Always nice to start the new year with good news.
For all those out there who have shared iPads and have been using work arounds to make to happen - there looks like there is some exciting news coming our way.
The beta for IOS 9.3 is just being released and has some fantastic news for educators. In a nut shell - this is what looks like is on the way.
"Apple’s iOS 9.3 preview describes features for education, some of which have long been requested by users, especially multi-user support. Unfortunately, it seems the highly-sought-after feature is only for education at this time.
Features for education include:
• Shared iPad for students: Students can log in to any iPad in any classroom and make it their own.
• New Classroom app: Teachers can guide students through a lesson, see their progress, and keep them on track.
• Apple School Manager: Now admins have one portal where they can do everything from create Apple IDs to purchase apps to prepare devices for MDM.
• Managed Apple IDs: A new kind of ID for education, Managed Apple IDs are created and assigned by the school.
As soon as students log in to an iPad, they have access to all their apps, books, and documents. So when class is ready to start, they are, too. For students who use the same assigned iPad in a class each day, starting a lesson is hassle-free. Thanks to intelligent caching, when students log in they don’t have to wait for everything to download — it’s already there."
I am not sure where this update will fit in. Will the new "Apple School Manager" be part of Apple Configurator or a seperate program ? The "Classroom " app I assume will be something like Google Classroom. Also whether we will need to run the Server app on our admin machine so students can pick up their profiles, apps etc. The Server app only costs $20 - so that is no biggie - it is just the learning curve.
So lots of exciting changes in the wind. The IOS 9.3 update is just going to public beta now - so it should be a few months away before we see it finally released.
If you want to read the full release - the link is below.
http://www.apple.com/education/preview/
For all those out there who have shared iPads and have been using work arounds to make to happen - there looks like there is some exciting news coming our way.
The beta for IOS 9.3 is just being released and has some fantastic news for educators. In a nut shell - this is what looks like is on the way.
"Apple’s iOS 9.3 preview describes features for education, some of which have long been requested by users, especially multi-user support. Unfortunately, it seems the highly-sought-after feature is only for education at this time.
Features for education include:
• Shared iPad for students: Students can log in to any iPad in any classroom and make it their own.
• New Classroom app: Teachers can guide students through a lesson, see their progress, and keep them on track.
• Apple School Manager: Now admins have one portal where they can do everything from create Apple IDs to purchase apps to prepare devices for MDM.
• Managed Apple IDs: A new kind of ID for education, Managed Apple IDs are created and assigned by the school.
As soon as students log in to an iPad, they have access to all their apps, books, and documents. So when class is ready to start, they are, too. For students who use the same assigned iPad in a class each day, starting a lesson is hassle-free. Thanks to intelligent caching, when students log in they don’t have to wait for everything to download — it’s already there."
I am not sure where this update will fit in. Will the new "Apple School Manager" be part of Apple Configurator or a seperate program ? The "Classroom " app I assume will be something like Google Classroom. Also whether we will need to run the Server app on our admin machine so students can pick up their profiles, apps etc. The Server app only costs $20 - so that is no biggie - it is just the learning curve.
So lots of exciting changes in the wind. The IOS 9.3 update is just going to public beta now - so it should be a few months away before we see it finally released.
If you want to read the full release - the link is below.
http://www.apple.com/education/preview/