1:1 iPad deployment method

[khinkelman]

Hello everyone,

As of right now, we are in the process of becoming fully 1:1 with our iPads in our 5 elementary schools. My team and I are a little stumped on what the best method is as to physically handing out the devices for our 7th grade class. We do not allow the students to take the iPads home. We would just like to hear what method other schools have done. Thanks in advance!

KateLynn Swaney Technology Assistant

[don_cochran]

We enroll all devices into Apple School Manager, set up a PreStage Enrollment, and have the students go through the set up assistant using their AD credentials as the login

[mickgrant]

I think your question relating to if the kids should take them home really depends on what your programs goals are.
Is it to ensure they all have a device available for classroom use only?
or is it to ensure than they can use it for homework/assignments as well?

I think that the teaching staff should be looped into those discussions as to the proposed use case for the devices.
also whats going to be your policy on loss/damage of devices... If they take them home does the child/family pay a "bond" or something to ensure that its looked after.
also how do you deal with classroom situations where the iPad is required, but the child forgot it at home

I manage a combined primary/secondary campus and we have 1:1 iPads throughout the school.
from Kindergarten to year 6 the devices stay at school and are school owned
from 7 to 10 they are BYOD so they can take them home (obviously)

[atomczynski]

I think what kswaney is asking is what method to enroll the devices with. I think a lot depends on what are the expectations from the District you are in.
I see two main routes:
A: Devices are enrolled by your team / summer workers / etc
B: Devices are enrolled by the user

At my old District, the expectation was that everything was "white gloved" for the students.
At my current District some devices are pre-enrolled while others are configured by the end user student.

If you go with the B: route I suggest you have your JSS linked with your LDAP, students authenticate with their account during the enrollment. This might help you track who has what device.

With any scenario use a temporary SSID to enroll. A good example is SSID: Apple Store, broadcasted, no password. The devices will connect to this network automatically. Also utilize Apple Content Cache service (built into the macOS operating system).

Distribute only core applications during enrollment, others in the future or via Self Service.