Alessia
Forster

Empowering generations through quality education with Hexnode UEM

Alessia Forster

Feb 22, 2021

11 min read

Can you even believe there used to be a period when education was viewed as a luxury over a necessity? Well, we have all come a long way from that! Education is now being viewed as that right, which, when violated, can have profound societal implications, capable of even downgrading it entirely. We have come to a point where education has become synonymous with quality living.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

Children are the invaluable assets of any society. I don’t think I’ll be wrong if I describe them as the weakest section, potentially turning into “the everything” of a society at a later stage. Without safeguarding this emerging generation through quality education, dreaming of an era of competent, empowered youth would be totally unrealistic.

Extending a helping hand for Pediatric minds with Hexnode UEM

Children are the critical segment of any society. We can predict a society’s future solely based on the support and nurture we extend to this latent generation.

Pediatric minds helping children
Pediatric minds helping children

Pediatric minds is an organization functioning with this motto of lending a helping hand to the children in need. It is a clinic devoted to making life easier for children who are challenged with autism, neurodevelopmental disorders, behavioral and emotional challenges, ADHD, and other developmental delays including speech delays and learning disabilities.

“Having a child with special needs is very difficult, and we have a long road ahead. But I am hopeful you have given our family hope that she will grow up to lead a happy, meaningful life,”

Shares a happy parent on their impactful journey with Pediatric minds

Can anything be more satisfying than providing timely help for improving the conditions of the needy? I seriously doubt that! With treatments becoming person and condition-dependent, Pediatric minds resort to various methodologies which are even inter-disciplinary. With their cutting-edge evaluations and scientifically based treatments, they began serving as a timely help for the children and their parents. Things, though challenging, were progressing at a good pace but, little did they know that a major challenge was awaiting them.

It was thus, not possible to confine all their services to the center; some of the behavioral therapists required client visits at distant locations. Under this circumstance, a new idea of deploying tablets to reduce their workload was adopted. With these devices, the work data could now be recorded quickly and securely, helping the therapists spend their valuable time with children rather than on the related paperwork.

Easier data management using smart devices
Easier data management using smart devices
We all know that pros and cons are inseparable; even as these devices simplified the complicated process of data storage, many issues related to device management, which were part and parcel of it, began showing themselves. Device management became a real challenge for the IT team. It’s at this stage that the IT coordinator began searching for suitable Mobile device management (MDM) solutions to solve this major challenge. Finally, the IT coordinator couldn’t help choosing Hexnode UEM as it exactly had all the features it was looking for at a reasonable price. Thus, Hexnode simplified the Pediatric journey, removing the hurdles from their demanding path.

“Everything is working out pretty well and haven’t had any user issues. The resetting process is simple.”

Says Israel Martinez, the Information Technology Coordinator at Pediatric Minds on Hexnode

Hexnode UEM as the solution
Issue Role of Hexnode UEM in rectifying it
Timeconsuming device setup process (over 30 minutes per device) 
Easier and faster device setup process with single console management of Hexnode
  • Automated enrollment process
  • Remote monitoring and management of devices
  • Remotely deploy apps and content to the devices
  • Upgrade or downgrade apps, configure app permissions and notifications
  • Remote actions like scan device location, remote ring, etc. for securing devices

Getting device information when required  
Device scan feature for real-time device status
  • Fetch device details like the battery percentage, installed app list, etc.
  • Manual scan to check instantaneous reachability of the device
  • Automatic scans to fetch device details at specific intervals
  • Sync button for forcing sync from Hexnode in the case of Hexnode app failing to communicate with the UEM portal

Varied application requirements  
Easy application installation directly from Hexnode UEM console
  • Apps can be installed in bulk as per the requirement by creating device groups confining different levels
  • Deployment and installation of apps with zero user intervention (silently) on supported devices
  • Prompt end user to initiate app installation in other devices

Hexnode UEM as a tool for youth betterment

We are living in a generation that knows the value of education. The “right to education” being addressed as a human right is a clear evidence of this realization.

Students in a classroom
Students in a classroom

Latino youth high school is a public charter school founded to address the issue of high dropout rate among the children in the Pilsen community and also to help the youth needing a second chance to obtain a high school diploma. Latino youth high school is now an initiative under the Pilsen wellness center, a non-profit organization intended to provide services to Chicago’s Latino communities. With its unique four-level operation, including mental health, substance abuse, youth service, and education, the organization intends to improve the youth and the people’s quality of life.

Its ideal learning environment backed by a student-centric approach, emphasizing individual instruction along with social-emotional support services, has given it a distinctive aura. Additionally, the organization’s significant role in counseling and addiction treatment services has made it one of its kind.

For an educational institution providing better quality education is one of the critical areas of concern. On exploring the various possibilities of enhancing the learning methodologies, they came across a method that proved to be really effective –the iPad as a learning tool. The organization implemented this strategy and began simplifying the complexity of education while making it more effective at the same time. Initially, configuring the devices was totally reliant on the Apple configurator. Connecting the device to the mac and manually installing and modifying the configuration profile was an inevitable process.

