AB Tutor - Your Experiences

[rs513]

Afternoon all

 

We are currently looking into AB Tutor (or others, open to suggestions!) for a large primary school. The particular focus is the esafety aspect, keyword detection, screenshot evidence etc. I have been asked to get some feedback from people who have used AB Tutor, so if any of you would be kind enough to offer your thoughts (via PM if you prefer) it would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance.

[RichCowell]

I've not used AB Tutor, but I've discussed it a few times with e-safety experts, and it's only got very basic keyword monitoring, it's just a classroom management solution, not an e-safety solution...

 

I'd definitely recommend Impero - full e-safety solution and classroom management, and much more...

Edited January 28, 2016 by RichCowell

[rs513]

Ah, thanks for that. I was looking at Impero initially but heard there have been problems with recent versions. Is that something you have used?

[localzuk]

We run ABTutor - I'd not say its really suited to much keyword monitoring. There's no "server", so in order to do it properly you'd have to have a teacher client open somewhere at all times with all machines connected to it.

[mikeprice]

I introduced it into a school many years ago - only left it 2 years ago and it was still excellent

 

However, if you want an esafety solution it is limited - e.g. it can block keywords easily enough and block sites etc

which is great for restricting kids or just allowing sites specific to that lesson

 

However as far as I know it won't report attempted access very well - I suspect a proper internet filter would provide a bettre solution. As you must have a filter of some kind (via LEA???) there maybe facilities already available on that

[RichCowell]

Yes, I've used Impero for 5+ years now and I've not experienced the issues a lot of people have reported, and I've found their support to be second to none...

[Norphy]

I'd have to agree. ABTutor a fine classroom management tool and worth considering if you don't need the bulk of Impero (I didn't, a site license for AB Tutor was something like £3.5k while Impero wanted something like £15k just for classroom management) but for keyword monitoring, it's not so good.

 

Have you looked at Securus and Policy Central? They do the keyword monitoring without the classroom management bits if that's what you're after?

[rs513]

Yes we do have a filter provided by the LEA but it is not the most intuitive in terms of reporting.

 

The classroom management etc was just a nice add on. As I mentioned, we are open to other suggestions dependent upon cost, hence why AB Tutor was an attractive option! From these comments though we will certainly be looking at other solutions. I experienced Securus about 6 years ago and found it to be very good but expensive at the time. Will need to look at prices and take them back to our BM.

[Tom_NetSupport]

At NetSupport we have a full suite that will cover both classroom management (NetSupport School) and safeguarding - www.Netsupportdna.com/education/safeguarding.asp

[jertsy]

Ive been using AB Tutor for the last couple of years, its a nice simple program to get going (no need for a server). We use it mainly for screen mirroring and power management. Its not without its quirks but its cheap as chips

[Arreks]

Literally only used here by Teachers in IT rooms, because we don't think it's really good enough for anything past remotely controlling/locking a computer.