What manual? I thought Apple devices were so simple that a 6 yr old could use them, so then a trained IT guy should've been a grand master at setting it correctly.
Your sarcastic comments don't deserve a response but I'm going to educate you since you obviously missed several years of school. This project is huge. It's not a simple single user setup. Apple has manuals for educational and business installations because they are required for proper operation of large systems. They also have trained system engineers that service multiple sites (I know this because I know several of them). A project this size would have included configuration assistance so someone messed up. If you would spend some time on Apple's website you would have found the basic manuals.
Your sarcastic comments don't deserve a response but I'm going to educate you since you obviously missed several years of school. This project is huge. It's not a simple single user setup. Apple has manuals for educational and business installations because they are required for proper operation of large systems. They also have trained system engineers that service multiple sites (I know this because I know several of them). A project this size would have included configuration assistance so someone messed up. If you would spend some time on Apple's website you would have found the basic manuals.
Ok I deserved that, but thanks for the info. I did not know that but I did find it hard to believe that Apple didn't assist in some way setting up these iPads. Now the question remains is who messed up.
Some of the restrictions are just silly. The district should have the ability to prevent district apps from being deleted, and to allow their apps to be updated. But, no Facebook -- silly. No Youtube? -- silly. Such restricts are censorship of the worst kind, especially for kids interested in getting information which would help their education.
There are math sites, science sites, videos by scientists explaining and demonstrating experiments that would never be done at their school. Certainly kids will abuse these resources (whatever "abuse" means), but the Districts idea of restricting these sites tell me the educators (at least the administrators), don't have the intellectual curiosity that would be the characteristic of an active learner.
Best evidence yet that this technology has no place being issued to every student. Keep a lid on it in the school lab. Not so much because it doesn't have a legitimate use but because the little bastards can't be trusted. And their parents are probably no better. Old dad probably would be on xhamster.com with the kid's iPad.
Not at all.
What they need is a clear cut acceptable use policy such that the students catch doing this get in school suspension, revoking of privileges like being in sports teams and their right to home use revoked (if not access to an iPad all together at this point). And yes it should be all 3 if not more to show them the severity of the situation.
Let those that can behave continue behaving.
And then the IT folks need to do more research on how to secure these devices. Including blocking restores etc. And asking Apple to put a service restriction on all the serials so that kids can't go into an apple store and have them worked on. LAUSD is a big enough district they likely have an in house contract to so their own service and if they don't they should.
Some of the restrictions are just silly. The district should have the ability to prevent district apps from being deleted, and to allow their apps to be updated. But, no Facebook -- silly. No Youtube? -- silly. Such restricts are censorship of the worst kind, especially for kids interested in getting information which would help their education.
There are math sites, science sites, videos by scientists explaining and demonstrating experiments that would never be done at their school. Certainly kids will abuse these resources (whatever "abuse" means), but the Districts idea of restricting these sites tell me the educators (at least the administrators), don't have the intellectual curiosity that would be the characteristic of an active learner.
I'd say Facebook is left out because that's where much of cyber bullying takes place and a school district wouldn't want to accused of facilitating it. A class specific app in which the students can chat with each other as well as the teacher/professor would be much more helpful than Facebook.
An educational video worth anything should be made into a podcast.
Severity? Really? Why should you be allowed to access anything but education material on an education device?
Also, I think Apple should step in here. NOT because it is their responsibility, but because they want more education sales and therefore should help resolve these issues. Apple should easily be able to Kiosk the iPads for educational use.
Apply created Configurator etc for these folks. That's really as far as they need to go. Because as you say, it's not their responsibility.
If this is a true "one laptop per student" type of program, there SHOULD be NO restrictions at all on the thing
These are district property same as the books they replaced. And purchased with bond money which requires restrictions to eliminate or at least restrict not school related activities.
Given the number of sale of iPads to the district it seems like Apple could provide someone to instruct them how to lock it down.
.
