iPad Deployment Journal Part 3: Naming iPads and updating to iOS5

The iPad deployment adventure continues. I was very excited when I managed to get the network settings to each iPad through the iPhone Configuration Tool (see my last post).

Next it was on to naming each iPad in the cart. It was getting a bit frustrating to see 20 iPads named ipad show up on iTunes. So, I figured I would unplug all and add them one at a time. When an iPad shows up in iTunes, the following screen appears:

Clicking Register Later prompted the following Screen:


I chose set up as new iPad and then Continue, prompting...

Here, I unchecked the Automatically sync songs and automatically sync apps checkboxes, leaving all three unchecked and I named the iPad based on our naming convention. Right now we only have 1 cart, so I will consider this cart 1, but wanted to leave room in our naming for the future when we have more carts so that there will be no questions regarding how to name those.

After clicking done, the following up:



Being that the iPads did not have iOS5, this screen prompted us to Update. It seemed as though any iPads that had already been changed in any way since we received them wanted to be backed up, while the others just updated.

The process took some time as I had to do them one at a time. Each time one was finished, I would plug in the next one so that it would show up with the name ipad and once completed join the crowd of newly updated iPads with the spiffy iOS5 and the nifty new name.

Next up ... Volume purchasing of apps and using the iPhone Configuration tool to get the apps to all of the iPads in the cart.

iPad Deployment Journal...Part 2

So, I did my research on preparing a cart of 20 iPads for deployment in our school. One thing that I definitely realized is that noone seems to be doing it the exact same way. I believe my story is no exception.

I have not started to actually install apps on the iPads, but I have begun the readying process and have made some strides. The process is certainly time consuming, and I still wish there were an easier way. Perhaps my experience will help others as they embark upon this arduous process.

I was able to create a configuration file using the iPhone Configuration tool. One of my first concerns was to get our incredibly long WEP key entered on each iPad so they can access our network. Fortunately, the iPhone Configuration tool has a configuration option for wifi. It was suggested (and for now I agree) to create separate configuration profiles for different actions, one being the wifi. In theory, you can set up a number of configurations in one profile and send them all to the iPads, but in this case, I stayed with just seeing the network settings through rather than getting overly ambitious.

This process was not as bad as I feared... Simply click on Configuration Profiles in the Configuration Tool and name the profile in the Identify Section of the General tab. Then click on wifi and enter the settings for your Network. Once the configuration profile is created you need to install it on each iPad. The list of iPads shows up on the left. I was hoping I could install it on all with one click, but I couldn't figure that one out. Has anyone?

The image below shows the wifi screen for this profile:

In my next post, I will share the process of naming each iPad using iTunes. Preparation for deployment continues...

Working through the less than intuitive iPad deployment process...

We just got a cart with 20 iPads (woo hoo!). The cart is great in that it charges all the ipads and allows us to connect to all of them via USB. So, I understand (and feel free to correct any gaps in my understanding) that we can deploy apps to all of the devices using the iPhone Configuration Utility on a PC or Mac connected to our cart. We can purchase apps using the Apple Volume Purchasing Program. Once purchased, we should receive a spreadsheet with all the codes. This is where I get a little vague. From my research, it seems as though we can either deploy the apps to all of the ipads from the iPhone configuration tool OR have each iPad click on a link created from the volume purchase in order to install it on each iPad. I far prefer the idea of sending it through the config tool. I have heard that it can work and essentially, you are installing the app with the same code to all devices, but since you have purchased a license for each device, you have that info on the spreadsheet for verification purposes.

1. A few questions...
   Do I use the iPhone configuration tool independently of iTunes, or do I use iTunes as well?





2. Can I update all of the devices to iOS5 from the config tool or in some manner without updating each one individually?





3. Should I name each iPad through the iPad itself or through the configuration tool?





4. Is there a way to change the network settings through the configuration tool (in other words, I have a very long WEP key to enter in each one. Do I have to do it manually to first get each one on the network?
   

That's the bulk of my questions for the moment. I will post this and other reflections on the process in my blog (http://wamstechtips.blogspot.com/). Thanks in advance for any support.

Educators Unite: My Vision for Google+ in Education

Social Networking is certainly integral in the lives of the digital natives that we teach. I believe it's safe to say that social networking is becoming integral to most of our personal lives at this point.

Who drives the trends of social networking sites? Clearly, it's the users. MySpace took social networking in one direction and Facebook has evolved to be a more mainstream social networking site, but still driven by the users and I don't think Mark Zuckerberg could have ever envisioned facebook 'looking' quite like it does today when he was sitting in his dorm room coding away. Likewise, twitter has taken social networking in a direction of it's own, catering to people with specific interests, both professionally and socially.

