Identity and access management in K-12 schools

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

Every student is different. They may love math, or language or art. Be a visual learner or do best by listening. Need some extra help because of a disability.

Your school uses iPad to enhance learning. But say you have a cart of iPads in your room, each identical to the next one. Should every student, unique as they are, have the same experience on iPads set up the same way?

No — not if the goal of the iPad is to make their learning experience the best it can be. The first step in customizing learning to the student is knowing who is using the device: the student’s identity.

That’s where Identity and Access Management (IAM) comes in, and its implementation doesn’t have to be as daunting as it sounds.

In our e-book, Identity and Access Management in K-12 for Beginners, we talk about:

• What IAM is

• Identity challenges in K-12

• Building your identity foundation

• The benefits IAM brings to K-12

• How ready your school is for IAM

Read the e-book for full details, or start with a summary below.

What is IAM?

Identity and access management is built on two key concepts:

• Authentication: confirming who a student or teacher is

• Authorization: controlling what they can access

To begin, you need a database that includes information like users’:

• First and last name

• Username

• Email address

• Attributes like class, grade level, etc

• Authentication information

You might have some of this in your systems already. But IAM builds on this to determine what apps or resources a student can access and how their device should be configured.

In other words, their device’s setup is tied to their attributes unique to the user.

Why does your school need IAM?

The more you have to wrestle with usernames, passwords and other login information, the less time is focused on learning. IAM enables powerful tools like Single Sign-On, where students only need to remember one login method (and likely some type of multi-factor authentication).

This means:

• Fewer tickets and provisioning delays for IT teams

• More instructional time and less frustration for teachers

• Optimized experiences for students

Everyone wins.

Where to start

The e-book recommends a few steps that will help you set sail on your IAM journey. To summarize:

1. Establish a single source of truth

2. Integrate with Apple School Manager

3. Connect to your MDM

4. Implement identity best practices

5. Pilot, then scale

IAM implementation isn’t insurmountable. You’re likely to find that small steps toward IAM will benefit your school. Whether it’s ensuring your data is consistent across your systems, integrating your MDM and Apple School Manager or another step, you’re one more step closer to fewer headaches, faster logins and safer students.