Enough of being the police! I signed on to teach!
One of the biggest struggles I've had as an educator in terms of working with computers is when
students don't understand how to use a program that I demonstrated with the
in-class projector. One student asks for clarification, and I walk over to his
or her desk to explain. Three minutes later, another student asks the same
question. Then it happens again in five minutes. Three students and three
explanations - but the same question each time.
This is where NetSupport
School helps. This
comprehensive monitoring and instructional application allows a teacher – from
his or her own station and in real time - to see what students are doing on
their workstations. NetSupport also has a "view instructor desktop"
mode that, with just a few clicks, allows students to see the teacher's desktop
from their own screens. The students cannot manipulate the teacher's desktop;
they are, in essence, watching a video of another computer.
With NetSupport, I can walk multiple students through a
particular process, show them how to use a specific program feature (such as Track
Changes in Microsoft Word), or explain where to post an entry in the class
blog. Students can see what I'm doing on the machine that's right in front of
them - not 30 feet away on an overheard projector in a font size they can
hardly see.
 NetSupport's other features
include interactive testing; student journals; and fully-incorporated,
teacher-designed lessons that students can navigate on their own. What's more
is that any of these features can be enacted on as few or as many machines as
you like. If one student is misusing the Internet, an instructor can lock it
down for only that student.
For me, I use this feature like a penalty box. If a student is
looking at fantasy baseball instead of To
Kill a Mocking Bird, then I block Internet access for five minutes. A
teacher can also lock the screen if a student is spending too much time on
minesweeper, or to control what printers students use and what they print
(thereby saving paper and toner; the rising cost of the latter is a continual
thorn in my principal's side).
Results – My Personal
Take
I haven't used all of the features in NetSupport School, but
I can use it to manage a whole classroom and see that students have the
appropriate sites or programs open – all just by glancing at my computer.
Students have had little to complain about so far. (The only exception was the
collegiate-level class, whose computers I blanked to announce something about
final paper submission without telling them first about the feature. You can
imagine how they felt when they thought that the last hour or so of their work
had just been wiped out by a loss of power.) Productivity has gone up greatly,
and students are getting better at using new programs - and learning them more
quickly than before.
There have been cases, too, where the actions of students who
hacked computers were captured by teachers who had taken screen shots of each
step. Then, when the parents came to school to dispute their child's role in
the misbehavior, the evidence was there to see – step by step.
Personally, I dislike that such a restrictive filter still
exists when the program is running. I'd like to see a greater leniency in what
students can access as they show responsibility. Currently, however, it is my
school's policy to have this program run in addition to the filter, and not in
place of it. Now that students realize that I'm there to supervise and
instruct, they've become more responsible and are used to how the system works.
In my experience with NetSupport, most students find that what I can offer them
in terms of support greatly outweighs having me look over their shoulders in
real-time. The application also helps them to develop an ability to
self-monitor and to increase on-task time.
Ethical Dilemma
 Last summer, I said that
in order for students to grow into responsible adults, we must allow them to
make mistakes and learn to accept responsibility for their mistakes. Does NetSupport School fit the bill in allowing this to
happen? I think that it does. (It could be, however, that I just enjoy the
absolute power and my continued development as a control freak.)
Please
feel free to chime in about whether
software like this may be the answer to the following question. How do we develop
students who have good online decision making skills, at least while in school
or at the workplace?
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Re: Computer Monitoring Software in the Classroom: Big Brother or Big Improvement? (Part 2)
