Making The Grade

As someone who’s been managing iPads and Macs for a long time, I know there are a lot of “nooks” where settings are in various mobile device management systems. I’ve learned a lot of things through trial and error as the platforms have evolved, but that isn’t useful for new technicians. A new book was recently published that I feel is essential for anyone who works with Apple products in the enterprise. I just finished reading Apple Device Management: A Unified Theory of Managing Macs, iPads, iPhones, and AppleTVs, and I think it’s going to become the handbook for Apple device management.
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I am in the midst of my third year of teaching coding at my school to nine and ten years old students, and I made a significant change this year after reflecting over the last two cycles. As I began lesson planning over Christmas break, I made a list of what I liked about Swift Playgrounds and what I didn’t like. As I began to think through it, I realized that what I didn’t like about Learn to Code 1 in Swift Playgrounds was how quickly the difficulty went up. By class five, students who didn’t naturally “get” the concepts of coding began to become frustrated. As I went to search for some different curriculum, I ended up on Code.org for coding curriculum due to its ability to create classes and monitor progress through our Clever portal integration.

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2020 is an important year for Apple. It marks ten years since the introduction of the iPad. Even though it’s just a part of Apple’s device lineup, its impact can be felt on macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. In K–12, it ushered in a new era of mobility. Schools went from cart-based computing to 1:1. With every student having a device, Wi-Fi networks went from something that was in conference rooms to needing to extend to every corner of the building. Overnight, IT departments had to become RF experts and figure out how to manage and deploy devices that couldn’t be connected to Active Directory and had minimal management tools. For my Making the Grade column this week, I want to consider the impact of ten years of iPad in K–12.
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One of the biggest disappointments of the 2010s for me in education was the K-12 digital book market never evolved into much of anything with Apple, Amazon, or Google. They have little leverage with textbook publishers, and in reality, there is very little money to be made for the big technology publishers without making a few acquisitions. When Apple announced digital textbook support back in 2012, they had high hopes, but sadly, not much came of it. Even beyond textbooks, Apple and Amazon, have done little to reinvent the library experience in schools. Amazon would be an ideal partner for schools, but their education offering is weak. Sora looks to be the perfect solution for K–12 libraries wanting to make a digital transformation.
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After the announcements last year, I wrote about how AirPlay 2 being built into TVs had changed my future A/V plans at my school. After a year of watching software updates, I was ready to test a TV with AirPlay 2 in the classroom. For my testing, I used a Vizio V-Series 55-inch. Read on to learn more about my experience using a TV from Vizio with AirPlay 2 in the classroom.
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A few weeks ago, I looked at the role that subscriptions are playing with the App Store economy. One of the comments that I got was about in-app purchases in Apple’s School and Business Manager programs. Despite the advancements in features of Apple’s deployment platforms, in-app purchases are not able to be deployed via Apple’s deployment programs for schools and businesses. While a lot of developers have created School Editions of their apps, many others remain unable to be deployed in mass because of this limitation. How could Apple implement in-app purchases in their deployment platforms?
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I’ve been testing out the Robo Wunderkind Robotics Kit for the past couple of months from the perspective of an educator and a parent. I’ve tested out a dozen or so of these types of products (building blocks + iPad app), and they’ve all had one thing in common: they can be overwhelming for kids. Many of them include hundreds of pieces with pages full of options of things to create. After spending some time with it, I am ready to give you my Robo Wunderkind Robotics Kit review.
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A few years ago, I heard about Twitch and the idea of people watching other people play video games. I didn’t understand the appeal. Why would someone want to watch someone else play a game when they could play it themselves? I heard someone explain it in a podcast, though. They said it’s no different than sports. I can certainly play basketball, but I also enjoy watching it as well. Video games are no different. As time has gone on, it’s become clear that a new trend is happening around gaming that cannot be ignored: esports in schools.
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A question facing a lot of K–12 school districts this time of year is whether their devices can go just one more year. Budgets are being set (and likely looking to be cut), so keeping an iPad or Mac laptop deployment in place for another school year is a way to eliminate a costly line item in the budget. Is that a wise decision? Let’s look at the factors you need to consider before holding off on that new Mac or iPad device refresh. A different way that I often get this question asked to me is: “how long do iPads last?”
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I wrote about Clever over a year ago in a discussion about how they solved the identity management problem for Apple in K–12. Over this past summer, I went through a Clever deployment at my school. I wanted to come back to review my experience, tips, and tricks, and where I see Clever moving to in the future in K–12.
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Apple’s long had an interesting in their products being used in primary, secondary, and university settings. I believe this is partly due to the revenue opportunities (including e-rate), but I also know that Apple truly does care about the learning environment of students. One thing to consider for Apple is by investing in education, they are investing in their future customers and future employees. After attending the ISTE conference in Philadelphia, I have a clearer picture of where Apple is at, and where they are headed in Education. I love some of their strategies, and I have concerns about other parts, so I wanted to put all my thoughts together in a State of Apple in Education in 2019.
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A common discussion this summer in the email lists and LinkedIn groups I am in is about the iOS and macOS betas. People who manage iOS and macOS devices have to be aware of what’s happening with beta developments during the summer as we prepare to verify compatibility with printers, external devices, and applications (local and cloud). While I don’t start with this process with beta 1, I will usually begin my “official” testing around the time of the public betas. I’ve been managing macOS and iOS for almost a decade, so I’ve learned a little bit about the process along the way. When you are deploying macOS and iOS on an enterprise level, here are my tips on when to deploy macOS Catalina and iOS 13 (including iPadOS 13).
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Jamf, the popular mobile device management solution for Apple, is announcing some new features ahead of the 2019-2020 school year. Earlier this year, Jamf launched Jamf School along with new apps for parents and teachers with the aim to simplify the entire Apple experience from home to school.

