Is the relative lack of teacher control over student iPad use a relief or a recipe for disaster?

[Sam Gliksman]

Monitoring software can be installed on laptops that enables teachers to view and control their use. Teachers don't have that same level of command over iPads. I have been contacted by several schools that are concerned about the inability to view, monitor and control iPad use in class. Depending on your individual educational outlook, you may see this as a relief or a recipe for disaster. What is your opinion?

[Budd Turner]

Any school district having a professional IT department should/will have proxy services in effect.  A proxy is the gateway to the Internet.  Filtering & blocking policies are implemented through proxies.   Hopefully these are informed district policies, not heavy handed and often myopic IT admin policies.

With a well thought out filtering policy implemented by a professional IT department, there is no need for installed monitoring applications. These are an unnecessary additional financial and resource expense that will only serve to provide another distracting challenge to the students, until they've discovered and broadcast how to bypass the monitoring apps.

[Jim Knight]

I see this as a recipe for disaster.  You need to let the students know that you can view monitor where they are going on their iPads.  Real Problem for iPads.  For this reason I would not select to use and IPad for student use.

[Bill]

I have used computer monitoring software for at least 8 years and have found it extremely useful in my computer lab. With it's ability to blank screes, turn off the Internet, and send files to an entire lab full of computers a teacher can direct attention toward instruction. Because iPads can't be controlled this way they will have to be implemented differently. What that looks like I don't know. What I do know is that iPads can bring up web pages faster than any computer that I have ever used, their use is completely intuitive, apps are endless, their fun, and on and on. I am very interested in hearing from people who have used iPads in their classrooms.

[Carol Rainbow]

The school's Acceptable Use Policy with it's clear sanctions for mis-use should be called into play in this situation. However I think that if students are really inspired by their lesson, what they are being asked to research or present - whatever, they will be engrossed and will not bother to stray from the requirements of the lesson. If however they are bored, uninspired they will go elsewhere for interest. This is down to the teacher not filtering or monitoring. Filtering and monitoring will only stop them accessing unsuitable materials not stop them from wondering.

Carol

[Janet Bremer]

What about Lan School?  I heard they had an app for the ipads?? Anyone familiar with it?  I need to check this discussion and will appreciate whatever I read.  I will be knee deep in this coming this fall. 

[Sam Gliksman]

I think the issue goes deeper than filtering Bud. Traditional monitoring software alerts the teacher to what is happening on student screens. That's not available on the iPad and it leaves some teachers feeling uncomfortable. I'm not weighing in with my opinion here but filtering, AUPs etc all help but dont give the same level of control...

Budd Turner said:

Any school district having a professional IT department should/will have proxy services in effect.  A proxy is the gateway to the Internet.  Filtering & blocking policies are implemented through proxies.   Hopefully these are informed district policies, not heavy handed and often myopic IT admin policies.

With a well thought out filtering policy implemented by a professional IT department, there is no need for installed monitoring applications. These are an unnecessary additional financial and resource expense that will only serve to provide another distracting challenge to the students, until they've discovered and broadcast how to bypass the monitoring apps.

[Michele Velthuizen]

I find laptops harder to monitor since the screen acts as a wall between students and the teacher. I like the fact that the iPads start up instantly, the screen can be put to sleep in a second when you want the class to look up and listen, and that students can only see one app at a time. We have removed distracting Apps such as You Tube, the App Store, iTunes, etc. so that students can focus on the apps we want them to use in class instead. This has worked very well so far.

[Shawn Taggart]

With iPads you can just walk around a room and see what is happening. It is harder to hide behind a screen.
The Acceptable Use Policy and a good proxy should be all you need.

We have a 1:1 iPad program throughout Middle School (ages 10-14 in Australia) and we have not had many issues. The teachers do not hid behind a desk, they walk amongst the students and can see many screens at once. If you want the screens to go blank so you get full attention, you tell them to close their cover or turn their iPad upside down. If you want to send a file out you either use email, Dropbox or WebDAV.

They change the way you teach, but so did the computer and we all made changes to suit this.

There is no monitoring software for pen and pencil.

Shawn Taggart
Acacia College

[David Wicks]

Two factors that might make a difference here. 1) The iPad's clumsy method for switching between applications can be an advantage for classroom teachers who wants all students to stay in a specific app during an activity. 2) Associated with this is the challenge of hiding what is on the screen of an iPad when compared to how easy it is to shield the display of a desktop computer or laptop. That being said, nothing -- including monitoring software, encourages appropriate use as good as a well-designed instructional activity.

[Mattie Germer]

I feel a bit torn on this one. I've been piloting a class set of iPads in my high school classroom (10th grade Church History and 12th grade World Religions in a private, Catholic, boys prep school in Nebraska). Initially I had relatively no concerns about the lack of monitoring ability, but as I've been using them for the last six weeks I have seen some problems emerge.

