iOS 15 and what it means for schools

And just like that September is here. The air is cooling, the leaves on the trees are changing colour and the sun sits lower in the sky. And for those in education this signals the start of the new academic year. Teachers have been preparing their classrooms for the return of their students, and unlike other years this will also see a return to face-to-face teaching after a long absence.

For Apple this not only sees them release the updated iPhones and iPads to consumers but also welcomes the release of the latest iOS. Back in June Apple announced to the developer community at WWDC the latest features in iOS15. For schools with iPads you might be wondering what iOS15 brings that will benefit your teachers and students in their future use of iPad in the classroom.

I wanted to take a moment to highlight three of my top announcements for education that Apple will introduce in iOS15 and the benefit these will have.

Declarative Management:

For schools with a large number of iPads they will likely have an MDM tool for managing their devices. One of the most prominent MDM features Apple announced during WWDC was the move to declarative management. Up until now, when managing a device the communication between the iPad and the MDM server is much like a standard conversation. The MDM server contacts the iPad, the iPad responds, the MDM server sends the instruction, the iPad confirms once it has completed. The process can then begin on the next device and this cycle goes on for every install, settings change or instruction sent to the device. What declarative management allows for is devices to be autonomous and proactive, not reactive.

For example, if I would like to perform multiple tasks on a device such as install an app, configure a settings change and have the device send an update. This can now be sent as a single declaration for the device to complete reducing the amount of back and forth communication with the MDM server.

So how does this help us in the classroom?

WiFi has traditionally been problematic in schools, mainly becuase WiFi is like magic. It mostly works but for unknown reasons it may decide to suddenly not…typically this would be just before your lesson starts. A hardwired connection is always the best option for network connectivity, but on an iPad we must use WiFi. With declarative management, when iPads are on a weak or slow WiFi we should see an improvement in performance for actions to complete as there is a reduced amount of network traffic. This improvement in perforce can then help with scale as more and more iPads are used by individual students.

Account driven user enrolment:

In iOS15 Apple has now improved how it handles devices enrolled into management by the user. This is specifically designed for BYOD devices and can also benefit schools using a shared payment model where the students and parents financially contribute to, and therefore own the device, as well as iPad deployments in Hi-Ed. Account driven user enrolment allows for greater transparency over the management of the device by the end user meaning the user maintains control over all personal data.

So how does this benefit students in my school?

When a student is using a personal device in school they can enrol their device for management using their school issued managed Apple ID. Now, within the settings app the student will clearly see both their personal apple ID with all of their personal app purchases and iCloud content and then separately under this they will see the managed Apple ID account.

Selecting the managed account will allow them to clearly see all of the management that is happening on their personal device by the school. Now it is easier than ever before to mange the additional account on the device, clearly showing the separation of school and personal content for the user.

Required Apps:

Apple has introduced in iOS15 a new concept called required app. Previously a personal BYOD device or any un-supervised device prompted the user every time an app would be installed, which meant a student could decline the app install. Required app allows the school to select one app that is required by all devices and as part of the user enrolment process, the app will install without any additional user prompt that they could decline.

How does this help my students?

If you have a BYOD model, have un-supervised iPads or you are in a region which is not supported by Apple School Manger when you deploy apps to iPads the students will be promoted to accept or decline the install. If they are unsure what is happening they could easily decline this and require IT to re-deploy the app to them. With required app the school can make an app, such as a custom app catalog, required on all devices even if they are not supervised. This will mean all students can then use the catalog to download any additional apps they require and can also re-download any missing apps themselves without the need for the school to re-deploy any missing app.

While this is not a full list of everything iOS 15 brings, there are other notable additions I can recommend investigating such as updates to Apple Configurator and improvements to the Apps and Books API for large scale deployments.

I look forward to the release of iOS15 and and all the new features it offers but for now I want to wish all students and teachers returning for the new year great success, and in the words of a man much wiser than myself … stay hungry, stay foolish.