Mobile Computing | News

Westbury School District Deploys Mobile Device Management System

• By Leila Meyer
• 10/03/12

Westbury Public Schools in Long Island, NY has implemented new mobile device management technologies to provide remote device support and application deployment while also controlling student access to content.

Students and teachers at Westbury Public Schools use ZTE Optik tablets over the Sprint network. Each grade level in Westbury district has approximately 350 students, and the district plans to roll out an additional 350 tablets per year over the next three to five years until all students in grade 5 and up have a device.

With the growing number of tablets in the district, IT administrators began looking for a solution to manage the devices and control which applications the students could run and what content they could access, in order for the district to remain compliant with the Child Information Protection Act (CIPA).

The district chose SOTI MobiControl, a mobile device management solution that includes a secure content locker, self service portal, enterprise app store, device lockdown/kiosk mode, real-time remote control, location tracking, geofencing, and other features.

"With MobiControl, we now have the ability to provide fast remote support to fix any device issues and deploy applications over the air, which has increased the efficiency of both IT departments and educators, and reduced the costs associated with managing mobility," said Jay Marcucci, director of technology for Westbury Public Schools Communication and Information Services, in a prepared statement.

Westbury Public Schools uses MobiControl's lockdown/kiosk mode to restrict students' access to specific features and applications on the ZTE Optik tablets. This restriction is designed to help the district ensure students are using the devices as intended and also reduce their support costs because students theoretically can't change device settings that would then have to be reset by the IT staff.

"MobiControl allows us to grant access to a predefined list of applications and content, enabling educators to use mobility to enhance the learning experience," added Marcucci.

The district also uses MobiControl's centralized Web console to update applications remotely and synchronize data for the entire fleet of devices over the air. MobiControl's remote control and help desk functionality also enables IT administrators to diagnose and repair device problems quickly.

Westbury Public Schools district is located in northern Nassau County in Long Island, NY and operates six schools for students from pre-kindergarten through high school.

Further information about MobiControl is available on the SOTI site.