With the sudden increase in demand for mobile device management in education, schools and educators have had to swiftly adapt to the demands of distance learning.

Part of this challenge has been the need to create a functional and secure online learning environment for schools and teachers. How will students access lessons? How will you monitor progress? How can teachers create engagement from afar? What role do parents play? Additionally, some of your school-owned devices may need to go home and will need to be secured.

Finding a mobile device management solution that supports your school's unique setup is a nuanced process.

Right now, there are a lot of educators, looking for tried and tested solutions that support their educational goals. A bit of research goes a long way and can help your school avoid common pitfalls in the mobile device management journey.

To help you with your research, here are 10 ways that Mobile Guardian can assist your mobile device strategy, taking into consideration both the short-term and the long-term challenges.

1. Manage mobile devices remotely

Mobile Guardian is effective regardless of the location of the device. Whether in the classroom, in the library or at home, all devices linked to Mobile Guardian may be remotely and securely managed. Providing a secure and assured management of your mobile devices.

2. Powerful Web-filtering, regardless of location

Our Web-filtering tool offers a powerful way of safe-guarding students from selected online content. It helps you ensure that distracting or inappropriate content is inaccessible, whether students are at home or at school. With Profile management, you’re able to easily set restrictions, as well as customise them according to time, or the location of the device. This means that certain apps and settings will become available on the device when a class starts, or when the device enters a specific location (e.g arrives on school grounds).

3. Manage multiple operating systems

Mobile Guardian supports multiple operating systems. Enabling IT admins, teachers and schools to simply and effectively control an array of different devices through one powerful dashboard. This offers you a dashboard through which you can view all the mobile device activity in your school. You won’t need to pay for an MDM solution to manage iPads and then another to manage Chromebooks.

4. Accountability and device usage

Mobile Guardian provides detailed reports of user behaviour on devices. From applications used, to setting changes - all actions are recorded and logged. Schools are able to record all activity that occurs on a device, making accountability and reporting of digital behaviours 100% accurate. This enables clear and easy assessment of how devices are being used by students and can encourage responsible, digital citizenship.

5. Easy-to-use and powerful classroom management tools

Mobile Guardian’s classroom management tools enable teachers to take back their agency in their digital classroom. Whether that is on school premises or via distance learning, teachers gain an unprecedented level of visibility into the actions of students in real-time. Providing them within a clear view of students’ screens and online activities. Teachers are able to guide students in their learning activities.

6. Linked Parental controls

With Mobile Guardian’s linked parental controls, parents can take over the management of a student’s device outside of school hours. This allows parents to rest assured that their children are behaving appropriately online. We have designed a family agreement template for responsible digital behaviour to help guide understanding between parents and their children. Download it here. We recommend that schools and teachers provide guidelines to assist parents to align their family agreement with the e-safety policies of their school.

7. Synchronise seamlessly with Google Classroom

One of the stand out elements of Mobile Guardian is the ability to synchronise your classroom management tool with Google Classroom, as well as the host of tools it offers teachers during lessons. As a Google Build Partner, we’ve designed Mobile Guardian to work seamlessly with all Android and Chromebook devices. This fluid functionality ensures that teachers are able to teach effectively, without any compatibility issues disrupting their classes. Through our classroom management tools, teachers are able to work smart and get the best out of their edtech.

8. Help students stay on track

A transparent view of students online activities is a key feature of Mobile Guardian. Through the use of our classroom management tool and extensive feature list, teachers may see how students are engaging with the work at hand. If need be, teachers may message students or intervene directly on the students’ device. Helping students stay on track, productive and engaged during class.

9. Ensure your ePolicy is always upheld

Through the use of our cloud-based web filter, schools are able to ensure e-safety for their students and feel confident that all devices abide by school rules. Regardless of the device's location or form of connection, Mobile Guardian helps schools adhere to their commitment to provide students with safe and secure online learning environments. This degree of mobile device management in education is becoming more and more important as we become more reliant on device guided lessons.

10. Manage multiple schools through a single dashboard

Mobile Guardian was built to scale to meet your needs. Should you have multiple schools under your watch, or need to manage a large school district, Mobile Guardian provides you with the tools and features required to easily and effectively do so. Our software allows for broad or narrow application of rules and regulations for devices. This means that you can create a nuanced set of rules at a district, school, grade or class level.

If you’d like to learn more on how Mobile Guardian may assist with your mobile device management strategy, contact us for a demo and let's start the conversation on how we can support your mobile learning environment.

We hope you found this useful and are feeling more confident on how to tackle the challenges of Mobile Device Management in Education.

Onwards,

Nicholas Norman

Team Mobile Guardian