Pixel IT - NetSupport School - PC Collaboration & IT Support for Schools

Classroom management, training and collaboration.

NetSupport School is a class leading training software solution, providing teachers with the ability to instruct, monitor and interact with their students either individually, as a pre-defined group or to the overall class. Combining advanced classroom PC monitoring, real-time Presentation and Annotation tools, with an innovative customised Testing suite, Internet and Application control, automated Lesson Plans, Printer Management, Instant Messenger control, Content Monitoring and Desktop Security.

Special Offer valid until 31st December 08

For every NEW purchase of NetSupport School, customers will receive a corresponding pack size of NetSupport Notify FREE

With the initiative of the new governments "Digital Education Revolution" the use of computers and the internet in schools will continue to grow and so does the need for managing the learning process in networked classrooms.

With NetSupport School, teachers and trainers can improve the efficiency of classroom instruction by centrally instructing Students on their computer, keep students on task by monitoring application and web usage, improve support through online help and chat requests, and save time by quickly polling the class and showing instant results. Teachers and trainers can also record all screen, keyboard and mouse activity on a student workstation to review later or to replay to the class.

With educational budgets under increasing pressure, NetSupport School enables schools, colleges and training institutions to maximise the return from the IT infrastructure already in place.

"As a teaching tool NetSupport School is in the enviable position of having little, if any, serious competition. It simply excels in its field and the new features are valuable additions which make the top product in this market even better." - Network Computing.

"Without doubt one of the slickest, most cost-effective teaching software products available." - PC PRO

"Any School investing in NetSupport School will find that in a very short time it has become one of its most valuable teaching and network management tools. Thoroughly recommended" - Educational Computing & Technology

"As a teaching and training aid for classrooms with networked PCs, NetSupport School has virtually no serious competition. It offers a range of excellent features that'll make light work of designing, deploying and monitoring classrooms and backs these up with some of the best remote control tools currently on the market." - PC Plus

"Look no further if you want the perfect network training and teaching tool, as NetSupport School is in a league of its own. The jewel in its crown is undoubtedly the Testing module which provides the tools to create tests and exams and deploy them over the network simultaneously to multiple systems."

"The systems greatest feature is its stability." - Network Times

Classroom Management

Power on or off all classroom computers from the Teacher PC.
Perform a Remote "Log off" on all PCs.
Send a Remote "Log in" to all Student PCs at the beginning of class.
Blank Student Screens to gain attention.
Lock the Students Mouse and Keyboard when instructing.
Create custom classroom layouts so the Teacher PC represents the layout of the physical classroom.
Create individual Teacher profiles to deliver the specific features needed by each teacher.

View Student Screens in Real-time (Monitor Mode)

Monitor the entire class in a single view.
View Student screens in real time
Scan through sets of Student PCs in pre-defined multiples.
Overlay additional information including: Active Application or Active website.
Zoom for optimised high definition Student thumbnails.
Auto zoom feature to "mouse over" a specific Student thumbnail for a larger detail view of their desktop.

Teacher Toolbar

Remains accessible when the main application is minimised, providing quick access to key features when using an Interactive Whiteboard or other applications.

Printer Management

NetSupport School features a powerful print management component allowing total control over printer usage within the classroom.

Prevent printing
Assign page limits per lesson
Teacher authorisation to print
Printing thresholds per lesson
Supports multiple printers
Prevents the addition, deletion or modification of existing printers
Print usage summaries
Remove duplicate print jobs
Print visuals

Device Management

NetSupport School also features protection from external sources for the duration of a class.

Prevent data being copied to or from USB devices and CD/DVD drives.
Read only USB devices and CD/DVD drives.
Audio device management - mute audio across the class in a single action.

Interactive Lesson Planner

Pre-Plan the scope of the lesson and NetSupport School will continue to advise the teacher on time remaining, when the next action is due and more.

Lesson plans can be created in advance and utilised time and again. Within the main Teacher console a progress bar will advise the teacher of the current activity, activities due for the remainder of the lesson and the overall time remaining.

