Monitor Student Activity

[losav13]

What software do you use, have you used that worked or did not work, to monitor what students are doing during class or in a lab? I am looking for software that will allow teachers to look at a students screen from the teacher computer in front of class. I have looked into Vision and DyKnow, but do not know how well they work. Does anyone have suggestions?

[FN-GM]

Hi

 

You can use Netsupport School for this, there is another product that is identical called Ranger Remote Control but the support if crap **sorry!** plus you don't get updates as often.

 

You can also use something called securus that will pickup key words and take a screen shot of the pupils machine. For example if i student types in "Sex" it will take a screen shot and upload it to the server.

 

Here are the links:

Netsupport School The Classroom Management Software

Securus | Stop cyberbullying with e-safety software for schools

[siuko]

We have just installed Italc in a few rooms at the school were I work.

 

It seems to be going down very well with the teachers so far..

 

And the best bit is its free so you can try it without any problem of costs

 

Viewing of student screens

Locking students computers

Demo of teachers screen to all student computers

etc etc

 

Very nice!

[FN-GM]

I have never actually tried it. Can you lock it down so teachers can only control one class without taking over the whole school?

 

Thanks

[dhicks]

Can you lock it down so teachers can only control one class without taking over the whole school?

 

Yes. iTalc uses public/private keys to allow or disallow teacher machines to connect to pupils machines - i.e. the teacher machine has to have the correct key to be able to connect, so you can set up a system where every teacher can control any class in the school, or just some, or only their own class.

 

--

David Hicks

[FN-GM]

can you set it so teachers can only control one class but IT support can control the whole school? Also how easy is it to setup these keys? Do you have to set it on each machine?

 

many thanks

[Edu-IT]

I've heard good thinks about LanSchool. One thing I would say is don't go over the top with remote monitoring software and lock workstations etc at every possible opportunity. They installed LanSchool at college recently and although it is very good some staff are being silly with it in that they lock whole computer suites for pointless reasons and when you're trying to work it's a pain to say the least.

[FN-GM]

I've heard good thinks about LanSchool. One thing I would say is don't go over the top with remote monitoring software and lock workstations etc at every possible opportunity. They installed LanSchool at college recently and although it is very good some staff are being silly with it in that they lock whole computer suites for pointless reasons and when you're trying to work it's a pain to say the least.

 

Behave yourself then ;-)

[dhicks]

can you set it so teachers can only control one class but IT support can control the whole school?

 

Hmm. Never tried that one (school's not that big!). Makes sense - just need to be able to list two or more keys in the "allowed controllers" section.

 

Also how easy is it to setup these keys? Do you have to set it on each machine?

 

You have to make sure the correct key is copied to each client machine, yes. I found this easier to do than with NetSupport's install system.

 

--

David Hicks

[link470]

That software looks really good. However is there a way to make it a little bit more stealthy and installed hidden? I'm just wondering since it has a system tray icon for the program that it may be tampered with by some users. Is there a way to hide it completely and not give off those balloon message alerts when an event occurs such as someone tried to remote access your computer but wasn't authenticated correctly? I'd like for this to be a silent monitoring solution if possible and allow me to remote access teacher computers to help them if they have a problem as well.

 

Also, hows the toll on bandwidth?

[FN-GM]

You have to make sure the correct key is copied to each client machine, yes. I found this easier to do than with NetSupport's install system

 

How would you get the keys over to the clients?

 

Thanks

[dhicks]

How would you get the keys over to the clients?

 

We install software with scripts, so we just put a "copy n:\xyz.key c:\italc\xyz.key" or whatever at the end of the script. You can wrap scripts up in an MSI file, so you could make your own MSI-based installer with your own keys.

 

--

David Hicks

[FN-GM]

Ok cheers.

 

Z

[Sirbendy]

We use Netsupport school (local 'net lock, machine lock, quick checker), RAdmin (LEA Supplied, used to check/intervene in more detail) and PolicyCentral Enterprise (again, LEA) that does the screen watch/shot/store/report/warn malarkey.....between those, the kids just don't bother anymore..

