NetOp a good option for teaching and security improvements in the classroom?

Some of you may have heard of NetOp as a new solution to security problems and teaching obstacles in the school/classroom. Has anyone tried it yet? Have any of you seen reviews? Here's a bit of info taken from the website for NetOp School:

"NetOp School brings a complete, computerized teaching solution to the networked classroom. Share any screen with the class, follow students as they work and lend a hand where and when it’s needed, control what applications can be used, distribute and collect documents from students and create and perform regular tests with immediate individual feedback.

NetOp School lets you prepare for class, teach your students, and grade their work in one complete solution.

What's new in NetOp School 5.0?
Lets teachers show any screen in real-time to all students
Enhances the ability to monitor and assist students
Enables real-time control of allowed applications and webpages
Gives teachers better insight in the individual students’ progress
Makes it easy to create and carry out online tests
Facilitates text or audio discussions online
Allows students to request help discreetly
Gives students hands-on experience with the taught subject
Provides ability to demonstrate learning points online
Opens possibilities to teach students that are not physically present
Is extremely user-friendly – NetOp School can be learnt in minutes
Doesn’t require an expensive investment in extra hardware
Is based on extremely stable and responsive technology"

NetOp also allows the facilitator to CLOSELY MONITOR a student's activity within the classroom, providing snapshots of the computer screen and a detailed history of visited sites.

The "NetOp Education Solution Package" is available exclusively through our parent company, Torcomp Studica (the individual software programs are available in free trial versions). The complete package includes: Netop School, NetOp Proces Control, NetOp Netfilter, and NetOp Remote Control On Demand; all of which were created to suit school, district, or campus needs.

The press release detailing the collaboration between NetOp and Torcomp Studica can be found here: Studica.com press releases

I thought this would be a relevant discussion, given the problems all or most teachers have trying to maintain a safe classroom/internet environment.

Any feedback?

Tags: NetOp, safety, security, software

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Permalink Reply by Mark R on January 4, 2008 at 7:54pm

I know sure which of the features you are after in NetOp....but the price tag of this software as well as Synchroneyes has always made it impossible for my situation.

Our district is tinkering with iTalc (http://italc.sourceforge.net/). It is opensource and so far so good. The way my lab is set up I have problems seeing the activity on everyone's screens so this software allows to see all of those screens. I have a dual monitor setup at my teaching station. One is used to project content and the other is used for me to keep track of everyone....ie no more solitaire during my content presentations :0

Good luck..
Mark in Cincinnati

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Permalink Reply by Studica Skills on January 21, 2008 at 2:09pm

Mark - until recently there weren't many solutions for the concerns in the classroom. I realize that the pricetag is pretty hefty, but through our parent company (Torcomp Studica, Inc.) it is possible to get a good package deal. I'm by no means promoting the product in an effort to sell it though; I am merely bringing to the group's attention the fact that many of the security and safety concerns are being addressed by the large corporations and software companies (as well as the resellers!). I think that NetOp is absolutely one of the better products on the market, and I believe we'll be seeing it in classrooms everywhere soon enough.

Solitaire in your class? I remember doing that through my tech classes in elementary and high school many moons ago. ;) In fact, I've done that on a laptop sitting through boring conferences in the past, but not QUITE as many years ago. Guilty as charged!

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Permalink Reply by Kim Bunchuck on January 5, 2009 at 9:27am

Mark -

I'm trying to implement italc in my district and I'm having trouble with the teacher stations. Can you share any install tips? Do you use more than one set of keys?

Kim
Greenport School District

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Permalink Reply by Mark R on January 5, 2009 at 9:32am

Kim-
Have you printed out the manual located at the italc site on sourceforge? I honestly don't remember the answer to your question (as it has been awhile) except that I installed as directed in the manual and had no issues. I think I saved the keys on the network and then with each subsequent install I pointed to the folder where the key was created.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff O'Hara on January 28, 2008 at 8:07pm

We used to use it at http://www.cusd200.org, but there always seemed to be issues with it and it is pretty heavy on the network resources. Getting file permissions correctly on the machines so the students could submit files to the teacher was a pain. We just seemed to always have issues with that particular piece of software. Granted it has been a while since I've implemented it and many bugs may be worked out now, so I can't give you a true status of NetOps 5.0.

-Jeff
http://www.edmodo.com

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Permalink Reply by Lynne Horiuchi on March 5, 2008 at 6:22pm

We use NetSupport School
I like it and it works great in our library and labs. The only problem I have with it is that I am having a hard time setting it up so that more than one teacher station can view student computers. There is a way to do it but it means changing the config files.