I have just fallen IN LOVE!
Yes, my wife knows about it…
She says it is OK as long the technology (that I have fallen in love with of course!) ultimately helps "our kids" (that is what we call our students – my wife is also an educator).
So what has me going "gaga" this time? Well, I have just found out - first hand - how easily the Apple DEP program works with the Meraki FREE (let me say that again… FREE!!) MDM System Manager.
The Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP) allows us to take Apple Hardware (iPads in this case) and Auto-enroll them into a Mobile Device Management (Meraki FREE MDM) program. I have to tell you, I have never seen anything this slick before!!
Now, truth be told, there was a "bump" at the beginning of the process. Since the DEP program is so new, Michael Cohen, the IT Director at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy (thetechrabbi.wordpress.com/) and Darryl Walczak from FAEF (www.faef.com), had to jump through a whole bunch of "hoops" at Apple to sort out registering us with the DEP program. From what I understand, a Three Ring Circus Ring Manager had less hoops to jump through compared to the effort that these two put in!!! But once everything was sorted out with Apple – WOW, was it great.
Here is what happens….
The school purchases iPads from Apple. Apple automatically enrolls the iPad in the DEP program. We give the student a new iPad (still in the box!). They turn It on. When the iPad attaches to Apple on the Web (all iOS devices must do this), then the iPad is redirected to Meraki. The Meraki MDM automatically configures the entire iPad – profiles, apps, everything. DONE!!! The student just presses "OK" about a dozen times. I DON'T HAVE TO LAY A SINGLE HAND ON THE IPAD AND ALL OF THE iOS 7 SPECIAL SUPERVISED FEATURES WORK!!!!!!
IT REALLY WORKS LIKE THIS!!
The Meraki MDM is so easy to set up and it is FREE. (Yes, I will say again…. FREEEEEE) I have used the Meraki System Manager for the last 3 years to remotely support computers at all five of my consortium schools. I have found the Meraki product to be so good that I have installed a Meraki network at Arete Prep and I have just started a complete redesign of the Shalhevet High School using Meraki Access Points. As I install the AP's at the Shalhevet school, I will definitely be blogging about that. (The Access Points are AMAZING!!! Layer 7 monitoring! I can tell if a student is abusing YouTube or FaceBook and restrict just their bandwidth and leave everyone else's bandwidth alone– AMAZING!!!)
So, what you do think? Have you had an easy time setting up your own MDM for a 1:1 program? Any questions… Any pointers of your own... Please feel free to share, like and retweet.
Regards….
Yossie
Yossie Frankel
Director - Consortium for Information and Academic Technologies
Director - Consortium for Information and Academic Technologies
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy - yfrankel@hillelhebrew.org
Oakland Hebrew Day School - y.frankel@ohds.org
Shalhevet High School - y.frankel@shalhevet.org
Arete Preparatory Academy - yfrankel@areteprep.org
Yeshivat Yavneh - technorebbe.blogspot.com
Twitter: @yossiefrankel
YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
Update to my original post.... Since the DEP program is so new, Apple is working out some kinks.... Darryl reports that if an iPad is returned, it is very difficult to get the replacement on the DEP list for the school. Little "bumps" like these are the price we all pay for being on the leading edge of technology. In the end it all works out!! I can't begin to say what a pleasure it is to work with Darryl and his team at FAEF. They are truly the best for equipment purchases and leases. I HIGHLY recommend them! - Yossie
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