As the global educational sector embraces the ever-shifting technological trends, new methods and gadgets are being implemented towards the digitization of the education system. Apple, known for its cutting-edge technology, has contributed to several sectors, including the recent ingress into the field of education. Apple Technology has revolutionized the education industry as several schools and universities adopt Mac devices for their students.
With this, Apple continues broadening its horizons deeper into the educational sector. According to a recent article by India Today, Apple has launched a ‘back to school’ offer in India that provides free Airpods to all students buying selective iPads or Macbooks. Additionally, Apple also extended student discounts on certain products.
The extensive proliferation and prevalence of Mac devices in the educational industry bring forth the need for the implementation of efficient Mac management for schools to preserve their operational efficiency.
What is Mac device management?
Simply put, Mac management means the ability of IT administrators to undertake complete lifecycle management of Mac devices and users in an enterprise or educational environment. Forward-thinking organizations address the challenges that their IT teams face attaining efficient Mac management which has led to several enterprises, and now, even educational institutions to turn towards Mac management software.
Modern-day Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions like Scalefusion offer utilitarian functionalities that make Mac device management easier for the IT admins for bulk device deployment.
How does Scalefusion Mac management solution benefit schools?
Deploying and managing a large fleet of devices is not easy. Scalefusion MDM offers extensive features that help your organization’s IT admins provision and manage school-owned or student-owned Mac devices efficiently. Some of the best Mac management features offered by Scalefusion, that schools require are;
1. Easy device enrollment
IT admins of schools and other educational institutions can pre-configure settings on bulk devices through a single console over-the-air. Schools can provide students with study devices that are conditioned and ready to use straight out of the box.
Moreover, to undertake such over-the-air bulk configurations, IT teams of schools can leverage Apple DEP (Device Enrollment Program) and zero-touch enrollment using Apple Business Manager via Scalefusion dashboard to apply school-specific policies on devices to be handed over to the students.
2. Application control
Scalefusion’s Veltar empowers IT administrators to precisely manage application access on their managed macOS devices. By blocking or allowing applications admins can effectively control which applications are permitted to run. Moreover, IT admins can configure specific conditions – day and time, timezone, and IP address that determine the users’ ability to access the applications on the device. This restricts the installation of any unnecessary applications that may lead to distraction in students.
3. Content filtering
Veltar’s enterprise web content filtering helps schools block inappropriate websites, control access to specific domains (eg. entertainment, social media etc.), and manage filtering policies in bulk via CSV upload. Keep students focused and protected with seamless content control.
Browser configuration
4. Browser configuration
Talking about distractions, in-built applications are not the only form of distraction that can hamper a student’s productivity. The Internet, which is readily accessible on all devices today, garners a plethora of entertainment websites that require supervision or restriction keeping the students’ welfare in mind. This is what makes browser configuration essential for organizations.
Scalefusion empowers IT admins of schools to whitelist or allow the usage of specific websites on students’ devices. Additionally, Parental Controls can be configured to set time limits on managed Mac devices.
5. Security settings
Children are impressionable and may lack the responsibility or awareness to protect their devices from lurking device and data threats. Whether the devices are provided by schools or whether they are student-owned devices, data and network security are of prime importance to every educational institution.
IT admins can configure policies from the Scalefusion dashboard to ensure device and data security such as allowing access specifically to trusted WiFi networks, enforcing passcode policies for authorized access. Scalefusion also extends the ability to remotely wipe data on the device in an event of theft or loss with its remote wipe feature.
Additionally, Mac devices also offer several built-in security settings such as FileVault settings, Gatekeeper settings and Firewall which can be configured from the dashboard.
6. I/O Device access control
I/O Device Access Control is a vital security measure that helps educational institutions regulate the connection of external devices to school-managed computers and tablets. By restricting access to unauthorized USB drives, external storage, and other I/O devices, administrators can prevent data leaks and unauthorized file transfers, ensuring student and institutional data remains secure. This also minimizes the risks associated with untrusted devices while allowing controlled access to approved storage devices for educational purposes.
7. Remote troubleshooting
Apart from distraction, a major factor that can cause hindrance in smooth virtual teaching is device errors. Device misbehaviour amidst ongoing classes can make students lose out on their crucial classroom time, leading to inefficient learning.
In an event of device failure whether at the student’s end or teacher’s end, there must be a way to get the device back on track with minimal loss of time. Scalefusion MDM offers remote support for Mac devices in the form of remote cast & control. This helps IT admins of educational institutes to be instantly available to the students and staff to help address and resolve device issues at the earliest.
IT admins can mirror the user’s device screen directly onto their dashboards and take charge of their devices virtually to mitigate the issues in lesser time.
Conclusion
Mac device management with a comprehensive MDM solution like Scalefusion that supports the entire macOS lifecycle certainly streamlines several IT processes and makes it easier for schools and other educational institutions to provision and manage their Mac device fleets efficiently.
Not only does this help out the school IT admins in increasing their operational efficiency, but also ensures that the end-users, i.e., the students have minimal intervention in the process and have smoothly functioning and secured learning devices. A win-win strategy for sure.