Whatever the case may be, the question about social media in education continues to receive a lot of attention. Many schools (and educators) are very leery of using facebook in the classroom and this is due to legitimate liability concerns based on issues we've all read about based on the way we have learned to share on facebook. So, where am I going with this?

Google has entered the arena with google+ (certainly a better attempt at social networking than buzz and wave. I loved google wave for what it was and am sad to have seen it's early demise. However, google+ is certainly their answer to facebook and twitter and it appears as though google will stay the course with this one! My first thought is that google+ is still new enough, uncluttered enough, and somewhat akin to unclaimed territory. I would like to declare that we should plant our flag and claim google+ while we can! Below is my rationale and vision for it's use.

1. Circles - At the heart and soul of google+ is the idea of separating your factions into circles (i.e. a circle for friends, a circle for your PLN, a circle for family, a circle for your World of Warcraft clan, a circle for colleagues, a circle for your 1st period English class, etc.). I love the idea of having a circle for each of my classes, where I can quickly post resources and reminders to them. In addition to communicating with google+ users through your circles, you can communicate with those who have not yet signed up via email. Google+ will send your post as an email to members of your circle who are not on Google+. I LOVE THIS! It provides you with the opportunity to use google+ as your group email / messaging client. In addition, like facebook, I could post to my entire network when the content is meant for everyone.
2. Huddle - As we are beginning to encourage BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and the use of smart phones, handheld devices, etc. we can begin to use huddle, a service that allows you to essentially send an sms style text message to everyone in a circle. Again, what a great way to send that quick reminder to class, link to an assignment, resource, etc.
3. Google Apps - Our school is using google apps. Every student can create an account through our school district portal. Currently, this would give them access to google sites, google documents, custom google search, etc. ). At the moment, I do not believe that google+ is integrated with google apps, but it would be great if the student accounts also made google+ available. My guess is that this would keep them in a secure social networking environment (only connected to others in the school district), but I believe the ideal would be to have it start there and extend or link to their personal google+ account. I say this as I want there to be an easy way to integrate with the school use of google apps, but believe students would need there to be a connection to their true personal network in order for them to use it regularly. Part of my vision is for google+ to be included in the google apps suite for easy integration of school projects and social networking.
4. I have already begun to use google+ for personal and professional use. I would say that I am using it more for my PLN than I am for personal use. Facebook, on the other hand has the scale tilted the other way by far.
5. Meet the students where they are. We often speak of meeting the digital natives in a world that they are familiar with. Here's our chance. Again, I understand the reservation regarding facebook (sorry, Mark), but see google+ as the unchartered territory that just might be the great compromise we are looking for. We can work in an environment familiar and comfortable to our students while teaching appropriate use.

I will likely add to this post as I have so many ideas milling around in my head. Please feel free to contribute your thoughts as well. Join me as we shape google+ to become the social learning (don't tell the kids that) environment that we want it to become.

Steve

A cause close to my heart

I just wanted to take a moment to share on a personal note. My daughter is 8 years old. Two years ago she was diagnosed with a blood disorder called ITP, a condition where her immune system attacks her platelets, perceiving them as an infection that must be irradicated. As a result, her platelet count gets very low and she must receive treatment (IV gammaglobulin) about every six weeks. Today she is receiving a treatment. I have made it a point to use her treatment days as an opportunity to raise awareness. If you begin to follow me in my social networking circles on Facebook or Twitter you'll note that I seem to post something related to ITP periodically, but especially on her treatment days. You can find out more about ITP by visiting http://www.pdsa.org/ where you can find articles, videos, etc. related to the condition.

She's an awesome kid who is especially determined (perhaps a 'side effect' of her ITP). She's funny, feisty, and a joy when she's not yelling at us :) Thanks for taking a moment to read this. I figure the only way for others to become aware is through sharing.

Will the classroom projector soon become obsolete?

In the world of Internet Connectable HDTVs, is the idea of a mounted projector going to go the way of the old overheads that teachers used to know and love? I can't help but to think that this may be the case. I would love to see my white projector screen replaced by a nice mounted 55" HDTV.





Our last tech 3 year tech plan included providing teachers with a tablet PC and a mounted wireless projector. It was very exciting to see all of these projectors being installed and teachers standing with their wireless tablet projecting to the screen.


Remember the good old days of an overhead projector and reusing acetate until we could no longer effectively clean off all of the vis a vis marker? I'm sure this made teaching seem to enter the technology age at the time. Then there was the innovation of the overhead with a document reader. Woah!!!! This meant that you could actually plop the text book right on the overhead and display content on the screen. Talk about advancements!