Today, they have announced some new teacher and parent tools for Jamf School aimed at furthering that mission.

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A few months ago, I reviewed the Neuron Explorer kit from Makeblock. I really enjoyed getting to use it and we’ve since implemented it in our STEM lab at my school. The folks from Makeblock sent me their latest kit for review, and I’ve spent the past few weeks building things to see what I thought. Here’s my review of the Makeblock Motionblock.
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Biometrics has gone from something we used to only see in the movies to a natural part of our lives. We are used to using tools like Face ID and Touch ID to unlock our devices. In K–12 schools, companies are looking to take it even further, though. I recently read an article in EdTech Magazine that looked further at the use of biometrics in K-12 schools.
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One of my favorite sessions from Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is the “What’s new with device management session”. It’s usually towards the end of the week, but it’s one that IT managers should always pay attention to. We aren’t getting the earth-shattering changes we did in years past, but that’s simply because a lot of the low hanging fruit has been picked. There are some notable changes coming in the fall updates, though. So here’s what’s new with device management in iOS 13, iPadOS 13, tvOS 13, and macOS Catalina.
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As with any major Apple announcement, I watched the WWDC Keynote with anticipation on how it would impact my job as an IT Director who primarily manages Apple devices. While the hardware Apple produces is certainly important, the software they plan to release every fall is what I pay attention to most. What is the impact of WWDC on IT departments as we head into the fall software releases? Let’s dive in.
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Time Machine was introduced with OS X Leopard (10.5) back in 2007, and it was pitched as a way to easily backup your computer to an external drive. Over the years, it was expanded to work with the Airport Extreme (now discontinued). Now, it still works with USB drives, but you can also use products like Synology to back up your Mac over the network. Is it time for Apple to take the next step with backups and build a Time Machine service in iCloud for macOS?
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Apple School Manager is the cornerstone of Apple’s K–12 strategy. When Apple began to push the iPad in K–12, their tools were a little disjointed. They had the Volume Purchase Program, Device Enrollment Program, and Profile Manager built into macOS Server.
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I’ve been managing macOS in an enterprise environment since 2009, so I was around during the “stable” periods of Snow Leopard, as well as what others would call unstable periods. One of the common themes I’ve heard in my technology circles over the past few years is that macOS has become less stable. I manage 100s of Mac laptops at the moment, and I would estimate I’ve been responsible for 1,000+ devices over the past ten years. So, I think I’m qualified to discuss the current state of macOS stability.
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