iPad Protection 101

Technology can be a wonderful tool to use in the classroom.  The problem often comes down to actually HAVING technology to use.  These devices aren't cheap and seem to be growing, changing, or upgrading constantly.  Fortunately for us at WJG however, we are off to a good start with at least a laptop, a projector, and an iPad in every classroom.  Not to mention access to a rotating set of 5 iPod Touches and a mobile laptop lab.  In the weeks to come, we'll focus on maximizing the technology we already have.  And like any good lesson, I will try to differentiate up for those that have more devices and down for those who may be uncomfortable :)
Today's blog though, is all about making sure the iPads/iPods we do have, remain OURS!

For the most part, my students are incredibly protective  of the iPads and iPods we have in our classroom.  Theft has been an issue a couple of times in the past for me, but never from my own kids.  Fortunately, we were able to recover the devices quickly and without much hassle or damage.  Each time I learned what NOT to do in order to better protect what we have.  Which brings me to our first topic for discussion: protection!  When you setup your iPads, hopefully you turned ON the Find My iPad feature.  If you're not sure, go to your iPad/iPod's Settings, then to iCloud and make sure the Find My iPad switch is turned to ON.  (I'll explain what you can do with this feature if your device is lost or stolen.)

The first time my iTouch was stolen, the child turned that locating feature off and we couldn't find it (yes, a kid was able to do this)!  So I learned, to protect against this, you have to put a passcode on your settings.  On your iPad/iTouch/iPhone, go to Settings, General, then tap the Restrictions button, and tap Enable Restrictions at the top.  (This puts a passcode on the settings of your iDevice only.  It is not a password you have to enter in order to get access to the home screen.)

It will prompt you to enter a passcode in (it should be something you won't forget, it's a hassle to reset if you do).

Next, under the Privacy section, tap on Location Services, and tap Don't Allow Changes.  This is important because this is what will lock the Find My iPad setting so nobody can turn it off.

Once turned ON, the Find My iPad feature is helpful because it uses GPS satellites and an internet connection to allow you to remotely access your device.  If you misplace your iPad (even if it's just "lost" in your own house like I constantly do), you can find it by using the Find My iPhone App on a different device (duh) or by going to www.icloud.com on a computer.  Once you enter in your Apple username and password, it will locate all of your devices that are online (i.e. connected to the internet and on).  You can make your lost device play a sound, passcode lock it so no one can use it, or if it's for sure stolen, erase it completely.  The sound it plays is a pretty loud one and can be heard from inside a backpack.  It will also pull up a map of the device's location (which is fairly accurate most of the time, but does say my iPad is in Ohio a lot too).

Our classroom door stays shut and locked when the students aren't in there (and my iPods and iPads are locked up at night), but both times an iTouch was stolen from us, it happened while we were all in the classroom!  I've learned to assign children to be in charge of each of our devices and we do frequent "iPad checks" to make sure they know where their device is at all times.  They also have rules about how to handle the iPads and an agreement they have to sign before they can use the devices, but that's a blog tale for a different day :)

Questions? Concerns? Thoughts?