As the largest international schools in Shanghai, Shanghai American School was established by the American Consulate in 1912, closed in 1949, and then revived in 1980. It has two campuses in Pudong and Puxi and over 4,000 students from 44 countries and regions, including kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools. The Shanghai American School has a distinguished reputation and remains committed to cultivating the best talent for the community.
To improve education for students, the American School in Shanghai received its first Apple computers from SolutionKeys in 2007, and in 2010, the school implemented a 1-to-1 laptop program (BYOD) based on Apple Apple MacOS, switching from Microsoft Windows PCs to Mac OS with potent multimedia teaching software system. The American School of Shanghai upgraded the school’s network before implementing this Apple laptop program, establishing a good basis for a seamless deployment of the 1-to-1 laptop program. This allowed students to use this learning tool more easily and fully.
Solutions
With the successful implementation and deployment of many large-scale IT projects in the Shanghai, SolutionKeys has gained the recognition and trust of the client. They selected SolutionKeys to provide a complete solution, including the procurement, configuration, and delivery of 1,800 Apple MacBooks, the integration of the school’s network resources using Apple server-related technologies, and the provision of on-site technical support for routine maintenance work. This complete set of solutions ensure that the school’s teachers and students have access to the most advanced mobile learning and teaching tools in a state-of-the-art learning and teaching facility environment, and have timely access to on-site technical support in the event of problems.
Deployment of the project
In order to accurately configure the computers to the client’s specifications and to meet the deadline for distributing 1,800 machines in batches and time slots to two campuses 65 kilometres apart, the deployment required a sophisticated communication and planning package. The school’s 1-to-1 laptop program for teachers and kids was successfully implemented in two phases thanks to our diligent project management.
- For staff: The computers were distributed to teachers three months before the start of the new school year so that they would have sufficient time to familiarize and adapt to this new teaching tool.
- For students: Computers were distributed centrally during the first six weeks of the school year, in batches, by campus, and by grade level.
This is the first time in the expatriate school industry that a single project of this scale has been deployed on such a large scale. With SolutionKeys’ high standards and stringent project execution, 1,800 laptops were installed, imaged, and configured by Apple-certified engineers according to the school’s demand of 399 each week, and the project was successfully completed.
To ensure the success of the school’s 1-to-1 laptop program (BYOD) in the long run, the school purchased a three-year warranty from SolutionKeys. Furthermore, SolutionKeys has established Apple authorized repair facilities on both campuses to give the schools peace of mind throughout the warranty duration. We are pleased to note that, as of 2022, the SAS Apple School program has been running effectively for 12 years.