There's all kinds of documentation on how to do this. And an app to help do it. Sort of Apple opening up a special store just to handle all this for the district there is not much else they can do
Just wondering...
Even if the LAUSD implements smarter restrictions on the iPads, I don't think there's anything stopping any student from doing the following:
1. Take iPad home
2. Create backup of restricted iPad in iTunes
3. Install a fresh copy of iOS7 (with no restrictions).
When the time comes to return the device...
4. Restore iPad from backup. (With no evidence of hacking)
Does any type of security exist that could stop this from working? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work.
MDM programs can remove the resets from onboard and restrict syncing etc if done right.
Activation lock can also be a factor if these are on iOS 7 and the kiddies don't know the iCloud password.
If this is a true "one laptop per student" type of program, there SHOULD be NO restrictions at all on the thing...I can understand having restrictions if this is a lab device, but from what it looks like, these were being distributed to many students who could not afford a home computer...and of course, they are going to want connectivity and social networking, etc...when they are at home. It just sounds ridiculous to try a take-home program like this and put restrictive access profiles and filters on the device.
Just my opinion. When I was that age I had a PowerMac and a PowerBook, and a fast cable modem to enjoy it all....in like 1997.
Those laptops are given to the kids, these iPads are being lent out, big difference.
I'd say Facebook is left out because that's where much of cyber bullying takes place and a school district wouldn't want to accused of facilitating it. A class specific app in which the students can chat with each other as well as the teacher/professor would be much more helpful than Facebook.
An educational video worth anything should be made into a podcast.
Educational videos are available as they are. Educational videos worth anything should be podcast misses an important point -- educational videos worth anything are on Youtube, Vimeo, from university websites, from iTunes U, on Facebook -- that is, reality trumps your opinion.
Is everyone here serious about "security" on an iPad? There is no such thing. It's not Apple's intent to "lock things down". The school district just didn't do their homework or planning. Or someone just did it to get it on their resume. I'm surprised it took a week..
Educational videos are available as they are. Educational videos worth anything should be podcast misses an important point -- educational videos worth anything are on Youtube, Vimeo, from university websites, from iTunes U, on Facebook -- that is, reality trumps your opinion.
But there are also twerking videos amongst other inappropriate material on YouTube and Vimeo. School districts want to protect themselves from any possible misuse of their property.
If only they had used Chromebooks! It would have been cheaper per student, and they would have avoided this fiasco because none of the students would have ever used them.
You cannot hide or prevent someone from deleting a third party MDM profile. They use AirWatch and all someone has to do is hit delete and its gone...with it all the restrictions that prevent access to safari, YouTube, etc. Once the profile has been killed and they are off of the district filtered internet access, they can surf and download whatever they want. They can also sign in to any iTunes account they want and download what ever they want.
Is everyone here serious about "security" on an iPad? There is no such thing. It's not Apple's intent to "lock things down". The school district just didn't do their homework or planning. Or someone just did it to get it on their resume. I'm surprised it took a week.
I'm not employed by Apple but I detest comments by people who haven't the faintest idea what they're talking about. I started adding Macs into the large in house system I managed back in 1989. I have been involved in securing Apple systems since then. If you don't understand how Apple builds security into their systems then quit complaining about it. iOS is the most secure mobile OS. You can choose to limit the systems capabilities or open it up. It's up to the user. This doesn't mean Apple doesn't have any security.
Comments
Just wondering...
Even if the LAUSD implements smarter restrictions on the iPads, I don't think there's anything stopping any student from doing the following:
1. Take iPad home
2. Create backup of restricted iPad in iTunes
3. Install a fresh copy of iOS7 (with no restrictions).
When the time comes to return the device...
4. Restore iPad from backup. (With no evidence of hacking)
Does any type of security exist that could stop this from working? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work.
None but if they want other school districts to purchase iPads it behooves them to help out.