Next comes the overhead that we put on a cart and loaned out through the media center when needed. Another great advancement! We could connect the projector to our computer and share information from the computer screen on a large screen. We could show videos, etc. as long as the projector was connected via a VGA cable directly to the computer. A small (but huge) advancement was to begin mounting these from the ceiling and initially still being hardwired with a vga cable and then soon wireless. I remember when we replaced all of the projectors that still required a hard wired connection with wireless so that all classrooms had the capability. Don't get me wrong. I valued this advancement greatly and took full advantage. However, we began to see the limitations of our infastructure as people started streaming YouTube videos wirelessly (without much success). So, it often became necessary to revert back to a hard wired connection in order to display your desired presentation or video.

This brings me back to my initial thought. Wouldn't it be great to have a mounted flat panel TV in every classroom. The TV could be connected directly to the network via ethernet. This would help with infastructure issues. Internet connectable TVs would allow for certain access without the need for the computer. With the remote control, a teacher could show YouTube videos, access Netflix on demand, among many other widgets. There are also 'smart TVs' out now that would certainly offer much more. The TV inputs allow for HDMI, VGA, among others, so connecting the computer to the TV and using the TV in lieu of the projector is no problem. The HDMI point becomes even more important now that certain handhelds and tablets are providing HDMI out. the HDMI cable is light, so connecting your iPad 2 or similar HDMI tablet to the TV would be a breeze and allow for such great flexibility as you stand holding the light tablet as a teaching tool.

Prices are going down to a point that this solution is as reasonable (if not more reasonable) than projectors were when we purchased and installed them. Currently, the TV option is a bit more expensive (not terribly) than the projector, but I believe it offers so much more.

I teach a Video Game Design and Development course, so the idea of hooking our class Xbox to the HDTV is especially alluring,

**I don't know much about them, but there are Internet Connectable TVs and Smart TVs. Perhaps another post will focus on the Smart TVs. I can only imagine that they would provide even more flexibility in terms of incorporating content right from the TV without a computer or tablet.

Exciting stuff, no?

A few questions that I hope you will respond to in order to deepen the value of this conversation...

• Have you experienced the implementation of a flat screen HDTV as an alternative to a projector in the classroom?
• Can you think of advantages / disadvantages to the idea of moving from projectors to HDTVs?

Creating a Policy for Cell Phone / Handheld Use in the Classroom

Our current technology play calls for the use of handhelds in the classroom. Presently, we are working on changing our current policy to allow for their use in order to enhance instruction. Typically, and I am sure my school district is no different from most, cell phone use was limited to before and after school and cell phones must be off and out of sight during the school day. The consequences for using a cell phone during the school day is treated seriously.

As mentioned, we are looking to revamp the policy completely in order to encourage the use of the technology as we are embracing the notion of teaching 21st century skills. I am in the process of looking at different policies as we work as a technology committee to shape ours.

My initial thoughts focus on the idea that technology should be used to enhance the educational process without becoming an unwelcomed distraction. Many students have a powerful technological device in their pocket. They are connected to the internet and have a variety of applications that can facilitate learning. Furthermore, we can help students maximize the potential of these devices by teaching and reinforcing proper use. Don't get me wrong. I'm not ignorant and recognize that there are valid concerns. It is easy to hide behind the small screen and use the technology in a disruptive or inappropriate manner. Any policy created must acknowledge and address this reality.

Following are some resources / readings on the topic:

• Pros of Cell Phones in Schools - Benefits of Phones for Students by Rebekah Richards from http://www.suite101.com/
• Cons of Cell Phones in Schools - Disadvantages of Student Phone Use in the Classroom by Rebekah Richards from http://www.suite101.com/

School Policies on Cell Phone Use:

• Bernards Township Board of Education (Current) Policy
• Arps Schools Electronic Device Policy
  Interesting point in Arps policy: "These devices must be kept out of sight and turned off during the instructional program and in the classroom except when otherwise directed by the instructor. " The policy otherwise seems to expect students to not have devices, but high school students are permitted to use them during lunch.
• From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning by Liz Kolb
  Liz's article includes a modification to an Acceptable Use Policy that addresses the use of Mobile Phones.
• Sample Classroom Cellphone AUP from the Burrell School District
  

So, as we move toward a policy that embraces cell phone and handheld use to enhance education, I believe a number of questions are worth exploring:

• Should the policy indicate that devices should be turned off and out of sight unless otherwise noted for a specific educational activity or should students be encouraged to use devices as a regular academic tool?
• Should devices be permitted during non-academic times (i.e. lunch, study hall)?
• Should certain applications be generally banned (YouTube)?
• What should the AUP include?
• What consequences should be given for inappropriate use?

Any feedback is certainly welcome.