Technology has opened up endless possibilities in classrooms around the world. For one, access to education has been significantly broadened, facilitating a wide range of teaching strategies and learning styles. The pandemic accelerated the adoption rates of educational technology solutions. In some cases, demand far outstripped supply, leading to backlogs of requests for laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, and other school-issued devices. With the flood of school-issued devices, the need for education device management is fast becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Schools are always looking for ways to keep their students engaged and learning–and implementing technology can do that. Technology is changing the way we teach and learn. In today’s world, where children are already familiar with tablets and smartphones from watching videos on YouTube or playing games at home, learning through technology will likely become more exciting than daunting (and this goes for teachers too).
One of the most important aspects of using technology in schools is responsible and secure management: ensuring devices are protected from viruses, malware, and other threats that can cause significant disruption to critical school operations.
How can a district manage thousands of devices in schools and students’ homes? How do IT administrators manage, maintain, secure, and collect data from each device without the need for individual inspection? Managing thousands of devices across classrooms and districts isn’t easy, but bundling your education device management can help simplify this process considerably.
Meeting the demand for educational technology devices
During the first few weeks of the pandemic, many school districts rushed to acquire thousands of devices. They often competed with businesses or other school districts to get their devices delivered in time. As a result of the logjam, many schools implemented a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy.
The demand has slowed a bit this year and most hardware purchases made in 2020 will last for the next few years. Given the massive funding provided by the US government to schools to facilitate remote learning, many suppliers are still filling up orders made last year. Spending for education is predicted to amount to over $1 trillion in the United States, according to TechCrunch.
There can be no doubt: Edtech is making education more flexible and accessible. Teachers are deploying a wide range of tools to enhance the learning experience and motivate the engagement of students. But with an eclectic mix of school-issued and BYOD, the mishmash can wreak havoc on school IT systems. Allowing a number of personal devices access to the school network demands a dynamic mobile device management solution. This will ensure that BYOD devices are granted the access they need while preserving the integrity of the school network.
Bundling education device management software can pay dividends
It makes sense for school districts that invested heavily in smart devices to have the means of tracking, monitoring, and maintaining these devices. With hundreds or even thousands of devices in circulation, there are always threats. Theft, loss, or misplacement of a school device is always a possibility.
