Indiana Charter School Network and Goodwill Industries Partner to Secure Student Devices
Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana is a non-profit social enterprise that partners with the Indiana Charter School Network to support over 3,300 students spread across 11 schools. Together, Goodwill and select schools in the network provide at-risk students with access to laptops to enhance their educational opportunities.
Protecting Technology Investments for Enrolled Devices
The Indiana Charter School Network was facing a challenge. Without technology in place to maintain consistent IT management procedures, it had no way to keep track of its enrolled devices. They also lacked the ability to ensure that the content accessed through the devices was safe for student consumption.
The association knew it needed a solution that would enable the organization to effectively manage its IT inventory, protect sensitive data, and mitigate security risks when a device is lost or stolen, and track missing devices to recover the cost of its technology investment. In addition, the association needed the ability to remotely assess student usage patterns to prevent access to unauthorized content off the school’s network.
Absolute’s inventory history is excellent. Furthermore, we’ve been able to incorporate controls to mitigate student device loss. We intend to expand our use of Absolute.
How They Did It
Keeping Devices Safe With Geofencing Capabilities
An answer was found in Absolute Secure Endpoint, which protects the technology investment made by Goodwill Industries for the Indiana Charter School Network. The non-profit organization leverages Absolute Secure Endpoint to restrict student laptops to school grounds.
“The first feature we began using was geofencing,” said Stanley Dixon, Application Analyst at Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana. “When a device leaves the school grounds, an alert is automatically triggered in the system. We can remotely freeze those devices with Absolute.”
Addressing Device Loss With New Security Protocols
Since implementing a formal device security protocol with Absolute, Dixon has seen remarkable improvements. “We were experiencing a lot of device loss, and Absolute Secure Endpoint has been by far the greatest tool in addressing this challenge.”
Alerts Help Manage Student Usage Patterns
Goodwill also relies on alerts generated by Absolute Secure Endpoint to monitor student usage patterns. “Absolute alerts us when a student machine jumps off the approved network or is using a personal hot spot,” said Dixon. “This signals an attempt to circumvent school-issued network controls so we can take corrective measures.”
Often times, humans are the point of failure in the system. We were experiencing a lot of device loss, and Absolute Secure Endpoint has been by far the greatest tool in addressing this challenge.
Keeping Devices and Students Safe From Theft
Absolute Secure Endpoint has helped the schools and Goodwill decrease theft of devices used by students, maintain FERPA compliance, and better manage hardware inventory.
For Indiana Charter School Industries and Goodwill, Absolute Secure Endpoint:
- Provides geofencing capabilities, triggering an alert when a device leaves the school grounds
- Helps address the challenge of device loss
- Enables the monitoring of student usage patterns
