iPads in education

[ehgit]

Ok, I will try to be brief. I work for a district that is implementing iPads in education. We have 1000+ iPads in use. Here is the issue: We have created an iTunes account for each grade level and have purchased and installed apps to be used in conjunction with the curriculum. We have restricted access to "our" account so that unwanted/unnecessary apps won't be installed.
The students are allowed to purchase and download whatever they wish as long as they are using their own apple ID. I believe this has created a conflict with the apps purchased by the district as the students were instructed, initially, to synch their iPads to their personal accounts so that they are able to back up their personal data. What has been happening as a result is that the apps purchased by the district are crashing. In one case, after repeated reinstallation of district apps, I waited until all apps were installed, checked to see that they opened, did a hard restart and discovered that the apps would not open.
My question would be is having more than one iTunes account associated with the iPads cause this to happen? I apologize if this doesn't really seem clear, it is a complicated situation and difficult to put into words succinctly. As always any and all input is appreciated.

 

[Matt77]

I doubt it'd have anything to do with the accounts. My school gives us a Lenovo X220 tablet PC, which is by far a better option. However, the apps you have installed may be buggy. Check the reviews of those apps to see if anyone else is having similar problems. Also, may want to email the devs.

 

[ehgit]

Of course an any other tablet is a better alternative! Unfortunately my dept. had no control over the decision to use iPad's; we knew there would be issues. To me, it's in the name: "i"Pad, it was designed for personal use. But my theory is that because of Apple's proprietary nature I feel that by installing the same apps on 1000+ devices under the same account name there is potentially something on Apple's end that somehow notices this and attempts to disable the apps. The other possibility could be defective firmware. The chances go up when considering the number of iPads purchased. If the latter I would presume there would be even more instances of app issues. As for now, it's still a mystery to me. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Matt77]

No prob!

 

[iFargle]

Chances are a school district isn't going to install Cydia.