 

In reply to what a few of you have already said:

1. Michele - You mention that you've removed "distracting apps like YouTube" but I struggle with that choice. There are many times I want my students to be able to use YouTube to watch educational clips. It is also a great resource when students are trying to figure out how to do something - many students benefit more from watching someone else do it than reading about how someone else does it. Of course we have filters on our school network, but when they are supposed to be watching a clip on media coverage of Gaza and they're watching Charlie Bit My Finger, it is difficult to monitor. I don't like the idea of eliminating YouTube completely, but if one wants to go back and forth (YouTube on today and off tomorrow) the syncing required is somewhat labor intensive (turn on parental controls, sync all devices, turn off parental controls, sync all devices, lather, rinse, repeat).

2. Janet - the LanSchool app is a joke. We installed that hoping it would serve like LanSchool does on computers. No dice. All it does is provide a (less than useful) interface where students can send questions to teachers and vice versa. It does not monitor web activity and it does not work in the background. The teacher can only see what is on a student's iPad when they have the LanSchool app actively open. We uninstalled it within a few days. I have not found anything that replicates a genuine monitoring program.

3. Shawn - I disagree on the iPads being easy to monitor because they don't make a wall they way laptops do. Leaving an iPad flat on a desk is really awkward. The students are going to angle them up if they are reading something or watching something. Laying it flat can also exacerbate the glare factor. I think iPads are just as tough as laptops in seeing what students are doing.

 

My additional thoughts:

The major frustration I have regarding lack of teacher control is things are the iPad settings.

Example one: I wish I could lock the wallpaper! I know that seems silly, but at first, the students were changing the wallpaper constantly. I finally set the wallpaper of each iPad as a picture the # of the iPad (iPad01, iPad02, etc.) and told them if they changed it they'd get demerits. I hate having to mess with that. Why can't it just be locked?

Example two: Passcodes. If you set a passcode on the iPad you have to type it in each time students want to use the iPad. If you don't set a passcode, a student could add a passcode and lock YOU out of the iPad. The only recourse is tracking down the student and having them type it in or restoring the iPad to factory settings. It has only happened to me once, but I'd encourage anyone starting out to put that in the AUP.

Example three: Installing apps. In the parental controls you can disable the installing of apps. However, that also means that when you plug the iPad into the computer to sync with iTunes, YOU can't install apps. This means changing the parental controls each time you sync or risking students installing apps. Well, students don't have the iTunes account password, right? So how can they install apps. My students must be really smart, but they discovered they could go into the settings and log out of the school iTunes account and log-in with their own iTunes account.

 

Also, it would be great if it was possible to set up a suite of apps to be used and with one click install/remove just those apps. For example: in my World Religions class, I have an activity on Buddhism where I have a set of apps (Buddha quotations, Zen koans, a meditation timer, a Mandala creator, etc.) that, on their own, could be very distracting. I do not want to leave them on the iPads all the time. However, if I take them off the iPads and then want to put them back on, I have to resync each iPad and uncheck/recheck each individual app. I can't put them in a folder and install them all at once. Theoretically the iPhone Utility lets you do that, but it is just as cumbersome as iTunes. That lack of control is what is most frustrating for me - not that I can't see what students are doing at any given moment but that I can't customize the iPads without a good two hours of work each time I want to do it.

 

At this point in the pilot program, I'm still more happy than disappointed in the iPads. As far as I can tell, none of the Android tablets have controls/monitoring that are any better than the iPads. I generally believe that if teachers are walking around the room and being engaged in the learning process, nothing horrible is going to happen. I prefer to give students more control and responsibility rather than less. That being said, I do think Apple needs to realize that these devices are being used in classroom/enterprise settings and it would be beneficial to their sales if they increased the group deployment options...

 

[Steve Van Dyk]

Admittedly I quickly read through the comments, but what I haven't noticed is any discussion of a paradigm shift. As an IT director with over 350 computers to mange my favorite word is control. I want to make sure I know exactly what happens on every machine from the preschool all the way up to the Administration Office. For me it is about maintaining a network that is free of viruses and other behavior that can affect the entire organization, not just the single end user. 

 

With iPads and other mobile devices I think the paradigm is shifting, and IT directors, teachers, and administrators have to follow suit. Proxies and AUP's are great, but what happens when someone brings in their smart phone with wireless tethering? No filter is going to block that. Furthermore, teachers need to be experts in their subject matter, not experts in managing tablets, pc's, etc. It is easy for me to say these things since I am not in a classroom, but I feel that the lack of teacher control is something that needs to be embraced, accepted, and then rendered meaningless by great lessons and content. 

 

 

[Whitney H]

Lack of teacher control of student iPad activity is one of the more minor drawbacks of iPad use in the classroom. As have already been discussed, log in abilities, app control, and personal settings are features of the iPad that take higher precedence over control of student use. Students will respond well to high expectations and strong accountability standards--it is the teacher's responsibility to retain high expectations and create compelling curriculum in order to reduce the amount of non-productive iPad use.