Apple Classroom Guide

[jared_f]

Hi All,

I was playing around with Apple Classroom today and I noticed Meraki's guides were a little sparse and excluded a lot of important details in order to get the education configuration working properly. I am not in education, but if you are - then Apple School manager makes it way easier, but this is not my specialty. I wrote up a quick guide on how to create a working configuration the manual way and made some important notes that Meraki left out in their older documentation. Hope it helps! If you have any questions I can try to help!

Apple Classroom Guide Link 

Jared

[TimHughSmith]

Thanks @jared_f !

[Melissa]

I'm late to this thread - but thank you @jared_f!

You might play around with the Apple Classroom app on your iOS devices - it's free and works outside of Apple School Manager. The latest versions support something Apple calls "unmanaged classrooms" - basically the ability create a class and have devices (even those without the classroom app) join via bluetooth.

This could be really cool for trainings or presentations - if you or your users find themselves needing to lead people through content or apps on ipads! 

[MSaxby]

Your setup instructions were very helpful - unfortunately I haven't been able to get things to work.  Teacher Ipads can see students in classes, but they all appear offline - always.  I am quite sure that it is a networking issue, but I can't figure it out.

I am quite certain all iPads are receiving the Education profile (Classroom sees the students that it "expects" in the classroom) 

All iPads on same SSID

All have Bluetooth on

I suspect the problem is a port not open (Apple reports that ports 3283 and 3284 must be open - I don't know where/how to do this on my Meraki router)

Or somehow there is a setting that is preventing P2P communication, but I can't find it. 

Any help would be appreciated. 

[vassallon]

@MSaxby 

Are you doing Ad-Hoc classes or pushing out the information through Meraki from ASM?

[MSaxby]

The classes come from Apple via the MDM (Meraki), but I am pretty sure that part is working because I see all of the correct classes and students in those classes, but the students are all "offline".

[vassallon]

@MSaxby 

I assume each student is assigned an iPad within Meraki as well. Do you have staff and students in the same network within Meraki?

[MSaxby]

Yes, each student is assigned an iPad in Meraki - I checked under owners and that appears correct (it is showing 1 device owned).  

Students and teachers are in the same network. 

I am pretty sure this is a networking issue - I have made sure that the iPads are on the same SSID, both have Bluetooth on...

One SSID has NAT - it doesn't look like that would work, so I used on that is in Bridge mode so they have IP addresses that are only different in the last number. 

I don't have P2P restricted on my network (that I am aware of). 

It may have to do with opening the required ports 3283 and 3284, but I don't know what that will look like or where to do that - my network has a Meraki MX-84 security appliance as a router. 

[vassallon]

@MSaxby 

I would suggest removing your network from the equation.  IE, setup a test network, hotspot or home network, and see if you are able to get Apple Classroom working.

This will at least help you isolate whether it is a networking or profile issue.

It will also allow us to know which way to offer assistance in troubleshooting this with you.

[ArthurJames]

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@writemyessaytoday wrote:

Hi All,

I was playing around with Apple Classroom today and I noticed Meraki's guides were a little sparse and excluded a lot of important details in order to get the education configuration working properly. I am not in education, but if you are - then Apple School manager makes it way easier, but this is not my specialty. I wrote up a quick guide on how to create a working configuration the manual way and made some important notes that Meraki left out in their older documentation. Hope it helps! If you have any questions I can try to help!

Apple Classroom Guide Link

Jared

---

Hello Jared,

Thanks for the guide. I'm a high school TA (just started teaching in February). I'm planning to use Apple Classroo for our STEM club (Mac PCs mostly: 12 Mac + 4 Windows). Are there any updates about macOS Education Payload?

Thanks,

Arthur

[jared_f]

Hi @ArthurJames, do you have Zoom? I haven't been playing around with Meraki MDM too much over the last year (though I still do glance at it). That being said, I was the lead on the management and deployment on Jamf Pro at my University for our iOS and Mac management platform and I did all the integrations with Apple School Manager. Are you using an SIS? My high school relied heavily on PowerSchool when they implemented Apple Classoom. My university uses a product called Banner from Ellucian, I always wanted to build the bridge but they weren't too Apple friendly and I have moved on from my day to day work there. I might by a little Meraki rusty ~ but I am sure I can help!

[jared_f]

Sorry y'all, I noticed someone tried to access the guide via Google Drive and it did not work. I am in the midst of consolidating my email and moving my data to OneDrive! Should be fixed above, but here is the link if you are still having issues.

https://flittorg-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/jaredflitt_flitt_org1/EU5-feCrhylBnvFifzuDQy8BK5ap...