This was an easy process for a device or two, but with a larger number of devices requiring such a setup, it began becoming cumbersome. It was then that the updated version, i.e., Apple configurator 2, took over the earlier used version, further complicating the whole process of device setup. Different levels of education required different apps which needed installation upon the requests from the teachers. With this level-based app requirement, the device management process became yet more complicated. A UEM thus became a requirement rather than an option.

Student learning on an iPad
Student learning on an iPad
The team began searching for a UEM that could remotely push apps to the student’s device upon request from teachers, along with monitoring applications, pushing the updates, tracking the device location, and preventing the unnecessary alterations to the device settings at the same time. Hexnode, satisfying all these requirements, thus became the rescuer of the Latino youth high school, helping them out of their device management struggle.
Hexnode UEM as the solution
Issue Role of Hexnode UEM in rectifying it
Complicated device management with apple configurator  
Easier device management with Hexnode UEM
  • Avoids one to one device setup by supporting over the air device management
  • Easier app installations
  • Easy to manage devices through policies

Installing apps upon request from teachers in school
Remote app installation
  • Apps can be deployed to the required devices in bulk upon request from teachers by creating device groups of different levels
  • The installed apps can be updated or removed directly from the Hexnode portal

Track device location  
Location tracking feature for exact device location
  • Fetch real-time device location
  • It gives a history of the location traversed by the device
  • Location services need to be enabled on the device for this feature to work

Prevent device alterations 
Monitoring of installed apps and their alterations from the Hexnode portal, making UEM profile non-removable
  • The require restrictions can be imposed on the device via policies, and the ones which shouldn’t be altered can be made non-removable
  • It prevents the user from making changes that can be challenging to the purpose for which the device is meant

Towards more effective education with Hexnode UEM

Smart devices have become a part of our educational routine. Organizations, including schools are increasingly adopting them for enhancing the learning abilities of their students. With this new modification, device management solutions too have become indispensable elements.

Students using their smart devices
Students using their smart devices
The case of Sir John Hunt community sports college is no different. The organization purchased android tablets for their students for research work. What emerged later were the major challenges that had to be resolved- restricting the students’ access to the necessary apps, broadcasting text messages to the device when needed in addition to pushing the inhouse apps to the device over the air than manually. The organization chose Hexnode as it could effectively address all these challenges.

“It just makes life so much easier. Okay, if we need to reset an Android tablet what we will have to do is to link it to Hexnode…
…all the apps for each department just get automatically installed.”

Says Ryan Boundy, ITC at Sir John Hunt CSC on Hexnode

Hexnode UEM as the solution
Issue Role of Hexnode UEM in rectifying it
Restricting student access to essential apps and features
Easy kiosk mode
  • Kiosk lockdown mechanism to restrict the devices to selected applications to minimize the user distractions
  • Prevents access to unwanted applications which may have security implications

Broadcast text messages to devices
Hexnode Messenger enabling notification even in Kiosk mode
  • One way communication from the admin to the user devices
  • Messages will be shown as pop up and can be viewed once the messenger app is opened
  • Can view messages sent by the admin, even in kiosk mode, upon enabling the option

Difficulty in pushing in-house apps manually
Pushing enterprise apps to devices in bulk
  • Enterprise apps required can be uploaded directly to the app inventory and pushed to the device as per the requirement
  • The app can also be modified directly from the portal

SKS was yet another organization that took a step further and purchased iPads for an enhanced learning experience. A list of grade-specific applications had to be installed on the device. With a large fleet of devices to manage, the use of the apple configurator for individual device management became a tedious job. Restricting the device to educational apps alone was yet another challenge. With the aid of Hexnode UEM, all these device management challenges quickly vanished into thin air.

iPad for learning
iPad for learning

“It has really made my job a lot more easier in terms of dealing with or managing the iPads.”

Says Joshua McHugh, IT Admin at SKS on Hexnode

Hexnode UEM as the solution
Issue Role of Hexnode UEM in rectifying it
Need for school to install gradespecific apps on the device
Easy remote application installation
  • App group based on the grade can be created
  • Devices can be grouped grade-wise, and apps or created app groups can be deployed to the devices in bulk

Multiple device management becoming difficult with the apple configurator 
Integration with ABM for better device management
  • Web-based portal handling new device deployments, configure settings
  • Purchase apps and books
  • Preconfigure device and automatic management on powering on

Restricting the device deployed by school to apps and features essential for educational purposes alone
Kiosk modes, blacklisting and whitelisting
  • Blacklisting prevents the user from accessing an app or group of apps on the device to safeguard organizations from unsafe or inappropriate apps
  • Whitelisting allows only a set of pre-selected apps to function on the device

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Alessia Forster

Product Evangelist @ Hexnode. Take life as it comes. One day at a time.

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