When we first deployed Jamf Pro many years ago, when it was still called Casper Suite, there was a great little app called Casper Focus that allowed teachers to lock student iPads into apps, trigger AirPlay and — most importantly — reset passcodes on student devices.
Then along came Apple Classroom, plus a rebrand of Casper Suite to Jamf Pro, and Casper Focus was quietly retired. Don’t get me wrong, Apple Classroom is a GREAT product and gives teachers a powerful yet discrete way to keep tabs on what’s going on in the classroom. But it lacks the ability to reset student passcodes on devices. This meant that teachers had to contact IT to get iPads unlocked, should a child forget the 12 character alphanumeric passcode that they had thought would have been such a great choice for their device.
Until now.
Back in 2009, Jamf purchased an education-focused MDM called Zuludesk, and with it some really great apps for teachers, students and parents to manage their devices. Zuludesk became Jamf School and the handy classroom-controlling app for instructors became Jamf Teacher. As a user of Jamf Pro, we were still left out in the dark.
Thankfully, Jamf announced yesterday at their (remote) Jamf Nation User Conference that Jamf Teacher is now on Jamf Pro. Yay! Hopefully this will mean less Helpdesk calls from teachers and, more importantly, students able to get on with their learning more quickly.
Primary ICT 