Apple revised its technical, training, and support guidance for educational IT personnel to assist them in setting up and dealing with the growing demand for home study on Macs and iPads.
Apple significantly increased its counsel for teachers and school IT personnel on how to make working from home easier in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. It suggests tools for working and keeping connected, as well as particular information on setting up Apple devices that must be maintained by the school.
“Preparing your school’s Apple devices for remote learning” is aimed towards IT personnel who are responsible for preparing both the school and individual Apple devices for usage at home. It mostly consists of a single central support document, but it also includes connections to a variety of pages and videos aimed for IT instructors.
Apple advice uses Apple’s Mobile Device Management (MDM) system after selecting which Macs or iPads are allowed to be brought home.
MDM enables educators to configure these devices with customized material that will be utilized during remote learning, as well as unique settings and limitations. The gadgets must be able to connect to school networks through home or public Wi-Fi, according to the document. So Apple provides tips for dealing with this, as well as content filtering to prevent students from accidentally accessing unsuitable information online.
Apple also suggests that the limitations could be useful if a school only has a restricted number of devices. It may be used to create a timetable that allows different groups of students to use the gadgets before returning them to the next group of students.
During this ongoing pandemic, remote learning is a fantastic option to possibly exposing hundreds of kids, instructors, and administrators to COVID-19. While some may argue that getting lessons via a smart device at home or in another safe location is not the most effective way for kids to learn since it eliminates the hands-on component, it is certainly preferable to entirely quitting education.
By homeschooling their children, some parents have taken matters into their own hands. This is also a great method to keep youngsters interested in continuing their education, but it is not always a practical choice for parents who work full-time, either in their office or from home.
Despite some parental opposition to remote learning, school systems are utilizing technology to discover new and better methods to bring the classroom to the kids. As the need for items like mobile device management systems (MDMs) grows, so will innovation, allowing instructors and students to engage more effectively in a virtual setting.
Many school administrators, instructors, students, and parents will undoubtedly face a learning curve as a result of this. While some schools have the financial means to offer students with specialized remote learning devices like iPads, others rely on each student to furnish their own iPhone or iPad, which must be connected to a central MDM. Schools using dedicated devices are likely to have a team of IT specialists on staff to prepare the devices before they are distributed to students and to keep MDMs up to date.
For individuals who are connecting to a distant learning protocol using their own Apple devices, the school’s IT staff should be able to supply you with a handbook on how to access applications and resources for usage at home. However, you may use Group Facetime to quickly video chat with professors and students, as well as Messages for real-time notifications and updates. To ensure that your device can handle all of the remote learning capabilities, make sure you’re running the most recent version of iOS and iPadOS.
Students at home
In addition to Apple’s own productivity applications, which are known to all Mac and iOS users, the firm suggests more targeted education titles as well as third-party choices.
The standard Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps are suggested, but only when they’re used in combination with a Managed Apple ID. This is similar to a standard Apple ID in that it allows a person to access applications, data, and services like iCloud, but it is managed by the school.
As a result, the school or educational institution is responsible for enabling the usage of Apple’s iWork suite. Along with those, Apple recommends Google G Suite for Education, Microsoft Office 365, and Cisco WebEx and Zoom Cloud Meetings conferencing capabilities.
Additional services
Apple advises that employees join ‘Apple Teacher’, a professional development program because not only kids will be working from home. There is also a weekly global forum centered on Twitter called #AppleEDUchat.
None of these programs are brand new, which means they’ve been well tested, as have the technical difficulties associated with utilizing educational equipment at home. However, because of the pandemic, they’ll be pushed to their limits, therefore Apple has combined all of its technical and training guidance in one spot.
