According to UNESCO’s numbers on school closures during COVID-19, the pandemic affected as much as 91% of the global student population. These numbers amount to nearly 1,6 billion students around 194 countries affected by school shutdowns.

In the magnitude of these events, technology and remote learning quickly had to step up to become the leading alternative to traditional presential learning. This, however, doesn’t come easy and lightly. With fast and aggressive changes come adaptation issues, and several months into this transition we can clearly identify two main barriers in a school’s transition to remote learning.

The Technology Divide Between Students

Many schools and universities are already projecting their upcoming learning year in a stay-at-home fashion. This necessary move shifts what is considered essential for learning. No longer are books, pens, and backpacks in the necessity list, but a computer, cell phone, or tablet, and an internet connection.

Of the 1,6 billion students affected, half don’t have access to a computer at home, 43% also don’t have an internet connection at home, and about 56 million live in locations without mobile network coverage.

Actions Taken and New Challenges

As we discussed in a prior piece, Schools and Universities are beginning to rethink their role as education providers. School districts are redefining budgets to ensure that devices are provided to disadvantaged students. Efforts are being taken from individual stances, in the shape of donations; to gubernamental moves in budget aids.

As the digital divide decreases -a process far from completion-, new problems emerge for the schools and universities that now hold thousands of device fleets under their control. These organizations now must manage the distribution and maintenance of these devices, as well as the future recovery and reallocation of these fleets.

The Teacher’s Adaptation Process

A secondary problem has arisen as a result of the latter. The lack of prior adoption of technology in the classroom has resulted in a difficult adoption of it during the pandemic. Teachers and professors accustomed to in person, chalk-and-board teaching are now facing a screen, a webcam, and a challenge: to adapt their past methods to new platforms.

The issue at hand is developed in three levels. First, the adoption and usage of technology by teachers; secondly, the adaption of class material to either a remote learning cloud platform or a format for a Zoom call; and thirdly, how to regulate and maintain the interactions and feedback loops necessary to engage students.

The problem’s roots are varied. On one hand, some institutions can’t access these technologies due to lack of budget, and in other cases such as in the United Kingdom, the use of digital technologies in the classroom hasn’t been properly considered and promoted by the government as the future of teaching.

How Teachers are Leading the Change

Interestingly, this matter has evolved into an opportunity for collaboration and growth. Universities such as Cambridge are providing resources and testimonials for teachers all around the world to access. Dartmouth also has guidelines that go a step further into providing different avenues when it comes to the technology at hand, the methodology and delivery of content, and creating community.  

This live knowledge base is spreading on media as well, where teachers are sharing their challenges and providing each other with guidance and creative approaches to remote learning. This process is certainly a live learning experience, and will require further analysis to better understand the different teaching experience needs of the different student age ranges.

When speaking with Andrea Zamora Acosta, professor at the Chilean University Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, we learned more about some of the concerns that rose during the transition. On one end, professors are struggling to personalize their teaching and provide feedback or follow ups without a platform in place; and on the other hand students are adapting to taking their learning environment  back home, with decreased student-to-student interaction.

Takeaways

For us to think of a frictionless digital classroom, we must rethink the role of technology in education and project the importance of its role in the future of teaching and learning. The last decade has sought to think of technology as a mere tool of improvement for students, when it should be developed as the keystone of the classroom of the now present, not future.

This delay in adoption has generated implications for the current generation that has been impacted by school closures. On one hand, access to technology has not been considered a priority, and thus the digital divide widened; and on the other hand many educators have not received the proper tools and resources to make a quick transition towards remote learning.

How we address these two points in the upcoming year will certainly determine the shape -and tools- of our future classrooms.

Hello there! Here at Prey we believe an easy experience for our users is key, especially for enterprises looking for solid device management and security. And now, we’re making it even easier.

If you’re looking to try Prey for your organization, you can activate a 14-day trial automatically right now, just by going here. From the moment you activate your trial, you will have access to the complete Enterprise experience available.

