How to set up and implement Apple TV in your classroom in under 5 minutes

If you are using iPads in your classroom without the Apple TV Unit you are really only getting half the experience.

This great video from square group will explain to the uninitiated the process of getting started with Apple TV in your classroom including the setup and some basic teaching ideas.  It might be of use to convince your principal or staff mates that Apple TV's are the way to go.

Will Apple's new device enrollment program make iPad management easier for schools?

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Last week I wrote an article about an alternative method to setting up a collection of school owned iPad's as it is a common problem often overlooked by many schools in the excitement of purchasing a class or school set of iPad's.

Whilst Apple has succeeded in dominating the 'classroom device' market with the iPad, it has had some failures in trying to deploy them in manner in which schools and parents can feel confident they are being used with educational intent and, as though the school has control of the situation. 

Volume Purchasing of apps has not been particularity well received by many schools prompting Apple to rethink the entire program late last year.

Now we have the Device enrollment Program as a result of this process.  The Device Enrollment Program simplifies initial setup by automating mobile device management (MDM) enrollment and supervision of devices during setup and enabling you to manage the devices without touching them. To further simplify the process, it’s now even easier to skip certain Setup Assistant screens so users can start using their devices right out of the box.

Zero-touch configuration

With the Device Enrollment Program, large-scale deployments of iPad, iPhone, and Mac are seamless for IT.  You can automate MDM enrollment for ever y device, so upon activation you can immediately configure account settings, apps, and access to IT services over the air. There’s no need for staging services, and no need for IT to physically access each device to complete the setup.

Mandatory and lockable MDM enrollment

The Device Enrollment Program enables you to automatically manage all your institutionally owned devices.  While completing the Setup Assistant, the device can be preconfigured to require automatic enrollment into MDM. This ensures that devices are configured based on your institution’s requirements, and guarantees that all users get the same setup on their devices. You can also lock users’ device in MDM for ongoing management.

Wireless supervision

Supervision mode provides a higher level of device management for institutionally owned iOS devices.  It allows additional restrictions, such as turning off iMessage or Game Center, and it provides additional device configurations and features, such as web content filtering and single-app mode. You can wirelessly enable Supervision mode on a device as a part of the setup process.

Streamlined Setup Assistant

The Device Enrollment Program makes it even easier to set up users on iPad, iPhone, or Mac. After you’ve configured devices through your MDM solution, users are guided through the activation process with the built-in Setup Assistant. You can streamline the Setup Assistant even further by specifying that certain screens be skipped. See the Deploying Devices section below for a complete list of screens that can be skipped during the Setup Assistant

It is great to see something happening in this space and Apple being proactive to ensure schools feel as though they are getting support around the use and implementation of the iPad in education.

The device enrollment guide can be downloaded here.

10 iPAd / iPhone Apps for Primary School Teachers

Alphabet Fun Learning the A-B-Cs was never like this. Alphabet Fun makes the most of Multi-Touch technology on iPad to teach kids letters, numbers, and colors. They’ll swipe through colorful images and easy-to-read text. They’ll trace over letters with their fingers right on the iPad display. They’ll even write entire words. Kids think it’s a game. Parents think it’s educational. Everybody wins. (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)  

 

 Math Magic - Don’t you just love how much your child has improved in adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing? You never get tired of hearing, “Can I do math?” from your six year old, do you? Of course you don’t. (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

 

Star Walk is a winner of APPLE DESIGN AWARDS 2010 for technical excellence, innovation, superior technology adoption, high performance, and outstanding design! Star Walk is installed for demonstration on iPads at Apple Stores! Try it out in the shops! Enjoy NEW Picture of the Day and Bookmarks sections, share your astronomy observations via Facebook and Twitter! iPhone best astronomy app *Featured by Apple - Best Apps of 2009!* is now available for iPad! On a bigger screen starry night sky looks fantastic with 3D graphics and one of the user-friendliest interfaces ever. Star Walk is your personal planetarium that can answer to all your curiosities about the sky! For anyone who is interested in stargazing, amateurs or professionals Star Walk makes discovering more than 9,000 stars, planets, constellations, messiers as beautiful and easy as it has never been before! (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

 National Geographic's World Atlas HD - Designed specifically for the iPad, National Geographic's World Atlas HD puts our best maps in the palm of your hand. Unlike other map applications, the National Geographic World Atlas HD utilizes our highest resolution, press-ready images, providing you the same rich detail, accuracy, and artistic beauty found in our award-winning wall maps and bound atlases. The app is preloaded with 3 different styles of world maps, down to country-level detail. With an internet connection, you can continue zooming through continent-level maps to detailed Bing maps - close enough to see your home! (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

 

 

 

 

Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com - The free Dictionary.com app delivers trusted reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, including nearly 1,000,000 words and definitions and 90,000 synonyms and antonyms. No Internet connection is needed. The app also features audio pronunciations, similarly spelled words and Dictionary.com’s popular Word of the Day that is enjoyed by millions of people. (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

 

Wikipanion - Accessing Wikipedia has never been faster and easier than with Wikipanion, designed for easy, search, navigation and display of Wikipedia entries. Streamline your browsing with history grouped by visit date, and bookmarking that not only bookmarks individual entries, but individual sections within an entry. (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

Miss Spell’s Class is an original word game that lets players test their spelling skills against the most commonly misspelled words on Dictionary.com. Players must quickly decide whether each of 20 words is spelled correctly or incorrectly, as speed and accuracy count to get to the top of the class! (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

ArithmeTick - How fast can you add and multiply? Solve math problems against the clock! ArithmeTick is a challenging math game where you solve addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems! The objective in ArithmeTick is to solve as many problems as possible before time runs out. You are awarded up to 10 points and additional time for each correct answer. A practice mode is also included to help sharpen your math skills! With five difficulty levels, ArithmeTick is perfect for kids and adults! (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

 Read Me Stories - A new talking picture book EVERY DAY teaches your child new concepts, new words and how to say them. Your child can practice reading - anywhere, anytime - while you’re driving, shopping in the grocery store, or having a quick coffee at your favorite cafe. Our books are fun and entertaining - so your child will look forward to reading their new book, every day! Imagine that - your child reading a new book everyday! You can spend quality time with your child while teaching them the core skills of reading and speaking that are so necessary for every child in today’s modern world. Bedtime reading will become something extra-special. Or, you can have a break while your child practices reading. With our books in your pocket, that can be when and where it fits into your day. (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)

 

VideoScience - Science Class Experiments brought to you by Science House and featuring Science Teacher Dan Menelly, winner of the NSF Einstein Fellowship in Cyberinfrastructure! These videos are 2 to 3 minutes in length and demonstrate the steps of simple science experiments. The experiments are designed to inspire and excite kids of all ages, with very little set-up time and using only low cost materials. So whether you are a public school teacher, private school teacher, or home school teacher; we hope you use these videos and the many more on our website to ignite the scientific passion in your kids. (DESCRIPTION VIA APPLE)