A lesson plan is created by simply dragging required elements from a list menu of all available NetSupport School features onto the planner schedule and specifying both a duration and appropriate content for each item.

Student Register

Student Registration allows user information to be captured. Having provided the "Class Details" which includes teacher's name, lesson title and room number / name, the teacher can then select the information that the students will be required to complete at the start of class including custom values. Once collected a class attendance register can be produced and printed or saved in a range of formats.

Request standard and custom information from each Student at the start of class.
Save an attendance register for future reporting.
View a contact summary for each Student at any point during a lesson by using a "mouse over" of the Student icon.
Use customised icons for individual or groups of Students.

Hand out and Collect Files

Distribute files and data from the teacher PC to multiple student workstations simultaneously with a minimum of keystrokes and effort.

Transfer files to and from a selected PC in a single action.
Distribute files to multiple PCs in a single action.
Hand out files to all Students and automatically collect them at the end of the lesson with each student details appended to their file.

Lesson Timer

Countdown the class session with the new lesson timer combined with an all new custom alerts feature, e.g. "10 minutes until end of lesson, save work now".

Countdown timer changes colour from Green to Amber to Red as the end of the lesson approaches.

Portable Teacher

NetSupport School provides a "portable" folder containing all the files needed to copy to a USB Memory device so that a teacher can be run directly from the device in any location.

This provides greater flexibility for teacher's moving between labs and ensures they have all the tools they need, safely in their pocket.

Auto Re-Connect

If a students computer disconnects for some reason or is switched off, on restart the system will automatically rejoin the active class if it is still running and all previous settings will be re-applied.

This prevents students deciding they wish to leave a lesson and do something else on their computer.

Screen Highlighter and drawing tools (Annotate)

During either a show or while conducting a 1:1 remote control session, NetSupport School provides as standard a wealth of screen annotation tools to aid in presenting. These include Line Tools, Arrows, Shapes, Text Highlighters and more to make sure your message is communicated as clearly as possible.

Real Time Instruction (Show Mode)

Display the tutor screen on the student's screen, using your network to provide real-time computer training without the need for video splitters or any additional hardware.

Show the tutor's screen to all or selected students.
Show a specific desktop to all or selected students.
Show just a selected application to all or selected Students.
Show a replay file (previous screen recording) to all or selected students.
Broadcast a Video file to all or selected students.
Deliver your presentations optimised for wireless networks.
Leave a recording of your show / presentation, including audio, on the students PC for future review.

Key Show

During a presentation to the class on how to utilise applications, the one item that students are unable to see, are the hot keys used by the tutor during navigation of an application.

NetSupport School includes a "Key Show" feature that visually highlights when key combinations are used ( i.e CTRL + V for paste).

Instant Messenger Monitoring

Prevent Messenger applications running

Real-time monitoring of specific messenger applications

Real time view of chat activity and content

Supports MSN, AOL and Yahoo messengers

By default a visual indicator will be presented on the student information bar when monitoring is activated

Real-Time Keyboard Monitoring

Designed to be used in conjunction with application control, this component provides Teachers with a real-time insight into Student activity and topic understanding.

During a lesson, while all Students are working using any approved application, the Teacher can monitor the entire class and see quickly and easily their typed content and activity levels and target keywords for content tracking and full history by student and application.

The keyboard monitor also provides a perfect monitoring tool when students are online in forums or search forms.

By default a visual indicator will be presented on the Student Information bar when keyboard monitoring is activated.

Application Metering and Control

Control and restrict the application usage.
Identify both active and minimised applications, displaying the actual application icon next to each student name.
Drag and Drop applications into either an "Approved" or "Restricted" list.
Launch specified application on all or selected Student PCs to ensure maximum Student attention
A history of software / application usage is also kept for the duration of the lesson.
Specify application usage restrictions on a per Student basis together with the standard overall class restrictions.
Monitor all student application use.
View background applications running on all PCs.
Open and close applications on all selected PCs in a single action.
Record a full history of application use for the class.
Allow the use of all applications.
Prevent restricted applications from running.
Allow only approved applications to run.

