With the shift to remote learning, many school districts have encountered an unprecedented challenge. How can they best manage the flood of new devices connected to their networks?

Students at home may be using Chromebooks or tablets. They may be working on school-issued devices or on family-owned machines shared by multiple siblings. All this creates a management challenge for IT teams trying to ensure equity and a uniform learning experience across student populations.

“There are limitations once you have all these devices out of the boundaries of your physical network,” says Amy McLaughlin, project director for the Consortium for School Networking’s cybersecurity and Smart Education Networks by Design initiatives. “Students may be having very different experiences depending on the devices they are using.”