For many schools, regardless of size, device deployment poses significant challenges, as it is during deployment that group policies are set, data is secured, devices are readied, and essential applications are enabled. Historically, this task has taken a disproportionate amount of time. As a result, schools interested in using educational technology to improve student learning outcomes have turned to ways to manage those devices with less time and effort, so that more IT time can be spent in more strategic, directly supportive functions. Today, as the digital revolution rolls on, cloud-based deployment solutions are available to simplify this task. Read more about the challenges facing EDU IT and how cloud-based solutions like Intune for Education can help address them in the whitepaper The State of Modern Device Deployment in Education.
With the new and simple Intune for Education step-by-step Express Configuration wizard, Education IT selects a group for devices or users, also the specific apps that we wanted to be available, and key configuration settings from those most often used in schools. IT can use a USB drive to set up Windows 10 for each device and the enroll the device in Intune management via Azure AD. That is all they need to do and they can do it in less than an hour. Learn more about using the Intune for Education with the article What is Intune for Education?
If it’s a mixed device environment and/or more enterprise-grade policies are needed, they can move seamlessly to the Intune console and then back to Intune for Education for simplified Windows 10 device management. Ongoing management is also painless with a centralized console for updates and monitoring. Learn more about using full Intune with the Introduction to Intune article.
You can compare the different use cases with the article How is Intune for Education different from the full device management experience in Intune? Note: schools that are licensed for Intune for Education will also have access to the full Intune console.
With Azure AD identity as the backbone, user and device groups (i.e. schools, classes, grades) update automatically while providing insights to IT on usage patterns and any possible threats to the security of their users. Due to this common identity, all the devices and users that show up and are managed in Intune for Education will also be manageable in full Intune. This also means that you can leverage the new co-management capabilities with ConfigMgr in either Intune for Education or full Intune.
To find out more about Azure AD features in Intune for Education compared to other education offers, click on Learn what Azure Active Directory features come with Intune or Education and other plans at the top of the Intune for Education page. Note that customers can have Azure Premium and Azure AD EDU, with Office 365 or Intune for Education, assigned together or separately with no issues removing one or the other. You can also get your free 90-trial of Intune for Education (with full Intune) on this page too!