Internet Metering and Control

Identify active and background URL's running.
Drag & drop URL's into "Approved" or "Restricted" lists
Auto redirect to a local webpage displaying "locked" information for attempts to visit a restricted website.
To aid in student usability, while Internet restrictions are in force, a list of approved websites will be presented to Students in their browser to aid navigation.

The Tutor can also open specified WebPages on all Student workstations.

Internet SafeSearch

Override search engine preferences automatically and force content restrictions on delivered results.

Student Testing, Quiz & Online Resources

Design tests and examinations with the minimum of effort.

NetSupport School incorporates a full Test Designer allowing a Tutor to set customised tests including text, picture, audio and video questions.

Once the test has been completed in the pre-set time by the specified Students, the results are automatically collated, marked and made available to the Tutor where individual

results for each Student can be saved to file. To allow for content sharing between different classes and Teachers, the ability to import or export questions is also included.

Online Testing resources and share content with other educators.

Vist the online content and resource centre, where Teachers can browse for questions by topic or category, upload questions and exams they have already produced and are willing to share, or download resources others have already provided. The Resource centre provides a simple, yet flexible location where educators around the globe can share currriculum content, all without any cost.

Quick Student Surveys

Find out if your Students have understood the content covered during the lesson by conducting an instant survey with the results to a customised question being displayed in real-time on the Tutor screen.

The survey is automatically sent to all connected Students or selected individuals and allows for pre-set questions to be stored for later use.

Virtual WhiteBoard

Full page Whiteboard integrated directly within the Tutor supported by a wealth of drawing tools for improved collaboration within the classroom.

Internet Co-Browse

Allows teachers to open selected websites and synchronise this with the browser on each student PC. As a teacher navigates across a website the students PC follows in real time.

Group Leaders

A nominated student can be assigned certain tutor rights and act as a group leader until such privilges are revoked.

Group or 1:1 Chat

Open a discussion session that all or selected students can join, enter their comments and share with the rest of the class.

Exhibit (Student Screen)

Allows teachers to select a students computer and broadcast their screen to the rest of the class. Perfect for highlighting achievement or sharing student feedback.

Audio

Broadcast Audio to the class or transmit the Tutor's voice during a presentation. Audio support is also included in all Show Screen, Remote Control, and Chat sessions.

Complete multi-layered security throughout the product, including unique security keys, access control by licence, Active Directory support allowing policy- based controls that can limit which system users are able to run the NetSupport School components on. The Tech Console also provides a Security check mode to identify systems without all security options in force.

Student Journals

During a typical class, all appropriate items relating to the subject can be captured and automatically included in a PDF file for post-lesson review by each Student. This NEW feature includes a full record of Lesson details and Objectives, Teacher and Student notes, Screenshots, Survey results, URLs used during the lesson and individual Test results.

Fully optimised for use with Wireless networks, Laptops and Tablet PCs. The philosophy for managing computers in a wireless environment is to maximise performance without compromising the network or the devices servicing it. With that in mind NetSupport School provides a specific wireless mode that allows data throughput when performing a real-time show to a class to be matched to the Wireless network and Access Point speeds. The product is extensively used on 802.11a and 802.11g networks.

Wireless networks, and in particular 802.11g are highly susceptible to interference, even from Mobile Phones, often the impact of this is that the network will attempt to switch to alternate channels on a regular basis. This can cause temporary delays while connections are re-negotiated. NetSupport School has been designed to recognise these and not immediately end an active session.

Typically connectivity in a wired environment is performed by browsing for computers of a known name or using wildcards when a typical PC naming convention has been applied to a lab. Within a wireless environment where the computers are laptops, this presents a challenge. To address this, NetSupport provides a Class list function, allowing Students for a given class to be predefined. When the Teacher starts a lesson he can then automatically connect to a list of known Students. School even provides a quick and easy method for a Teacher to connect to Students, when the previous class Teacher has forgotten to disconnect at the end of a period.

