News
Bonhoeffer College Selects AirWatch to Manage iPad Deployment in Education Environment
January 2014 by Marc Jacob
AirWatch®, the largest Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) provider announces that Bonhoeffer College, a secondary school in Enschede, Netherlands, has selected AirWatch to manage its mobile assets across six locations. The school will use AirWatch to configure policies and settings, distribute apps and secure access to school networks and resources.
Bonhoeffer College first implemented a mobile initiative in 2011, and has since grown its mobile fleet to include more than 200 school-owned iPads for teachers and 900 student-owned iPads, as part of a bring your own device (BYOD) programme from class one. “iPads enable us to integrate 21st century technology into our curriculum,” says Femke Gerritsen, teacher and ICT coordinator, Bonhoeffer College. “We can create an interactive and engaging learning environment where students learn, create and present their work with the help of multimedia.” The school has 98 Apple TVs enrolled with AirWatch that teachers and students can use to present a lesson or an assignment to the class.
With the iPad, students and teachers can access email, download educational apps and e-books from the App Store and access ‘It’s Learning,’ an electronic learning environment. Teachers use this collaborative environment to upload resources and review assignments, and students use it to share information and complete homework. Teachers encourage collaborative learning by assigning challenging tasks that utilise the iPad. “Building castles in Minecraft in a multiplayer mode was a great collaborative project,” says a Bonhoeffer student. The game allows students to develop technology and science skills, while exploring engineering interests.
“AirWatch is focused on the education industry, and has a dedicated team of account executives who understand the market, as well as an R&D team dedicated specifically to education,” says Ian Evans, EMEA managing director, AirWatch.
Bonhoeffer’s leadership team sought an EMM solution that could be customised to restrict student access to some applications and functionalities such as the camera or FaceTime. AirWatch uses Wi-Fi to activate a geofencing profile that enables or limits functionalities within the school’s perimeter, which is necessary with BYOD devices. “AirWatch helps us to restrict the learning environment to keep students focused and to provide them with educational content and apps,” says Gerritsen. “We selected AirWatch based on the recommendation of our reseller Network2Day, because the solutions, geofencing functionality and pricing are tailored for educational use,” says Louis Trousset, ICT manager, Bonhoeffer College. Bonhoeffer’s IT administrators are currently defining the varying needs of stakeholders across the school’s six locations and plan to deploy the solution in early 2014.
During the 2014 school year, the IT team plans to enrol around 1,800 iPads into AirWatch. The school plans to use Apple’s Volume Purchase Programme to purchase apps in bulk, which will be available to students in a customised app store, along with apps recommended by Bonhoeffer College. The school is considering expanding its mobile fleet to include Android and Windows 8 devices, to provide students with options when selecting a mobile device to use in the classroom.
Bonhoeffer College is a school situated in Enschede, Netherlands, dedicated to deliver the best education possible to its 4,500 students.
