Remote Schools, Remote Learning, Remote Growth

Whether we’re ready for it or not, school is back in session. However, this isn’t just any regular school year.

This is the first year where remote learning is at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

Due to health concerns from the infectious nature of the COVID-19 virus, school districts across the country have had to reassess their digital assets so they can support their students who are learning online this year. This brings new challenges to your asset management as you maneuver through new protocols and procedures while handling a large increase in asset deployment.

To handle this increased workload, your IT departments need an asset management tool that will:

• Simplify your processes
• Mitigate losses, and
• Increase your efficiency.

In other words, you need Asset Panda.

New Guidelines. New Protocols. No Worries.

In the past, most schools were comfortable allocating a set number of devices to each teacher where each class period, a different student would use it to complete their digital assignments. That’s not the case anymore.

When schools effectively shut down in-person learning after spring break earlier this year, the education system was forced to go virtual. Administrators and IT staff scrambled to make sure the kids (and teachers) had the resources to carry on despite being off-campus. This brought an increased need for one-to-one deployment - one device for each student.

While many schools across the country had already adopted this policy and therefore had the assets already available, others found themselves rushing to buy new assets, leaving them struggling to modernize their asset inventory and management.

To streamline the asset allocation process this year, many schools are utilizing asset management software like Asset Panda.

Employing the carpool line at their campus, school staff stand outside with a cart full of laptops or tablets. As parents pull up in their cars, school officials use a mobile app to scan a barcode on the device then quickly assign it to the student with the push of a button. The device is then handed off to the parent with the designated campus and assigned student documented accurately.

This process, paired with Asset Panda, provides a much smoother check-out/check-in process and accurately documents vital information about each device.

Managing technology just got smarter

While COVID-19 has caused our education system to rethink how we teach our children, there are still some institutions that are reliant on antiquated spreadsheet solutions to track their assets. This type of asset management isn’t sustainable now and, honestly, wasn’t sustainable before the pandemic, either.

Spreadsheet data is too easy to corrupt because there’s no accountability or transparency.
Too many people have access to the file.
No one knows who is updating or saving it.
Locally downloaded versions are out-of-sync with network versions.

This leads to multiple people being assigned to the same device and other devices disappearing from the spreadsheet altogether.

In addition, there’s rarely any documentation or history of previous deployments or repairs. This means you have no idea which laptops have been serviced more than average or if a particular student has a history of damaging their tablets.

With Asset Panda, you have a detailed audit trail so you can see ownership history, current status, repair history, lifecycle stages and critical dates.

Funding sources are also documented which is critical when devices are donated or acquired through grant money. Each device and every dollar must be accounted to remain in good standing with the organization that provided it so you can continue those gifts in the future.

All of this information is easily available to the staff that need it through the cloud.

Tackle Remote Learning Like a Boss

One-to-one asset deployment was already becoming the norm long before COVID-19 and Asset Panda has been on the forefront of that change from the beginning. We have the tools you need to streamline your asset management processes.

• Generate reports that show you specific details about your inventory.
• Use barcode generators and mobile app scanners to accelerate the check-out/check-in process.
• Empower teachers to check out special technology as they need it.
• Create trouble tickets virtually to repair devices so your students stay on track.

No one knows what the future of education will look like. All we know is that given time, everything changes.

Asset Panda can help you be prepared for whatever changes come your way, whether that’s today, tomorrow or whenever everyone returns to the classroom.

To learn how Asset Panda can help you prepare for current and future asset management challenges, click here.