cable from the hub or cart and then plug it back in. This process sends signals to each device to wake them.
Teachers like to jump to the management and supervision option at this point. They figure they have been waiting long enough and want something to start happening now. I don’t blame them but I encourage them to be patient a little while longer. There are still some important lessons to be learned.
There are several options available for managing devices. The option to prepare devices is the most basic. The purpose of preparation is to perform a basic setup of devices for distribution. It sets up the WiFi and other basic settings. This process is often used to distribute devices to teachers or administrators. These devices don’t always need to be supervised. Teachers or Administrators will use their own or district provided account on the device.
I like to use the preparation process to test the devices. The preparation process takes a couple of minutes but saves an hour or more later. I prefer to spend a couple of minutes to make sure all the devices are properly connected and communicating with the computer and Apple Configurator. Running the full management process can take an hour or more and I don’t want to wait until then to find out there is a problem. I’m only human, I make histakes. Excuse me, mistakes.
One of the benefits of working with a system like this is that the process is the same for one device as it is for one hundred devices. One-hundred devices does take longer. It could be frustrating when something goes wrong after waiting hours for the process to complete on several devices.
Think of this as a formative assessment. We are checking our progress so far. We are preparing to make changes where needed before the final exam. The preparation process is also a useful way to observe how Apple Configurator works with devices.
The supervision of devices is important. Supervision prevents students from changing settings or using their personal accounts on the device. The profile we created earlier and similar profiles manage the device functions, features, and applications. Supervising devices is similar to preparing devices. Supervised devices cannot be reset manually. Supervised devices are bound to the computer we are using. Supervised devices are also bound to the Mobile Device Management service or server.
Blueprints are used to prepare a series of steps to be implemented on devices. This is the part that confuses most teachers. So I want to spend a few moments describing what a Blueprint does.
The term Blueprint doesn’t really help teachers. Teachers understand things like notebooks and lists. Think of a blueprint like a notebook with lists. The blueprint notebook has two lists. One is a list of configuration options for the device. We created this list earlier with the Profile. The second list is the list of apps to be installed onto the device.