> Would the issue be resolved by a resiliant way to lock all devices into a particular mode?
In my experience, pupils are insanely creative in getting around such restrictions: pupils have a lot of time, and in each grade there is this one guy (nearly always male) who combines being knowledgeable in computer topics, and having subversive traits (if not in the grade, there exists someone who has a big brother with these traits who will have a lot of fun helping his little brother to destroy the digital cage). Once a way is found, in a few days it has spread around the schoolyward.
Fine if they control the devices, but it better be well working, otherwise it will be a huge distraction and potentially be taking time from the teacher<>student interactions.
i.e. "Word processing only" "specific website(s) only" etc
I'm aware that actually implementing this in a fool-proof way is non-trivial - but would it in theory solve the issue and allow the benefits of tech?
I can't imagine taking notes by hand any more.