 

As we tell them.."watch you? Oh NO, WE don't NEED to watch you..the system does it all the time anyway..LOOK..."...and their expressions are priceless.

[richard.thomas]

I use iTalc in one of my primarys but we use Vision 6 here- Although it's not free of problems. iTalc seems to be more stable!

[SpuffMonkey]

A vote for AB Tutor here - very robust and works really well. Nice cheap licensing scheme as well. If our experience was anything to go by - avoid NetOp- it was flakey as heck.

[Edu-IT]

That software looks really good. However is there a way to make it a little bit more stealthy and installed hidden? I'm just wondering since it has a system tray icon for the program that it may be tampered with by some users. Is there a way to hide it completely and not give off those balloon message alerts when an event occurs such as someone tried to remote access your computer but wasn't authenticated correctly? I'd like for this to be a silent monitoring solution if possible and allow me to remote access teacher computers to help them if they have a problem as well.

 

Also, hows the toll on bandwidth?

Which software are you talking about?

 

Behave yourself then ;-)

I do.

[browolf]

use abtutor as well. we had some trouble with the latest version and had to downgrade but apart from that its great and the teachers like using it to monitor their own classes.

 

we mainly use it for some remote admin or to catch kids playing games on the internet unbeknown to their teachers. often find ones tabbing between windows as the teacher walks round the room. its kind of amusing to lock their pc randomly and imagine the panic as suddenly they cant hide their activities at the crucial moment. haha

[ahuxham]

Ranger 5.9 =(

[Geoff]

ABTutor here. Works on Citrix too

[somabc]

Why not use VNC eg with Official VNCon Website - [Main Page]

[Guest theeldergeek]

We have just installed Italc in a few rooms at the school were I work.

 

It seems to be going down very well with the teachers so far..

 

And the best bit is its free so you can try it without any problem of costs

 

Viewing of student screens

Locking students computers

Demo of teachers screen to all student computers

etc etc

 

Very nice!

 

Shame you have to add each PC by IP - going to take quite a while to give each machine a fixed IP in our 30 machine suites, and then in turn input this into the program. It would have been easier to have a list of known clients, and select each one you wanted to add to a 'classroom' or group.

 

For some reason, when we first connect, there is an awful lot of screen refreshing going on on both client and master, which last about a minute - not an issue per se, but more a 'wonder why it does that'...?

 

Would also like to see some application control as per LanView.

 

Nice program though for a straightforward solution

[RichCowell]

Shame you have to add each PC by IP - going to take quite a while to give each machine a fixed IP in our 30 machine suites, and then in turn input this into the program. It would have been easier to have a list of known clients, and select each one you wanted to add to a 'classroom' or group.

 

For some reason, when we first connect, there is an awful lot of screen refreshing going on on both client and master, which last about a minute - not an issue per se, but more a 'wonder why it does that'...?

 

Would also like to see some application control as per LanView.

 

Nice program though for a straightforward solution

 

You don't have to add PCs by IP Address do you?

 

I've just seen this thread today and installed it earlier, tried it on one machine, but only added it by name rather than IP... That's a bit better than doing it by IP I guess, but still time consuming.

[Guest theeldergeek]

You don't have to add PCs by IP Address do you?

 

I've just seen this thread today and installed it earlier, tried it on one machine, but only added it by name rather than IP... That's a bit better than doing it by IP I guess, but still time consuming.

 

hmmm, dunno, but I've uninstalled it now. Simple reason being, that if you are unable to, or don't authenticate properly, your IP address is displayed on the client machine as attempting to connect. Our network manager doesn't want our network's IP addresses on display to students.

 

Shame, I was enjoying shutting down my colleagues machine!

[richard.thomas]

You dont need to use IP address, It says IP/Host Name IIRC. I know 100% that you can put host names in that field though, as that is what I do

 

 

Also, if you turn balloon notifications off for students then the italc messages dont show. Here I hide the notification area all together.

Edited April 22, 2008 by richard.thomas
added about balloons