Australian International School Malaysia
How HiddenApp became one of Australian International School Malaysia best purchases.
The Australian International School Malaysia (AISM) prides itself on nurturing and educating children and young people into lifelong learners who grow to demonstrate positive citizenship and leadership within the global community. Based in Kuala Lumpur, it’s a private school that delivers the Australian curriculum to around 650 students of 30 different nationalities, but is expanding to provide capacity for 1000 students.
Innovative learning
It’s the first school in the world to be certified in the innovative Visible Learning™ approach, and this has led to great success in global rankings: it’s in the top 100 schools in the world for Higher Schools Certificate (HSC) schools results, with AISM students taking overall highest place in the world in several subjects in 2022.
Dispersed fleet
Technology is solidly embedded within the teaching and learning at AISM, to serve and enhance education, rather as an end in itself. It’s a vital driver to digital fluency, which is one of the school’s key learning and teaching objectives, and that’s why AISM has a large fleet of school-owned devices that are used by students and teachers alike. The juniors have access to iPad carts on each floor of the school, which they use to research and connect with each other. Middle school students and seniors have access to MacBook trolleys, and there’s also a BYOD policy.
Significant challenges
This dedication to connected learning is a challenge for Sebastian Lim, who is ICT Systems Executive. One of his many responsibilities is to manage systems applications and devices for the entire school. “One of the biggest challenges in managing the school’s fleet of devices is monitoring and tracking at individual device level, “ he says. “We’ve had times when a student or member of staff has misplaced or lost a device, and there’s been no way to track it down centrally. It’s not just about the lost device itself: our policy is to report all losses to local law enforcement, too, so all the admin for lost devices really stacks up in lost time and hassle.”
Affordable Security
Sebastian was constrained by budget, a common problem for many schools, both public and private. “I was looking for something to help keep tabs on the whole fleet of devices that wouldn’t break the budget. It’s part of the school’s data security policy that all devices need to be secured. I was delighted to find out that HiddenApp offered a lot of value and functionality for a very affordable price. HiddenApp was very affordable compared to the other products we surveyed.”
Different ways to track
HiddenApp gave Sebastian a myriad of options when it came to tracking down missing devices. He says, “The tracking option has helped me locate misplaced devices in real time - it’s a fast way to locate devices as soon as they’re reported to be misplaced. It's great to be able to tell a student or member of staff exactly where they left their device! The geofencing functionality helps with the iPad carousels - before, it was so easy for a student to wander off with an iPad.” The desktop capture has been invaluable in recovering stolen devices, too.”
Easy management
As the AISM has been expanding its intake to 1000 pupils, the demands on Sebastian to manage a larger fleet have been enormous, but HiddenApp’s easy enrollment and user-friendly dashboard have assisted Sebastian in maintaining control of growth. He says, “The device enrollment is easy and hassle-free. The portal is user-friendly and easy to navigate to get what I want.”
Game-changing control
Since using HiddenApp, Sebastian has found it so much easier and streamlined to control his fleet of devices, but it’s also allowed him to save time. He says, “Although HiddenApp has helped us recover misplaced devices many times, it also means that we don’t use valuable time reporting on misplaced devices. Before, we’d need to make the trip to the local law enforcement to file a report. HiddenApp has solved that problem.”