Classroom Management software for teacher in a BYOD school.

[jallsop]

Hi all.

 

New member of staff is demanding something akin to AB Tutor or RM Tutor (same core????), which i have used in the past, but, as per the title, we're a BYOD school running a windows teacher environment, and a 95% macbook student environment. (Don't ask why, I gave up trying to figure that one out within 3 weeks of getting here)

 

Question is, does such a thing exist. Some like Netop, and Net Support School, do have iOS, OSX clients etc, but this only works if you can admin the student machines and make sure they are running the client. In a BYOD school, we have no ability to admin the students personal devices. Is there something out there that my google foo has so far failed to find.

 

Cheers

[Roberto]

I think you're right when you say you can only do this if you admin the boxes or you have the permission and co-operation of the users (and lets face it, a student who wishes to do something 'dodgy' will simply disable or remove your control app, even if they co-operated to start with).

 

Not only is there a technical issue here but there's a legal and ethical one, if its not the organisation's device.

 

Your new member of staff can "demand" what they want, I mean I'd like to demand a winning euromillions ticket myself, but I suspect both they and I will remain disappointed.

[CyberNerd]

 

Your new member of staff can "demand" what they want, I mean I'd like to demand a winning euromillions ticket myself, but I suspect both they and I will remain disappointed.

 

They should start by demanding the kids do as they are instructed!

 

All of our ICT teachers seem to hate this sort of 'management' software - they just seem to know which kids are working/on task and which aren't. Without even looking at their screens! It must come with experience because I can't do it!

[Roberto]

They should start by demanding the kids do as they are instructed!

 

All of our ICT teachers seem to hate this sort of 'management' software - they just seem to know which kids are working/on task and which aren't. Without even looking at their screens! It must come with experience because I can't do it!

 

Oh I'd agree, this is a classroom control issue. I've always wondered with the people who want to block websites because students are wasting time, if they were teaching back in the days before the internet was common and students used to bring magazines to class, did they want to burn down newsagents and smash up printing presses to 'block' Heat and FHM?

[jallsop]

Oh I'd agree, this is a classroom control issue. I've always wondered with the people who want to block websites because students are wasting time, if they were teaching back in the days before the internet was common and students used to bring magazines to class, did they want to burn down newsagents and smash up printing presses to 'block' Heat and FHM?

 

As an Ex-teacher, I agree. We had it installed in the previous schools i worked in as a teacher, and i used to run it, mainly to distribute and collect files from the students, and shutdown the machines at the end of the day.

Now it seems that our new staff have gotten used to the ability to monitor screens without getting out of their seats. ("We had this in my old school, can we have it here?")

Wouldn't mind but we have a max class size of 16, and an average of about 6 or 7. It's not like you've got to have eyes everywhere is it?

[Duke5A]

Wouldn't mind but we have a max class size of 16, and an average of about 6 or 7. It's not like you've got to have eyes everywhere is it?

 

Wow, a typical max here is between 32 or 34 with an average of 29 (in a public school at least). I'll bet a class environment over there is a lot better controlled and conducive to learning.

[Jamo]

Hi all.

 

New member of staff is demanding something akin to AB Tutor or RM Tutor (same core????), which i have used in the past, but, as per the title, we're a BYOD school running a windows teacher environment, and a 95% macbook student environment. (Don't ask why, I gave up trying to figure that one out within 3 weeks of getting here)

 

Question is, does such a thing exist. Some like Netop, and Net Support School, do have iOS, OSX clients etc, but this only works if you can admin the student machines and make sure they are running the client. In a BYOD school, we have no ability to admin the students personal devices. Is there something out there that my google foo has so far failed to find.

 

Cheers

 

BYOD at its best!

 

Most you can do is monitor the internet traffic against an IP then map the IP to a list of mac addresses (means you would have to check the mac address of each client as well...)

[Gibson335]

They should start by demanding the kids do as they are instructed!

 

All of our ICT teachers seem to hate this sort of 'management' software - they just seem to know which kids are working/on task and which aren't. Without even looking at their screens! It must come with experience because I can't do it!

 

For some of our staff, classroom management consists of mailing us to ask us to check what the kids in their class are doing on their machines!!! Sometimes this is in a room where the teacher has access to the Impero console. More and more we are being asked to find technical solutions to management (or lack of) issues.