We’re excited to see how our platform can solve critical needs of your fleet, and protect valuable assets of your organization. So let’s dig in on what are the first steps you should take on your Prey trial.

Adding devices to your account

Devices come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and quantities. From a couple of office laptops for remote work, to hundreds of tablets loaned by schools to alumni, the first issue is always management.

To keep all these devices in order without losing track of them, you need to unify them on a single platform quickly. The easiest way to do this is an unattended install that will add every device to your trial account. An alternative solution is distributing Prey using any previously installed MDM solution, such as Jamf.

Prey provides unattended installers for all supported operating systems and devices. These how-to guides can orient you on the process of installation:

• Windows, Mac OS X & Ubuntu
• Android & iOS

Organizing and managing your devices

Devices are key to your Prey account: they get loaned and assigned to people in your organization. To manage your inventory efficiently, we have several tools that may help you.

The device view

The device view has a powerful kit designed for deep organization and management. In here you may manage every device running the Prey client and linked to your account. The top three buttons under the search bar allow you to switch between views: a detailed grid, a slim list, and the map view.

The device list can be arranged as you see fit using the various labels attached by default, such as online/offline status, the OS they’re using, the Prey’s client version, last seen date, and number of reports.

Personalized labels and filters

You can also create personalized labels to categorize your devices even better. For example, a group of laptops loaned to remote employees can be assigned to the “Remote Workers” label for easy access. That label can be filtered even more on the device view using the aforementioned labels to deepen the complexity of your inventory.

A quick guide to device inventory management in the device view can be found here.

Assigning equipment and managing loans

There is a special label on the device view, called “contact”. Using the Device Loan Manager, you can assign a device to a certain employee and institution to keep a record of what goes where.

Also if you’re trying to implement a “device checkout” program of some sort, or limit the ability to use these devices past a certain date, the Device Loan Manager feature can be used to loan them temporarily. And if you need them secured when the day is overdue, you can lock them to ensure their timely return.

Learn more about the Device Loan Manager here.

Getting the most out of your trial

Using Prey isn’t just labels and arranging devices. A fully organized inventory is very helpful, but you may not unlock the full potential of your trial from day one just by adding devices to your account.

Control Zones for Reactive Security

Keeping a watchful eye over every single device isn’t very efficient. Not every IT Manager is an octopus or a fly –and if you are, lucky you– to manage every situation on the spot. The key is to be reactive, and Prey has a tool that can work reactively for you, and be your hands and eyes: Control Zones.

Control Zones are radar-like geofencing areas that can be defined on a map to delimit an area where one or more devices belong. If a co-worker’s laptop or a student’s tablet exits or enters that area, you can assign a trigger such as a message alert to warn the user, or an email to notify the admin. Other actions such as locking that device or marking it as missing can also be triggered.

Learn more about Control Zones here.

Automations for repeated actions

The Automations tab is the robot you didn’t know you needed –and you will end up loving it. Here you can set up triggers for Prey’s actions, such as a device lock or an alarm, in reaction to specific events.

Also, you may schedule automations to streamline tasks you do on a daily basis and trigger recurrent actions. A good example is a curfew lock: devices from students that get locked at the end of the day and unlock the next morning.

There are several events that can trigger automations: a specific date and time, a hardware modification, a lower battery level, and when a device starts/stops charging.

You can access a full list of automations, actions, and triggers here.

If a trial is not for you

Not every manager has time for a two-week trial. We know. If trying our product isn’t your cup of tea –or you need time for an actual cup of tea– we offer several alternatives for you to know if Prey is right for you.

For example, you may request a quote to adapt Prey’s offers to any special needs in your organization. You may also evaluate our features in device management or security, besides talking to our sales representatives to make an informed decision.

We hope you enjoy Prey and its features as much as we love developing them. If you do sign up for a trial period, enjoy it! And if you still haven’t, what are you waiting for?