Ways to Make your Ipad Cart Easy to Manage

As I start the new school year I eagerly look forward to when the class set of iPad roll into my art room! As I patiently wait, I want to share with you a few tips I learned last year.

 1. Use a Rules and Guidelines Lock page 

 Make your rules and guidelines easy to find. I created a Lock page with our rules so its the first thing students see when the turn on the iPad. I would love to share with you my lock page for free to use in your classroom! My design won a District High Five award and will be used across my district! I have also include a easy to use QR code!  Which makes it easy for you to load the Lock page and backgrounds to your class set of iPad s. Simply use any Qr code reader on your i pads to come directly to this page. Then click on the images you would like to save to the iPad's.

 2. Assign students to an Ipad for accountability 
Most iPad sets I have seen have been numbered. My iPad set has a tiny number on the back. I wish I had a nickle every time a student flipped the iPad to the back to see its number. So why not make it easy on yourself and your students by using a Numbered Background! I created a numbered background that matches my iPad Lock page. You could also Google image search the number and use the image as a background. Having a easy to see number allows you to double check that students are using the correct iPad a all times. So when iPad number 4 is found left on the desk and not in the iPad cart, you know which student to talk too. Click here to view the class set of Numbers You can also take this a step further by creating a custom background for each iPad with the students name on it.

 3.  Know how to Lock a student into an App
This was a life saver last year! You can lock students into an app using the Guided access feature. To set this up go to your settings>General>Accessibility> Guided Access> ON> Set Passcode.
I had the same passcode for all of my iPads and I just kept it very secure! I didn't want to have to change it on all 30 iPads! Then when the student is getting off task you can click the home screen button 3 times and it will ask you if you want to turn  on the guided access.  Then when you want to leave the app you will enter in the password.

 4. Create folders for your Apps

Take some time and create folders for your apps. Technology is great but when your trying to teach a lesson and a student is tempted to play chopsticks or take a couple of selfies it takes away from your lesson objectives! I created folders to make it clear which apps students can use and when. Some of the labels i use are; Free Time, Restricted, 3D Art, Drawing and EDU. Then when we use the iPads I let them know which folders they can access for their projects. The Restricted folder includes the messaging, Gmail, settings, notes, and other default apps that students do not need to access.  To create a folder simply select an app and hold it until you can move it. Then slide over another app that you would like it to be in a folder with. The folder will be created automatically and then you can rename it.  I will be asking my best behaved class to help me with this task!



What do you do to make your life easier with an iPad cart?