WLAN solutions to manage 1:1 and BYOD in K-12

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1 MERU EDUCATION-GRADE SOLUTIONS FOR UNINTERRUPTED LEARNING SOLUTION BRIEF K-12 WLAN solutions to manage 1:1 and BYOD in K-12

2 BYOD Solutions for K-12/primary schools 1:1 computing where students are provided a mobile device for school and home use is not new, but having students use their own personal device is, and it s gaining popularity. Bring your own device (BYOD) has many advantages: it helps schools and districts achieve 1:1 initiatives without high computing costs, it enables personalized learning and greater student engagement, and it provides greater flexibility for teachers. However, BYOD does pose challenges. Most school wireless networks were not designed to support hundreds of students, teachers, and staff members constantly accessing the network anywhere, anytime, using any number and type of mobile devices, all running multiple applications, each with their own diverse bandwidth needs. What happens when devices can t connect, or connections are dropped? What is the impact when it takes 10 minutes of class time before students can log on to the network for an online exam? What if, once connected and the exam underway, connectivity is lost along with the testing data? And what if one student can connect her new ipad Mini seamlessly and complete an online project, but another student in the same class, using an older device, can t get past buffering? It s something we call interrupted learning. BYOD can make it more difficult to connect devices to the network and users to information due to capacity crunches, coverage gaps, and unfair network access. It also makes it harder than ever to quickly onboard users devices easily and map them safely and securely to IT policies. Meru s virtualized wireless network and identity management solutions have helped primary and secondary schools worldwide overcome their wireless challenges. To help you strive for uninterrupted learning, we offer the Meru Education-grade (MEG) wireless platform. Interrupted Learning occurs when technology gets in the way of, or fails to support, your innovative goals for technology integration. MEG wireless is a unique platform from Meru Networks designed to solve many of your BYOD issues and launch your learning-essential applications. It starts with 3 simple steps: Meru Education-grade Wireless Platform 1. Onboard quickly with BYOD provisioning and secure wireless access mapped to IT policies. 2. Connect all BYOD devices reliably anywhere on campus. 3. Learn by deploying Onboard BYOD Management Connect WLAN Solutions Learn Academic Applications Uninterrupted learning, to me, is: no matter where a student is or a teacher is, they have the tools they need to learn, without having to go somewhere else to get them, or to wait and do it at another time. validated learning and teaching applications on BYOD devices over a MEG wireless platform. Janet Hunter, Principal, Heights Middle School, Farmington Municipal School District

3 Onboard With the emergence of BYOD, is onboarding one of your biggest challenges? Do you have a BYOD policy, and does it require 802.1X for all wireless, with wired for the rest? How do you address the challenge of configuring 802.1X and certifications, especially on Windows? Do you have a home-brewed onboarding application, or are you simply paying the cost of onboarding when students, teachers, and parents complain about not being able to access and use digital content? What is the impact on student and school achievement if technology fails? BYOD challenges such as these are addressed by the Meru Education-grade wireless platform. All of this is achieved without your IT team ever having to configure any user device or access points. It s all centrally managed, monitored, and reported. Meru Connect onboarding tool automates BYOD provisioning, even 802.1X, for virtually any client. Step 1 Authenticate using Web authentication Step 2 Download an applet to configure 802.1X Meru Connect for automated guest access for virtually any client on any network. Step 3 Automatically connect with 802.1X Encrypted A growing number of schools are launching Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs so that students can use the devices they already own in class as well as in the informal and out-of-school environments they are ubiquitous in now. Access Point NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 Edition Supported Platforms

