Prepping for iPads in School

A private school in Florida has begun tackling the challenges associated with its impending iPad rollout, one of the first in the state that will place the mobile devices in the hands of every high school student.

• By Bridget McCrea
  

  What Mitchell Solerno knows is that The Master's Academy in Oviedo, FL will be handing out Apple iPads to all of its high school students when the next school year rolls around in August. What this school principal doesn't know is how issues like expanded Internet accessibility, equipment security and financing, and "safe" Web browsing will be handled at the interdenominational Christian school.
  

  "We're working through all of these issues now, in anticipation of the rollout this fall," said Salerno, who will assume the role of assistant superintendent later this year.
  

  Editor's note: This is the first in a series that will attempt to follow The Master's Academy's iPad implementation from conceptualization to post-implementation analysis. In this initial installment, we look at some of the early concerns, hopes, and plans for the mobile devices--which will be placed in the hands of every student beginning in the fall--from the perspective of Mitchell Solerno, currently the school's principal.

  With about 900 students in grades K4 (kindergarten preparation) through 12, the school will become the first in Florida to distribute the devices to all students in grades 9 through 12. The deployment is part of the school's larger "iConnecTMA" initiative, the stated goal of which is to provide a "world class, 21st century Christian education."
  

  Security, Infrastructure, and Acceptable Use
  Before that can happen, the school has to work through a few hurdles.
  

  The administrative staff's to-do list includes a review of security and content management software packages; a "beefing up" of the campus' WiFi system; and--perhaps most importantly for the Christian school with its heavily evangelical leanings--a way to instill the school's values in students who are using the devices to surf the Web.
  

  
   

  ***Click here to read this article in its entirety.