Your sarcastic comments don't deserve a response but I'm going to educate you since you obviously missed several years of school. This project is huge. It's not a simple single user setup. Apple has manuals for educational and business installations because they are required for proper operation of large systems. They also have trained system engineers that service multiple sites (I know this because I know several of them). A project this size would have included configuration assistance so someone messed up. If you would spend some time on Apple's website you would have found the basic manuals.
Ok I deserved that, but thanks for the info. I did not know that but I did find it hard to believe that Apple didn't assist in some way setting up these iPads. Now the question remains is who messed up.
There are math sites, science sites, videos by scientists explaining and demonstrating experiments that would never be done at their school. Certainly kids will abuse these resources (whatever "abuse" means), but the Districts idea of restricting these sites tell me the educators (at least the administrators), don't have the intellectual curiosity that would be the characteristic of an active learner.
Not at all.
What they need is a clear cut acceptable use policy such that the students catch doing this get in school suspension, revoking of privileges like being in sports teams and their right to home use revoked (if not access to an iPad all together at this point). And yes it should be all 3 if not more to show them the severity of the situation.
Let those that can behave continue behaving.
And then the IT folks need to do more research on how to secure these devices. Including blocking restores etc. And asking Apple to put a service restriction on all the serials so that kids can't go into an apple store and have them worked on. LAUSD is a big enough district they likely have an in house contract to so their own service and if they don't they should.
I'd say Facebook is left out because that's where much of cyber bullying takes place and a school district wouldn't want to accused of facilitating it. A class specific app in which the students can chat with each other as well as the teacher/professor would be much more helpful than Facebook.
An educational video worth anything should be made into a podcast.
Apply created Configurator etc for these folks. That's really as far as they need to go. Because as you say, it's not their responsibility.
These are district property same as the books they replaced. And purchased with bond money which requires restrictions to eliminate or at least restrict not school related activities.
There's all kinds of documentation on how to do this. And an app to help do it. Sort of Apple opening up a special store just to handle all this for the district there is not much else they can do
MDM programs can remove the resets from onboard and restrict syncing etc if done right.
Activation lock can also be a factor if these are on iOS 7 and the kiddies don't know the iCloud password.
Those laptops are given to the kids, these iPads are being lent out, big difference.
I'd say Facebook is left out because that's where much of cyber bullying takes place and a school district wouldn't want to accused of facilitating it. A class specific app in which the students can chat with each other as well as the teacher/professor would be much more helpful than Facebook.
An educational video worth anything should be made into a podcast.
Educational videos are available as they are. Educational videos worth anything should be podcast misses an important point -- educational videos worth anything are on Youtube, Vimeo, from university websites, from iTunes U, on Facebook -- that is, reality trumps your opinion.
Is everyone here serious about "security" on an iPad? There is no such thing. It's not Apple's intent to "lock things down". The school district just didn't do their homework or planning. Or someone just did it to get it on their resume. I'm surprised it took a week..
iPad Security Thread
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3920965?start=0&tstart=0
But there are also twerking videos amongst other inappropriate material on YouTube and Vimeo. School districts want to protect themselves from any possible misuse of their property.
If only they had used Chromebooks! It would have been cheaper per student, and they would have avoided this fiasco because none of the students would have ever used them.
Fixed that for you.
You cannot hide or prevent someone from deleting a third party MDM profile. They use AirWatch and all someone has to do is hit delete and its gone...with it all the restrictions that prevent access to safari, YouTube, etc. Once the profile has been killed and they are off of the district filtered internet access, they can surf and download whatever they want. They can also sign in to any iTunes account they want and download what ever they want.
hahaha, this is so very true. Those things are garbage!
I'm not employed by Apple but I detest comments by people who haven't the faintest idea what they're talking about. I started adding Macs into the large in house system I managed back in 1989. I have been involved in securing Apple systems since then. If you don't understand how Apple builds security into their systems then quit complaining about it. iOS is the most secure mobile OS. You can choose to limit the systems capabilities or open it up. It's up to the user. This doesn't mean Apple doesn't have any security.