Finally for further flexibility, NetSupport School also allows a Teacher to publish a class, where in essence, connectivity is reversed and the Students can locate published classes and join them. This can be extremely useful in a fluid environment or as quick way of creating class lists on day one. With NetSupport School in a Wireless environment you can :

Connect to Computers over a Wireless connection.
Optimise performance to match access point speeds.
Create predefined class lists to connect to non-static computers.
Work effectively with Laptop and Tablet computers.
Publish a class and allow Students to join on demand.

The latest version of NetSupport School also features a Student Locator, this connectivity server allows wireless student laptops to be located across any LAN or WAN. Using this new, standard component, Students' wireless laptops can be located and connected to from any Class list no matter what their current IP address information or subnet is.

Tech Console

A dedicated console designed specifically for Technicians and Network Managers. View all computers across the campus, monitor computer screens in each classroom, generate a full Hardware and Software inventory from each PC, remotely manage services and processes, deliver files to all selected computers in a single action and much more.

Get Support

A single click of the toolbar button within the Tutor console will immediately connect the teacher to an available technician who can then provide assistance remotely from anywhere on campus.

Local Testimonials

“We have been using Net Support School at Newton Moore SHS for awhile now and have found it be a useful tool in a school, because it gives the teacher the ability to monitor what each of the students is looking at and make sure they are on task. Also make’s it easier to get the students or the whole class’s attention at a hit of a button because at a hit of a button I can blank out one student’s machine or even the entire class.

Network Administers out there at school will also like it because it makes your job a bit easier, by giving some of the responsibility back on the teacher to look after the PC’s in there room allow you to do more useful jobs around the network.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Net Support School to any school out there looking for a monitoring/teaching tool all in one easy package.”

Chad Roberts, IT Administrator, Newton Moore State High School

"Our school (School of Information Systems within the Faculty of Business and Law at Victoria University) has been using NetSupport School for 18 months now. We use it in a single lab on our Werribee campus. It has a lot of interesting and relevant features that have enhanced some aspects of our lab subjects, (specifically our Introduction to Business Systems core subject).

The ability to remotely control each lab computer has been great where I can monitor what each student is doing during labs. The ability to send a message to a particular terminal has given me the ability to keep students on track and also to discuss remote control and the social implications of that type technology. (As an aside being able to start
and shut down each computer is a real time saver for our lab technicians).

In some situations being able to demonstrate an application (eg SAP) on each users screens has been an improvement over them watching the workshop leaders screen being "beamed " to the class via a data projector. We haven't yet trialled the group being able to manipulate what's on the workshop leaders machine...that should be done this coming semester.

At the University level a group is investigasting using a tool like NetSchool in place of data projectors in labs, especially for its potential cost effectiveness.

Mark Harris, School of Information Systems, Victoria University of Technology

"Here at the City of Greater Dandenong we have used NetSupport School in our computer training rooms since April 2000. We have found this product to be simple to install and easy to use.

This product has made Council's training more interactive and affective. It allows the trainer to present their course to each PC and also provides feedback on student performance, through online evaluation."

Grant Griffiths, Customer Support Co-ordinator, City of Greater Dandenong

"We use NetSupport School to monitor and control student activity in labs and in the resource centre. Controlling computers from one central position has made it easier for us to monitor and control computers on three different levels of the Resource Centre. And when required we lock systems down to get the attention from students in labs or prevent them from playing games, etc. on the systems."

Afzal Shariff, Director of IT, Brisbane Boys' College

"We first bought NetSchool by recommendation of an external trainer, who was training our staff in-house. She used it for that training module and our in-house trainers use it now. We found it very easy to install and it is a fabulous training tool.

To be able to demonstrate an action on everyone's screen is a real benefit, as it assists in their understanding and enhances the training experience. It is invaluable when training a large number of staff as well so you can monitor their screens and assist when needed without them having to ask."

Sonja Breeze, IT Support Centre Coordinator, McCullough Robertson Lawyers

"We use NetSupportSchool in our computer training room and find it to be a fantastic tool for all of our class-room based training. The software is easy to use, very reliable and extremely cost effective. I cannot imagine running a class-room based training session without NetSupport School."

Anna Szabo, IT Training Manager, Gilbert & Tobin

Customers