Apple Tools Enable Centralized Management of District’s Computers
Profiles in Success: Magnolia School District
Anaheim, CA — Some people might think of Andy Fernandez as a magician. The network specialist with the Magnolia School District has been known to make some remarkable things happen: During a staff development session the teachers lacked Adobe Flash Player, which they needed on their computers to view a website. Fernandez quietly created a list of all of the notebook computers, and then distributed the program in seconds to each teacher’s system via Apple Remote Desktop. The teachers didn’t miss a beat — or the chance to explore the site. It’s just another example of how Apple technologies are working magic for Magnolia schools.
Fernandez and his colleagues in the district’s central Instructional Technology (IT) office cover a lot of territory: their schools are spread out across the western portion of Anaheim. In recent years Magnolia has purchased many technology tools, including 33 new Apple Mobile Learning Labs that are shared among the schools. Servicing and supporting the notebooks, upgrading software applications, and performing basic troubleshooting functions presents ongoing challenges. But Apple tools have helped save wear and tear on Fernandez and his team.
“It’s really a question of time,” Fernandez explains. “We couldn’t be in more than one place at once, and driving from site to site was really eating into our productivity. But with tools like Apple Remote Desktop, which allows us to install software remotely, we don’t have to drive around all day now. Yet we can provide great support for the schools.”
Apple Technologies Decrease Response Time
Ronn Waters, who is one of Magnolia’s two mobile Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs), says the use of timesaving Apple tools is beginning to take hold with Magnolia’s teachers as well. During the 2005-2006 school year, a Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) class was working on a WebQuest, and ran into unfamiliar territory. Thanks to Apple Remote Desktop, Waters was able to help out without physically being at the school.
Says Waters, “I was able to log onto Apple Remote Desktop and check the students’ projects, and then the teachers and students and I were able to chat back and forth. So even though I wasn’t there, I could provide very individualized feedback very quickly. That was a great model that we’d like to see replicated more regularly.
“With the Apple technologies, the problems are getting solved much faster,” Waters adds. “That makes the teachers much more willing to experiment with technology. We’ve also found that using iSight and iChat gives us more ‘face-time’ with the teachers, even when we’re not there. And the kids think it’s really cool. They’ll say, ‘Wow! I’m talking on TV!’’
Next Page: Videoconferencing Streamlines Support
