Last summer, I posed a question about whether Internet filters in schools were a foolish way to teach students about making responsible choices. At the time, I stated that blocking students wasn't a proactive way of dealing with online behavior. Rather, it was reactive and lessened opportunities for students to learn to use the Internet responsibly. After all, if you never take off the training wheels, how do you know that you can really ride a bike?
Not Ideal and Most Non-Functional
Obviously, it's a very poor idea to give students free reign to surf the Web, or run whatever programs they like on their workstations. But Internet filters are unreliable. They either block sites that students need to visit (e.g., science students can't access the Mayo Clinic's studies on the prevalence of breast cancer), or are easy to circumvent via proxy sites that some students are all too eager to find when they should be doing their homework.
Even with a teacher in the classroom, unfiltered Internet and computer usage is not a great idea. If a teacher is in front of the room talking to a student, who knows what is on a screen in the back of the room? Take a step in a student's direction, and the teacher will find that the student has closed the screen of whatever was appropriate.
Finding a Better Way
In the past year, I've had an opportunity to learn how to use a piece of software that might move the debate in the right direction. While there are many different applications available, I learned how to use a program called NetSupport School. It's a comprehensive monitoring and instructional tool that allows a teacher – from his or her own station and in real time - to see what students are doing on their workstations. Although I've only begun to scratch the surface of what schools can do with this software, let me share what I learned from using it during the spring semester of the last school year.
NetSupport School allows teachers to open a window that shows you the screen of every student in the room. Each window updates every 1.5 seconds or so. If you mouse over one of the windows, it enlarges so you can get a better look. Double-click on a student and his or her screen becomes the size of your screen. You also have "takeover power" in this mode, allowing you to manipulate a student's mouse and keyboard from your own station.
Tired of students surfing while you're explaining a point? With one click, you can shut-off all of their monitors until you're finished. You can also deny all Web access or restrict it to certain sites that you (and not some Internet filter) approve. So, if you're giving a written final exam, this let's you prevent students from going places that they shouldn't while directing them to content that you trust.
Part 2 of this two-part series, highlighting some of the other feature beyond simple monitoring, will run next week.
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Re: Computer Monitoring Software in the Classroom: Big Brother or Big Improvement? (Part 1)
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