Enabling seamless and interactive Education, especially when the world is pushed into the era of social distancing and ‘remote everything’ is more critical than ever. The pandemic might subside or it won’t, but the students cannot miss learning and educational avenues, semester after semester. Distance learning or ‘learn from home’ is the best possible and viable solution to ensure that education is not hindered by the pandemic. Schools and educational organizations across the globe are extending multiple e-learning platforms and solutions, mobile devices and hotspot connections to bridge the digital divide and empower students with tools to continue learning.

When it comes to choosing the devices for remote education, however, there is a great debate between which operating system to choose. Educational institutions are torn between the capabilities of Android and iOS. We’ve previously created a comparison between iPad Vs Windows 10 tablets in the classroom. In this article, we’ve created a quick guide on the benefits of migrating from iOS to Android for education.

Design and UI

Apple products have been loved all over the world for their minimalist designs and a clean UI and rightly so. For busy individuals and users who want to have targeted actions on the device, clutter-free UI is necessary. But for educational purposes, the more vibrant, animated and colorful the UI the better. Maintaining engagement of students especially the younger kids is critical in Remote Learning and the Android UI can help in achieving the same. Android devices can be configured for UI, adding multiple visually appealing launchers and handy widgets for quick access. In terms of hardware design, the iPads and iPhones are restricted to a certain screen size whereas, with Android, multiple OEM manufacturers launch sturdy devices in multiple screen sizes, which is a highly important factor for remote learning.

Applications

Worldwide, the App store is said to have more applications- for education included to cater to every need imaginable. However, pushing private applications on iOS devices is not straightforward and needs to go through the Apple developer scrutiny. Android apps however can be tested and used locally using APK files. This helps in creating more localized applications for education with ease and minimum efforts. Also, the Android apps are easily available free of cost when compared to iOS applications that can have one or more features unlocked only after purchase.

Flexibility for usage and management

While iOS products are coveted for ease of use, the UI and functionality do not extend flexibility for the end-user. The entire user experience is bound by the Apple principles and there’s no scope to by-pass the same. This makes managing the devices using a mobile device management solution slightly difficult since few elements on the devices can never be hidden and the device cannot be turned into a dedicated, single-purpose device.

Managing Android devices with an MDM solution is much more streamlined when compared to iOS, especially if the iOS devices are not supervised. School IT teams can gain better control of the device operations with an Android MDM, irrespective of the manufacturer or from the source of device purchase. For iOS, the device needs to be purchased from an authorized reseller, the Apple School Manager needs to be configured, followed by an MDM to take total control of the device. For schools that want to rapidly provision devices to quickly get started with remote education, the process for iOS supervision is cumbersome and time-taking.  

Cost

This one is undoubtedly a game-changer. With schools having an additional financial burden to empower students with individual devices for remote learning, amounting to the total cost of investment is critical. Android devices are cheaper, readily available, durable and easy to maintain when compared to iOS devices. Custom made devices from OEM can be made available at subsidized prices, helping schools and educational organizations to save on the principal investment costs.

Closing lines…

If you are just starting out with choosing devices for education, Android is the safe bet to get started. Migrating from iOS to Android can be daunting but if you want to opt for migration, Scalefusion implementation partners can help you out.