School-owned iPads redux
Friday, June 10, 2011 at 06:49AM Judging from the comments engendered by my last post, Will teachers be disappointed using school-owned iPads?, I didn't make myself very clear.
I was not making the case that teachers shouldn't be able to use personally purchased software and media on these Apple iOS devices, but that they couldn't use such software - or at least use a combination of school-purchased and individually purchased software. This is because these devices and the software and media all must be tied to a single iTunes account, not two iTunes accounts. (One iTunes account can be tied to multiple devices, I realize.)
Again, maybe I am missing something here, but here's a scenario:
Miss Pencil gets an iPad and uses her school e-mail address to set up an iTunes account on her school computer. She uses school funds to purchase Pages and some learning games tied to her curriculum. She also uses her own money to purchase Angry Birds and the latest Sue Grafton novel from the Apple bookstore. She backs her iPad up to her school computer.
So far so good.
But then Miss Pencil takes a new job in Minnesota since her position in Texas was cut. The iPad goes back to the district, but what happens to the software tied to that iTunes account? As far as I can determine, either the school gives it to Miss Pencil (illegal?) or Miss Pencil loses her purchases (immoral?).
I don't think you can transfer software between iTunes accounts.
What am I missing here?
My point is that teachers who are accoustomed to using a regular operating system that can run both personal and district owned software may be caught by surprise with Apple's iTunes limitations.
Reader Comments (11)
Miss Pencil could set up her own iTunes account under her name, and install software she personally purchased with her iTunes account. An iOS device can have apps purchased under multiple iTunes accounts at the same time. In Settings, go to the Store settings and sign out of the current iTunes accounts. She can then sign in under her personal account and install apps there.
Updates under this scenario are a pain, since the App store will ask for the passwords of all the accounts used for apps.
I was just talking about this with our tech team the other day. It is a huge pain.
Ryan's method is the same one that we came up with, but your average teacher will struggle with it. Especially if they are used to Apple stuff just working. I think you'll end up with teachers that accidently purchase "school apps" on their personal accounts or vise versa.
Is there any hope with 10.7 server and profile manager?
With the newest version of iTunes, users do get the option to download purchases (music, apps, books) to another authorized computer. While this helps teachers keep ownership of items purchased on a district iOS device, it does not fully answer the question of downloading district purchased items on a personal iOS device.
We have a district iTunes account that does not have a method of payment attached to it. To purchase apps, we redeem codes from the volume purchasing plan to that account. It requires extra education so the teachers don't install the applications on more devices than what is licensed.
Ryan is correct that it is possible to have apps tied to more than one Apple ID on a single iDevice. The snag comes in the fact that a maximum of 5 computers can be authorized to use purchased apps from a single Apple ID. That means it is impossible to use a single Apple ID (for a school building, for example) and still allow individual classroom teachers to manage their own classroom sets of devices (more than 5 teachers, that is).
This model is an extension of the rules that have always been in place for music purchased from the iTunes store. I'm hoping Apple gets smart and eliminates this restriction, because too much centralization of app installation gets in the way of flexible and responsive deployment.
@Andrew
"Is there any hope with 10.7 server and profile manager?"
From what little I've seen, I'm not optimistic. The profile management looks like it's just moving the configuration features currently found only in the iPhone Configuration Utility onto the server. That will help to an extent, because it will liberate that process from a single person's computer, but unless they roll out more features when 10.7 Server is released, it doesn't include the feature we all want, which is the ability to push apps out to devices.
Personally, I completely understand and respect your concern for the two scenarios you laid out when Mrs. Pencil leaves the district. However, your facts are slightly inaccurate. One device CAN be linked to multiple iTunes accounts. It cannot sync to them (well at least) but it can be linked to two different accounts for purchases.
To accomplish this simply go into "Store" in settings. Tap on the iTunes account at the bottom. Tap "Sign out" then sign in with the personal account. From there the purchases will be linked to the teachers iTunes account to purchase and download additional personal items. Both the district purchases and the personal ones will be available for use on the device. These items will also be brought over with a sync. That said, similar to when DRM iTunes music
Is moved to a new iTunes computer unless Mrs. Pencil provides her personal credentials those apps will not be authorized on other devices and can simply be deleted from the master iTunes sync client. Also, if Mrs. Pencil's iPad needs to be reset for some reason, she can simply re-download them.
Also, while you are in settings>store you might want to activate seme ofthe new feature Apple activated on Monday to automatically background sync iBooks, etc.
Scott
The way around this would be for the school system to set up a Volume Purchasing Program where the system purchases coupon/download codes. The codes represent purchased licenses paid for by the school system but linkable to any Apple account. Teachers could use them to download the school-distributed apps, and still link the device to their account. If they moved, they own the device, the apps they downloaded as well as the ones the school system provided codes for and purchased.
@Tom
Push is exactly what we (educators) need. The point is the school district/school needs to maintain ownership of the software licenses regardless of device. It sure would be nice if Apple or 3rd party developer could but a workable solution together. Deployment and maintenance is the single biggest obstacle for iPad adoption.
@Matt
" If they moved, they own the device, the apps they downloaded as well as the ones the school system provided codes for and purchased."
In most cases a teacher would not be allowed to take an iPad when they leave and it would be undesirable to give Apps to a teacher that is leaving your school/district. This is the whole problem with the current application model. The real money maker in iPad is the fact that users are dropping $10-15 a month on apps the whole time they owe it. That just isn't going to happen in schools (due to budgets if nothing else).
Having used an iPad for he past 12 months, I firmly believe that an iPad is a personal device that needs to be free of the limitations of corporate owned devices if one is to gain full operability. At the risk of raising the ire of colleagues, I'd also like to advocate a change of attitude in the way we approach the ownership of these learning tools. As tools of our trade, I believe we need to consider making the personal financial investment just as the carpenter must invest in his box of tools. This way we would take our store of knowledge when changing positions and be able to invest the time and money required with the confidence of building our professional knowledge.
I can hear the howls of 'expense' already, however, I firmly believe we need a change of approach in this matter.
I just got a set of 35 iPads for students use. I'm sure this year will be one of learning how to best use them and making a few mistakes. Ss far as the cost of the apps go I spend so much of my money on school supplies already, pens, bulliten board items, books, event notebook paper for the students. So what's one more thing.