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Apple School Manager is Apple's free online management service for your iPad deployment. It hooks into your mobile device management (MDM) solution to provide exciting new functions, and replaces two Apple solutions you may already be using: the Volume Purchase Programme (VPP) and Device Enrolment Programme (DEP). Here are a few key points to help you get started with ASM...
What does Apple School Manager do?
Currently, Apple offer the Device Enrolment Programme (DEP) to help register your devices with an MDM solution, the Volume Purchase Programme (VPP) for when you want to bulk buy apps, and iTunes U for when you want to upload and share content. Apple School Manager brings those three things under one roof, so your poor admin staff don’t have to keep track of three separate systems.
It’ll even integrate with your Student Information Systems to allow you to create bulk batches of managed Apple IDs for students and staff (these are Apple IDs that are managed by the school, but can be transferred to a pupil after they graduate, so they can still access their work).
Will our DEP and VPP accounts be converted to an Apple School Manager account automatically?
No, you will need to ask Apple to upgrade either one or both accounts for you. The process for this is different depending on whether you have a VPP account, a DEP one, neither or both. You’ll also need to do some initial setup to access the new features (we can help with this).
Is Classroom part of Apple School Manager?
Nope, that’s a separate app, although they do work together. Classroom lets you group iPad into Classes and give teachers control over all the iPad in their Class, so they can do things like launch apps when it’s time to start an activity, send and open links, lock students into apps and see what’s on pupils’ screens. Apple School Manager will let you create Classes centrally, though.
How does this interact with Shared iPad?
Shared iPad is a new feature in iOS 9.3 that lets students log into any iPad in a class set with a simple passcode and use it as if it were their own device. When they log out, all their details are hidden so that each student who uses the iPad only sees their own work. Shared iPad is not part of Apple School Manager, but for it to work your students need to be using Managed Apple IDs, which are created in Apple School Manager.
Can I get any of these features on any iPad?
iOS 9.3, the operating system that makes all this possible, will work on anything from an iPad Air, third generation iPad, iPad mini or iPad Pro up. Shared iPad is a bit more taxing, so you’ll need an iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 or iPad Pro with 32GB or more of memory.
How do I migrate my accounts?
The process is different depending on which programmes you’re in, when you enrolled in them and whether your accounts are registered as a single institutional account or separately. It’s a bit finicky, so we’d recommend giving us a call before you make the move. However, if your IT team are confident, here’s our guide to migrating to Apple School Manager.
Want to know more about Apple School Manager? Give us a call on 03332 409 290 or at education@Jigsaw24.com. For all the latest technology in education news, reviews and articles, follow @Jigsaw24Edu on Twitter or ‘Like’ our Jigsaw24 Education Facebook page.