4 Connect Anywhere, anytime connectivity is moving from a nice to have to a must have across schools worldwide. Digital teaching and learning is the new norm, and students and teachers are using mobile Wi-Fi devices like laptops, tablets, e-readers, and smartphones to access and interact with online instructional content, to collaborate, and to share information and data. With BYOD, students may be using different devices to connect to the network some with the latest and greatest tablet, others with five-year old laptops but all must have equal access to learning. That means no matter what device they use, every student must have reliable, seamless connectivity to the wireless network. BYOD challenges such as these are addressed by the Meru Education-grade wireless platform, which provides unprecedented flexibility at the access layer to deliver fair, reliable, and predictable connectivity in classrooms. Meru provides a comprehensive portfolio to support ubiquitous coverage for online learning: in classrooms, cafeterias, hallways, libraries, stadiums, outdoors, and even in teachers homes. Like other vendors, Meru supports traditional planning-intensive deployment modes, but our unique single-channel architecture simplifies deployment by eliminating channel planning. Meru Virtual Cell technology provides seamless mobility and predictable voice and video performance, and our channel layering can deliver nearly twice the capacity of competing solutions in dense environments and during peak usage. Meru manages the RF, so you can manage your network, faculty can manage their classes, and students can manage their assignments. Meru Difference Air Traffic Control Always connect to the best AP Airtime Fairness Each device connects to its potential We want to leverage what students have in their backpacks, and let them bring their own devices to use responsibly at school Accommodating BYOD [bring your own device] will make achieving our 1:1 goal for students and technology a lot more affordable Virtual Cell Provides zero-handoff seamless roaming Paul Smith, Director of Technology Services, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, FL Channel Layering Stack access points for capacity, or traffic isolation

5 Learn The mission of any school, anywhere, is to educate students and prepare them for success in school, work, and life. Many schools are leveraging technology to increase student engagement and drive student achievement, and BYOD is helping to ensure that all students thrive. Whether schools are embarking on flipped classrooms, blended/hybrid learning, e-textbooks, adapting to common core standards, or going entirely virtual, a WLAN that provides reliable and fair access to learning applications and materials is essential. A reliable Meru Education-grade wireless platform enables learning-essential applications such as: Apple Learning Environments Some teachers will use a flipped classroom concept, putting their lessons and resources online, where students can access them at any time with their ipads. As a result, students take responsibility for their own learning, and teachers are able to increase their interactions and personalize content time. Meru Personal Bonjour allows IT staff to support both educational and recreational use of Apple environments in classrooms and residence halls, by taming this chatty protocol, and allowing policies to control which users see and use which devices and services. Digital Classroom Management A LanSchool classroom management system can support BYOD and facilitate learning and collaboration by allowing instructors to show their screen to their students, share video and files, administer polls and exams, and assist students with remote control and chat. With LanSchool, instructors can keep students on task by monitoring the classroom in real time. LanSchool removes digital distractions and gives teachers the tools and confidence to teach in a 21st century classroom. Meru Smart Connect enables faster class starts, and a reliable WLAN with RF virtualization allows instructors to stick to the digital lesson plan and avoid moonlighting as the IT help desk. Meru and LanSchool are ideal for BYOD environments, because they are platform agnostic and support a wide range of device OS platforms. All Wi-Fi standard clients can be connected to a Meru WLAN, with no additional client software needed. Secure guest access and automated device provisioning are supported on Apple OSX, ios, Windows, and Android platforms. Compared to the old building where we d have to go to an ICT suite, a room to use, the students can just literally whip their ipads out of their bags, and they ve got the Internet wherever they go in the building. We can take them out into plazas and work with them in small groups. We can stay within the classroom, and they can all use the Internet at the same time. Alistair Williams, Maths Teacher, Longfield Academy, UK itunes U Content Tops One Billion Downloads Apple, 2/2013

6 Flexible Wi-Fi Deployment in K-12 N+1 Redundancy Meru Connect Internet MC4200 District Office High School APs AP832 (>25) MC3200 Middle School APs AP822 (>25) MC1550 Elementary School APs AP822 (>25) XPress Cloud

7 Meru delivers an all-wireless network that fully supports the enterprise, delivering a consistent, interactive experience for all users. No matter what applications they are running. No matter how many other users are on the network. For more information, visit or your questions to: meruinfo@ merunetworks.com. Copyright 2015 Meru Networks, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Meru Networks, Meru, Air Traffic Control and Airtime Fairness are registered trademarks of Meru Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, trade names, or service marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. Meru Networks assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies in this document. Meru Networks reserves the right to change, modify, transfer, or otherwise revise this publication without notice SB US Corporate Headquarters 894 Ross Drive Sunnyvale, CA T +1 (408) F +1 (408) E [email protected]