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Workflow-wise, airdropping larger files can be finicky and slow, especially if students are involved in the process or if the WiFi network is slow.
Alternatively, instructors could use the standard USB sync feature to move sessions on or off the devices to any computer running iTunes. This might be more reliable and could give instructors a greater degree of creative flexibility re: what is backed up vs what students have direct access to.
Edit: my bad, didn’t check post date.
It’s not an elegant solution but I know they make USB sticks with lightning connectors, could maybe find a way to make them back their projects up to it at the end of the day? Unsure if this works with garage band tho, just brainstorming
Not a bad idea. I'll ask! Thank you
what software are you using and how is the class structured? It sounds like this might be a rotating group of students all using the same ipads? Does the school have access to some sort of storage medium that requires unique (per student) login credentials that the students could save their files to?
There are only two iPads and various student groups who rotate between classes. Group 1 might be in place mondays and thursdays, group 2 on tuesdays and wednesdays.
The software is garage band, and the students all have their own computers, but they're not supposed to bring those to music class because it's too bulky for 30 kids to all bring their laptops and so on.
We've looked at that in the past and the time delay caused by logging in at out of Google drive is just too much with the way ios is structured. Plus it doesn't generally function like a simple drive location.
Finally on top of all the storage access complications , most apps dont save as actual files that can be saved to a destination folder, as ios doesn't have a traditional file system. Usually you only get that kind of option with export, and then on ios it frequently is a preset list of destinations like email or airdrop. I haven't seen a open send to so I can't use mega.co or owncloud or others that I would like.
I totally admit I am not an apple expert, just a school technician that has tried to fit teacher/admin needs into establishing inflexible work flows with difficulties .
Just spitballing an idea. Along the lines of airdrop, does the instructor have a machine that the kids can send their music to when they’re done? This would create a backup, which the instructor could then organize and upload to a server (google drive?) that can be shared with the iPads as read only, so the kids could redownload the file again if need be.
Oooh, excellent idea. I'll look into viability of airdropping. Most of our current machines at work are windows machines, so.. while it probably could work, ease of use is also an important aspect when so many of the teachers are a step below tech savvy.
Not to mention ease of use for the pupils who are often even more tech illiterate.
I'll look into it. Thank you!
I don’t know this for sure but getting airdrop to work on a win machine might not result in the most stable solution - it looks like most of the solutions are open source projects which are fun but idk if I would personally trust them to be working 100% of the time when you need it at the end of class.
I think it’s a decent option to consider if you can get your hands on an actual Apple device to test with, imho. Airdrop is fairly proprietary and made hard to integrate with by Apple on purpose in my opinion. The other thing to consider is how big the files are - if you use an airdrop receiver you will need enough space on it to hold everyone’s files.
I really liked the email idea someone had too - if the students have their own email addresses they could email their projects to themselves. Same consideration there though, if the files are too big you might piss off the IT guy.
Two more spitballs-
Do the students have any network storage that the IT guy could help get mapped on the ipads?
Does the school have any remote learning type software that students can turn assignments in electronically? Could see if that software has an ipad app that adds a “share to” option when exporting a project? Long shot but maybe
Upon further inspection; The music teachers already have a Mac there, so setting up AirDrop is honestly a wonderful idea that we'll look further into. Thank you so much!
Ooh, i like making them airdrop it to a host machine, that’s one-way. Only deal is that you have to manually order and expose it via network, or restore it later manually both of which are a little untenable 🤔
Or even if there is an email account set up on the iPad, the students could email the file to their own email.