Blank Student Screens from teacher's desktop

[philjones2000]

Hi

 

Our teachers here are always saying "turn off your screens" so that they can get something over to the class with their "full" attention. But theirs always one or two that don't and it takes a little while for them to settle.

 

I'd like to be able to do this automatically from their desktop- simply click something and voila! all screens blank, click again to put them back. I've looked at mastereye from codework and although it looks good, I'd rather not put another client program on all the machines again.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks as always

 

Phil

[ChrisH]

You will need some sort of client program on the PCs. Many of the likes of Lanview (free), and not free packages like AB tutor and Netsupport allow you to do this. There is a lot of other stuff included though. I would have a look at lanview if I were you.

 

http://www.mst-software.co.uk/software/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=69&Itemid=47

 

You have to register to d/l.

[Busybub]

I can understand not wanting to unnecessarily bog down computers with more programs, but AB Tutor client is a relatively light load for a client computer considering what it is capable of. It is also easily installed from the monitoring computer.

 

Best bit about it is that once you apply a lock on the students they cannot get around it even by restarting the computers.

 

If this doesn't get their full attention I don't know what will!

[plexer]

Mastereye is now called Vision and is what we use in our ICT suites.

 

Brilliant program I loved mastereye when I found it installation was a breeze and easy to learn but when they first update to vision I didn't like it as much.

 

However I now have vision 6 deployed in one room with the others ready to go after some conversations with codeworks tech support and geneva logic who actually produce the software.

 

We worked on how to create the transforms needed so I can push it all out via group policy.

 

Ben

[dogsbody]

Vision6 is great. We use it here on both wired and wireless networks. The tech support is first class and the whole company from Geneva downwards has a refreshingly friendly feel.

[Grommit]

Ranger Remote Control.. you can lock, block the internet, show presentations, show 1 student to all... etc

[Andrew_C]

The next ICT suite I'm involved with will have ring main(s) for the PCs, and a seperate one for the monitors. Big switch at teacher's desk.

 

Keep It Simple...

[webman]

Andrew_C: Surely that can't be good for the monitors...

[ChrisH]

The next ICT suite I'm involved with will have ring main(s) for the PCs, and a seperate one for the monitors. Big switch at teacher's desk.

 

Keep It Simple...

 

I assume the plugs will be out of reach? I can just imagine them swapping stuff around.

[Andrew_C]

We got that one right last time! :-)

[philjones2000]

Thanks everyone for the responses.

 

Have installed LAN view and it seems to be a big hit with the teachers- how have you got it setup? I'd like to limit what they can do (they rarely need to defrag machines ) but can't see that there is any way of doing this?

 

Thanks again

 

Phil

[philpayton]

We use Ranger Remote here. When it's working properly it's brilliant...

[timbo343]

We use something called synchroneyes from smart, it was only £3400 for a complete site license.

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SynchronEyes+Classroom+Management+Software/

 

you can do lots of things with this and it locks the kids screens, and the internet too... one of the best pieces of software we have bought.

 

T

[tarquel]

it was only £3400

 

Guess I wont be using that one then.... hehe

 

thats about the amount of budget we get for IT each year lol

 

I use LanView myself - just for easy remote control of things.

 

Most the teachers don't know that they can even print off pupil work [years 7-9 cannot print to our colour Laser printer] when they need to lol so I dont think I'll let them loose on LanView yet hehe

 

There's a simple rule... if they dont listen when you say pay attention - kick them out of the room for part of the lesson or get them banned from using the computers for a week [they should listen then lol].

 

Cheers

Nath

[MkII]

Sounds expensive compared to ABTutor timbo343 - 150 per teacher PC down to 100 per PC is you have a few. We're spending £500 to cover the whole school

[timbo343]

Have you ever used netop... that is rubbish, we wanted something like netop that was really easy to use and didnt take much setting up, as teachers are so lazy, they like to have everything set up for them.

@mark: We have nearly 250 student computers, plus we are expecting to expand again soon and with about 8 teacher machines. How much did you say it was per teacher and per student machine?

[timbo343]

it was only £3400

 

Guess I wont be using that one then.... hehe

 

thats about the amount of budget we get for IT each year lol

 

but if you think about it, it might be cheaper, its a one off payment of £3400 for a full site license. You really need to work out if you are worth spending it on per machine or per site.

[Ethain]

I use italc, which does much the same as ranger remote control, but is free open source software, and works for and with other platforms as well as windows. It isn't the resource hog that ranger was (until we ditched it).

 

It does rely on properly set up DNS (whether in AD, or seperate). We had a lot of stale records as for some reason, when a machine changed IP, it often didn't remove the dynamic dns record it had before. I make sure the MS DNS scavanges regularly for old data.

 

Unlike Ranger remote control rather than just the machine name, italc also pulls the username down and displays that alongside (unless they updated ranger since).

 

http://italc.sourceforge.net

 

Teachers get access to the current ICT suite, and I get to remotely dial in to any machine in the school (it is great for simple maintenance).

[mortstar]

For this sort of thing I find LanView and its "Traffic Lights" system fantastic.

 

Teachers can block internet and blank screens for the rooms which they are have explicit control of as well as any room which they log in to. All through a very simple applet that shows on login.

 

In the background we have it scheduled switch on and off for all our machines. We can also remotely watch or take control of machines. As well as a few other nifty other features - AutoLogin a whole suite room, Group Policy update, Send Message to room...

 

Extremely versatile software and free as well, I would find it hard to justify spending £££s on software when LanView is so good.

 

iTalc has a lovely interface and some really nice features (Show teacher machine to class, show student machine to class, etc.) However, I found it was resource hungry on the server machine.

 

since I tried iTalc it's moved up a version to 1.0.4 and I haven't used that yet so not sure what improvements that has brought. Also documentation is still thin on the ground and/or German.

 

If/When iTalc matures I think it'll be a great Network Management and T&L application but still seems a little raw to me, as well as what seems like a rather slow development.

[mar5hy]

Few of you mentioed AB Tutor above,

 

which is an extremely powerful program & absolute bargain compared to the prices of similar software.

 

Had a demo with the developer at Bett & was thoroughly impressed.

[Sirbendy]

We use Netsupport School..does a good job. 2 of our "Technician/IT staff designed" IT suites have the dual ring main for PCs and TFTs..now THAT works brilliantly. Hit the big red "doomsday" button, and off go the TFTFs.

 

This is why we're trying to get in on the design of the new academy IT suites...IT always design their own sites best, as they know what they need..heh..

[crc-ict]

I'm using iTalc in a suite with my ICT Club - and it's working a treat. They still think it's cool though, so haven't started moaning about it... yet!

 

Seriously, though, it seems to work quite well. Occasionally it won't pick up a machine (usually if has been booted but not logged on) but I'm pretty impressed

[john]

Net Support Manager and Net Support School are the best out there, myself and Dos_Box would agree on that

[Proactive]

Synchroneyes is the best piece of software I've ever bought for our network I think

[gibbo_ap]

in know in cc3 you can have RM Tutor do this (and many other things) i believe it just stops signal to the screen.

 

for non cc3 networks i guess that NetSupport (which powers RM Tutor 3 and 4) would do exactly the same