Establish clearly written Frequently Asked Questions a sensible Responsible Use Policy and a white paper that explains the rationale behind the decision to move to iPads, but also be flexible and nimble with policy as iPads and the best uses for them continue to evolve.
Include the responsible use policy or acceptable use policy as a PDF in the iBooks app on the iPad so students and teachers can readily access.
Provide students with photos of proper care and post these photos around key areas of campus as reminders (with a short checklist on essential care).
Create short video tutorials on how to use different apps. Our iTeam students created this video.
Develop a few surveys throughout the year to gather feedback to make mid-course corrections.
Take photos of classroom set up, with projectors and audio, and post these photos in every classroom, with a short cheat sheet of directions. Create a job in each classroom where students take ownership of the process of ensuring that all systems are working. This will minimize loss of instructional time spent on malfunctioning wiring or connectivity.
Share best practices and successes with short videos and student presentations with parents, and enlist students as ambassadors to teach adults how to use iPads. This can happen at a parent education event or another similar event.
Track paper and waste reduction. The shift to iPads makes the paperless classroom a possibility. Have each class monitor their use of paper and printing and set targets for each class, grade level and the entire school.
Track app usage to find out which apps are most used and most effective.
Have teachers share best practices at staff meetings. Those who take the lead can help their colleagues figure out how to use apps effectively to deepen student learning. These trainings can occur at staff meetings or in smaller groups at department meetings and should be a regular part of the learning cycle for teachers, who then teach their students.
Connect to iTunes and register using our district iTunes account (no credit card attached to this one).
Restore from master image (Master image has nothing fancy on it, just a restrictions password). Master image doesn't do much but it saves a lot of time versus clicking through the screens of the iPad setup.
After the master image is on them, we throw them in our cart until it's either full or we're out of iPads to image.
Run Apple Configurator to:
Name them
Add profiles (can be created via Apple Config or iPhone Config utility): MDM enrollment link (webclip), Student Security settings (if a student device), Wi-Fi settings, and Exchange settings (minus username and password)
Apps: FREE apps mind you, as any purchased apps we need to track through MDM.
Run through all the iPads manually enrolling them into the MDM via the webclip
Delete the MDM webclip security profile, which also deletes the webclip on the dashboard
Install purchased apps via MDM
Re-box and deploy
During this planning stage, a presentation was given to technology representatives from schools in LIU 12.
Setup Procedure Suggestions
Ideas from other schools:
During this planning stage, a presentation was given to technology representatives from schools in LIU 12.