Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

With mobile device management, schools can rest easier

MDM software can help make mobile learning work more effectively for schools.

When you’re handing out 27,000 iPads and iPod Touches to your students and staff, having an easy way to manage all the devices—pushing out just the right applications that each person needs, and keeping track of each device’s contents and location—becomes critical.

To solve this challenge, the McAllen Independent School District has turned to a solution that is becoming increasingly common as more schools adopt mobile learning programs involving smart phones and tablets: mobile device management (MDM) software.

McAllen ISD has embarked on one of the most ambitious iPad rollouts in the nation. In February, this district at the southern tip of Texas started giving iPads and iPod Touches to its 25,000 students and 2,000 staff members.…Read More

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How to keep tabs on mobile computers … without being sued for ‘spying’

Brick Township schools doubled their laptop return rate with help from Absolute Software.

A Pennsylvania school district was sued last year for remotely activating the webcams on student laptops to find missing machines. In nearby New Jersey, the Brick Township Public Schools had a problem with missing mobile computers, too—but not any more. And it won’t be in any legal danger from spying on students, either.

This district of 13 schools manages some 4,000 computers in all, about 1,000 of which are mobile computers such as laptops and netbooks. To keep track of the devices they loaned out to students and staff members, district officials used to use a binder and a paper sign-out sheet—a solution that was “not always up to date, and definitely not searchable,” says IT Director Leonard Niebo.

That was a problem, because “students seem to lose or misplace devices all the time,” Niebo says. The result was “bedlam,” he says, with district officials having to scramble to find as many as half of the devices they loaned out.…Read More