Thursday, May 21, 2015

Report from the 1:1 iPad Trenches

It is hard to believe that the 2015-16 school year will be our fourth year of going 1:1 iPad at Mercy High School.  Since our adoption of the iPad involved switching 1:1 devices, we began the program with ninth graders, and then successively required all incoming students to purchase iPads. Next year, every student in the building will have one.

When we started the program, we had a fundamental concern that Apple could not really answer for us because the device itself was so new: How well will the iPads stand the test of time?  Thankfully, the iPads have stood up incredibly well. While we sometimes encounter storage issues, we have not experienced hardware or battery issues.

We require all parents to purchase two years of AppleCare + at the outset. Next year half of our iPads will be out of this warranty. In order to be proactive about warranty concerns, we are providing our earliest adopters with a couple nice options in addition to doing nothing and hoping the iPad stays healthy for four years. Here is what Tom James (I.T. Director) communicated recently:

We have researched and selected a set of best options.  Listed below are your warranty/service choices:

Purchase a repair warranty from We Repair (located in West Bloomfield) that will cover your iPad in case of accidental damage. The cost of this coverage will be a $75 initial cost for two years of coverage. A $25 deductible will than apply for any necessary repairs , $40 for LCD/Screen replacement. The form can be downloaded from the Mercy IT Blog, or student's can pick one up in the IT Office. Please make checks payable to We Repair. 
Purchase a new iPad with 2 years of AppleCare +. Currently enrolled students can purchase the new iPad Air 2 (64 GB, wi-fi) from Mercy for $673. If you wish to purchase the new Mercy iPad package please contact the Mercy Business Office. Do not order from the school's website. Please also be reminded that you cannot purchase a new iPad from another source to use at school. 
New this year, student's now have the option to trade in their current iPad in working condition and receive $100 - $200 (depending on model and condition) towards the purchase of the new Mercy iPad package (64 GB iPad Air 2). If you are interested in the buy back program please contact the IT Dept.

We are pleased that the "old" iPads have retained excellent residual value, allowing us to present a "buy back" option.

He have few regrets about adopting the iPad as our 1:1 device.

Mercy IT help counter

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