In response to this requirement, Akhter have developed Teacher Console; an application which empowers teachers to remotely control computers within the classroom environment.
Managing a class of students using ICT as a learning tool can be challenging. Teaching staff cannot always be fully aware of how the classroom computers are being used. Whether students are working with the correct applications or simply browsing their favourite internet sites, is just one of the problems facing a teacher during lesson time.
Whilst computers can bring huge benefits to the learning environment, some of the same age-old teaching challenges remain. If use of computers is not managed, they can become the main source of student distraction and frustration for the teacher.
The new Teacher Console application from Akhter puts teachers back in control, enabling them to monitor and manage class activity and keep the class focused. It provides many features that assist the teacher in remotely controlling the classroom IT.
To provide a good understanding of Teacher Console and how it is used within a classroom environment, consider the following classroom lesson scenario:
The Teacher Console application is resident on the teacher’s computer. Starting the lesson a teacher launches the application and automatically connects to all computers in the classroom. This is the first of many unique design features of Teacher Console and provides the ability to define which of the classrooms to connect to and control.
When Teacher Console launches, the teacher’s screen displays a friendly view of all computers in the selected classroom, and if required the icons of this layout can be dragged and dropped to match the physical room layout. The teacher can easily view the state of the computers, check if they are powered on or off, and whether students are logged on.
Picture a situation where students begin to logon to the classroom computers and the all too familiar “… I can’t remember my password!” echoes out. Without Teacher Console the student(s) might have to visit the Network Administrator’s office to get their password reset, wasting valuable lesson time in the process. Using Teacher Console, a teacher quickly finds and resets the students password. Although teachers can change passwords, they can only do so if they have been granted the appropriate permissions by the Network Administrator.
When a teacher wants to explain the objective of any particular lesson and students are working (or playing) on the computers, getting them to listen is often an issue. Using the main toolbar, teachers can instantly lock the keyboard and mouse of all or selected computers in the room, so that the teacher regains the students full attention. The teacher can unlock the computers at any time so that the students can recommence their work.
After the lesson has started, students may appear to be quietly working on their projects, but the teacher wants to check that they are really concentrating on their work. Without Teacher Console you would have to look around the class, and most probably walk around to view all of the students’ screens. Students are aware of this limitation and often pretend to concentrate on their assigned work. Using Teacher Console the teacher can switch to a view which displays small thumbnail images of the computer screens and enables the teacher to identify the use of inappropriate applications such as Windows Messenger. If a student is off task, the teacher can zoom in on their thumbnail to display an enlarged image of the students computer screen.
To prevent any unwanted applications from being run, the teacher can issue a block command to all or selected computers. The offending user quickly finds that the blocked application closes and sees a warning message stating that it has been closed and is now a restricted application. The teacher can now check to see that the student is back on track with their assigned work.
The lesson is progressing well and the teacher wants students to view a particular website that will help them with their current work. The web address for this site is extremely long and cannot easily be dictated to the students. Using Teacher Console the teacher directs the classroom computers to navigate to the desired URL without requiring the student to type in a complex website address.
The teacher has decided to set the class a simple task related to their work. Using Teacher Console the teacher sends a message to all users in the classroom explaining the required task. The students click the save button on the message screen to save the message directly into their ‘My Documents’ area for review later.
The lesson finally comes to an end and the students are extremely eager to exit the classroom. Many of them forget to “Log Off” before they leave the classroom and this can provide the opportunity for the next class of students to view, copy or delete the user’s work. Using Teacher Console the teacher issues the “Log Off” warning message to all computers in the class with an adjustable delay period to ensure that all students have time to save their work.
The students have left the classroom and there are no more lessons in the room until the next day. Using Teacher Console, the teacher quickly issues the “Shut Down” command to all computers in the classroom.
The preceding paragraphs describe the use of Teacher Console in a typical school lesson using just a few of the available commands. It demonstrates how the application can be used to make the lesson more efficient and therefore more focused on the learning content rather than on ICT management.
Teacher Console provides many different commands to assist teachers and some are very powerful. For peace of mind the Teacher Console application can be configured by the Network Administrator to restrict which commands are available to the teacher in the classroom.
Akhter have designed Teacher Console to be fully expandable and new commands will automatically get downloaded, installed and added to the Console application as they are released in the future.
Teacher Console application is a module within the Akhter Suite range of products. Together with Akhter InterJigsaw, RemInstall and UserAudit, Akhter Suite provides a convenient ICT solution that raises teaching efficiency and minimises the burden on the school’s ICT network support team.
Teacher Console can be run on its own or used in conjunction with other Akhter Suite modules to provide a well managed and focused learning environment, where students can learn more easily, and ICT staff can concentrate on their main role of developing ICT resources.
Akhter can demonstrate Teacher Console at your School.
Akhter also run Free seminars for ICT Education professionals covering the full spectrum of ICT solutions.
Contact Sales for prices and further information on 01279-821200. Technical Enquiries to: Andrew.Hinkin@Akhter.co.uk / www.AkhterSuite.co.uk
