What The Tech?
SGASD Technology Department
Fall 2019
The Case for Creativity in STEM
A popular FAQ...answered.
One of the questions we get at the start of each school year is related to how we manage iPads in the summer. To that end, here is a detailed answer to our summer procedures for updating iPads.
- All student iPads are updated to the current version of iOS (now called iPadOS).
- At a minimum, three grades of iPads are wiped in the process:
- iPads of 4th graders are wiped and assigned to incoming kindergarteners
- iPads of 8th graders are wiped and assigned to incoming 5th graders
- iPads of seniors are wiped and assigned to incoming 9th graders
- Depending on what changes to the OS or our Mobile Device Management (MDM) have taken place in the past year, sometimes we have to wipe and reset all student iPads K-12. This is a time-consuming and bandwidth-intensive process that we try to avoid.
Note:
- The District, including administrators and teachers, have the right to inspect a student’s District-owned iPad at any time.
- The Tech. Dept. can wipe and reset any device at any time, as needed, and is something we regularly do to fix certain problems and when devices are sent out for repair.
- When an iPad is wiped, it is returned to its factory conditions and the current version of the OS is installed on the device. All apps, data, files, and other user-created content is removed from the device at that time.
Office 365 Helicopter Commercial
Network Files Moving to Office 365
By now, you've probably heard that we are moving our network drives to Office 365 this winter. But what does that mean, and why are we doing this?
- This change is based on a decision that was made due to Microsoft discontinuing support on the file servers where student and staff Users' folders are located.
- Rather than move these files to a new server on our network, we decided to migrate these files to Microsoft's cloud storage and productivity solution, called Office 365. Our email was moved into Office 365 over a year ago and we've had good results with it. Migrating our Users folders is the next logical step. It provides several new benefits, including the ability to access network files from anywhere you have a browser and an internet connection.
- And since we are moving our Users' folders to Office 365, it makes sense to move the Private and Common folders, too. That way, you don't have to remember which files are stored in Office 365 and which ones are maintained on our local network. They will all be accessible in Office365!
More detailed information and timeline will be shared in the next month or two.
Did You Know?
In 2018, one of the most popular eSports games, League of Legends, attracted nearly 100 million unique viewers for the World Championship finals. As a comparison, last year’s Super Bowl saw viewership numbers clock in at just over 103 million.
Sources:
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/20/heres-why-esports-can-become-a-billion-dollar-industry-in-2019.html