Friday, April 11, 2014

Guided Access on the iPad


     What is it? Guided Access is a setting that keeps the iPad locked into a single application. Guided Access also allows you to control which features in a particular app are available or disabled. 
     I am an avid user of Guided Access in my classroom. There are many reasons why I use it when teaching my students. As a Special Education teacher, I know how intelligent and at times, "sneaky" the students in my classroom can be. I assign students to particular academic apps to work on in hopes that they will remain on the app given and not slip off to a game that is more appealing or even accidentally exit the app. Often, that is not the case.  This accessibility feature can lock my students into a particular app that I have planned for that center or station and not allow them to exit the app unless they have a 4-digit code that I am able to keep from them. Guided Access prevents students from performing specific actions that are not aligned with set tasks as well as preventing them from exiting an educational app. Students are not allowed to alter settings when Guided Access is on.  
     Below I have two videos that show one of the students in my classroom using the iPad app with Guided Access turned off and the other with Guided Access turned on. 




Follow the link below for a screen cast by my District’s Instructional Director, +Shannon Soger , to learn how set up and use Guided Access in your classroom!

Guided Access How to Video