complicated. For example, we have a shared folder that “User A” owns but both “User A” and “User B” have access to. If “User B” creates a subfolder in the shared folder they are the owner of that folder. If “User A” then deletes that subfolder it is deleted from the shared folder. As “User B” is the owner this folder is then moved to the root of their personal Google Drive. The Drive structure and consequences of deletion are confusing and it is very difficult to tell the physical location of a file. For example, files that have been deleted and are in trash still appear in Shared with Me for other users if that file has been shared out. If users are given edit rights to a shared file they can in turn share this out to other people. Keeping control of who has access to what suddenly becomes very difficult. A member of staff could very easily sabotage data and delete potentially critical data and it might not be obvious for several weeks, long after the retention period has expired. It is possible within Shared Folders of Google Drive for staff to create folders and files and restrict access to everyone else. This includes admins which would mean that there is no way for us to back these files up as the backup account would not have permission. All shared folders in Google Drive are affected by this problem. This means that you could have a scenario where important files are deleted and if this is not picked up or noticed within 30 days they are gone forever.

Yep, we really like Google Drive but our biggest issue is backing up files. There are a few company's that offer google drive "backup" but they don't work very well. I hope Google Vaults comes to google drive. It's very easy for users to delete files not owned by them. Deleting shared files can get a bit confusing. We've done a bit of testing and came to the conclusion to just not delete anything unless you're sure.

Ah. I thought they where going to only access it via a Web browser. We've turned off the use of Google drive sync client as we have some very large shared folders

I've just done some testing with this. If you share a folder and chose not to send emails, it doesn't appear in their shared with me area. If you chose to send emails, it does appear. If you want to share a folder but don't want to send an all staff email, you can get the "Shareable Link" by right clicking the folder. This link can then be communicated to staff which allows them to "Add" to their drive. I guess the shareable link would be emailed so doesn't make much sense not to send the all staff email. You'll also need to remember to send the shareable link to any new members of staff that join as the folder doesn't appear in new google drive user accounts.

We use Parago. I've not used any thing else so can't really compare but it seems quite good. They have IOS and Android apps to scan/audit rooms quickly.

You can try tricking your iPad into having a network connection via Ethernet. You will need quite a few cables but this is the guide I got from the Casper forums: You'll need Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (Or 30-pin camera adapter if it's an old iPad) Apple USB Ethernet Adapter Powered USB 2.0 Hub (any hub but must be powered) Ethernet Cable Plug the USB Ethernet Adapter into the USB hub, then plug the hub's cable that would normally goto your computer into the USB Camera Adapter and plug the USB Camera Adapter into your iPad. Plug a network cable into the ethernet adapter, then plug in the power on USB hub. Plug a network cable into the ethernet adapter (the other end plugged into your network of course) and the iPad should pick up that it has a network connection. - - - Updated - - - Edit: I'm sure if the iPad is in single app mode and you unlock the device, it should still automatically connect to the wifi. The only time I need to use the Ethernet connection is when a student forgets their passcode.

Don't think this is possible yet. We have just the one account. Hopefully they implement some sort of user management soon for this!

We found Puffin Academy bypassed our filtering system. Basically it's a hosted web browser so kind of made sense. We've now blocked Puffin Academy at a firewall level. We've also looked at Photon Edu. It's quite pricey but the built in web filtering is quite good. They also offer a annual subscription where you pay an extra $2 (i think that was the price) per license to manage the filtering yourself. This is the email I had from Photon when I enquired: My name is Ryan, and I am currently managing our Photon EDU products and client relationships. Thank you for reaching out to us. Please allow me to explain how Photon EDU and the Site License Key work. The Photon EDU application that you download from the Appstore has the capability of running Flash content. It is officially 4+ age rated and strictly meant to serve educational needs. In order to make it appropriate for use in schools, we apply a web filter by default to all our Photon EDU applications. This filter is based on an expansive blacklist of sites that are blocked. However, very often schools like to have control over this list. In order to customize it, you need to purchase the Site License Key. The Site License Key offers a bunch of useful features: 1. Primarily schools use it to independently manage their white-list (and in some cases even the blacklist). 2. In addition, you will be able to create an icon of any website on the homepage (similar to the desktop shortcuts on PCs) to allow quick access. 3. Moreover, you also get to monitor the devices in your school with the help of some basic data (such as date last used, number of times application is used). The Site License Key is usually priced at $2.99/device per year. Please note that this is an additional purchase, over and above the one time cost of downloading the Photon EDU application at $4.99. So for instance, if you decide to purchase the whole package for 250 iPads: Cost for Year 1: 250 iPads x (4.99 + 2.99) = $1995.00. Cost for annual renewal Year 2 on-wards: 250 x 2.99 = $747.50 If you are interested in getting the Site License Key set up, do let me know! In case you have any questions and concerns (budgetary or otherwise), please let me know and I'll certainly try to help out.

Did it work for you? It's not happened again for me (yet).

I had this with an iMac a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't figure it out so as a last resort I deleted the WiFi Connection in the Network area and re-added it. This fixed it for me.

I believe you only get limited features with this version of Meraki. This explains it: Prior to 3/12/2015, Systems Manager had a distinct "Free" version, in addition to licensed SM. These legacy SM networks can be used to manage any number of devices for free, but with a limited feature-set and no support. Licensed SM has always offered 24/7 support and the complete SM feature set. More information on Meraki Versions: https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Licensing/Systems_Manager_Licensing