NetOp School 5.5

NetOp School, the world’s most comprehensive teaching software package, now gives you a powerful testing tool for virtual and networked teaching.

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.

Demonstrate

With NetOp School you can instruct each student individually, yet simultaneously. By broadcasting your screen to the rest of the class, each student effectively receives a front row seat and first-hand instruction. And you don’t have to worry about students paying attention. NetOp School allows you to lock student keyboards and mice during.

Manage

Teachers wish to follow their students’ progress. However, wandering around the class can be both distracting and intimidating. With NetOp School you can monitor all students at once or individually from your own desk, and take over a student’s computer easily to provide discreet assistance.

Control

With NetOp School you don ’t have to worry about students accessing inappropriate websites or playing games instead of working. You can follow all student activities in real-time and apply policies to automatically allow or deny specific programs and web addresses. Policies can be applied and changed on the fly to match a teaching situation. History list logs class activity.

Distribute

NetOp School enables you to distribute and collect offline tests and assignments from all student computers at the touch of a button. And students can place homework in designated folders for easy collection – far simpler than receiving floppy disks or emails from each student.

Test

With NetOp School’s powerful Test Center appraising students online is easier and more accurate than ever. Rapidly prepare exams using the module’s Wizard and choose from 10 different question types. Distribute a test to all students simultaneously at the touch of a button. Finally, correct and score tests automatically for convenience and speed. You can even generate electronic reports on each student’s performance, enabling immediate individual feedback.

The teaching tool for computer-based instruction

NetOp School is a versatile teaching software solution allowing teachers to move freely in virtual and networked classrooms.

NetOp School helps you manage your networked classroom more effectively. Whether used in traditional computerized classrooms, computer labs or corporate training facilities; NetOp School offers teachers and instructors powerful tools for computerized classroom instruction.

Classroom management

• Details View – view students as a list for a quick view of who’s present. Double-click to initiate a remote control session.
• Classroom View – create a virtual seating plan using your own classroom-layout. Backgrounds can be saved individually for each class. Double-click to initiate a remote control session.
• Thumbnail View – view all students’ screens as thumbnails. Double-click to initiate a remote control session. Sort the thumbnails alphabetically in ascending or descending order.
• Lesson Plan View – create and manage dynamic lesson plans. All NetOp School teaching actions can be pre-configured and easily executed at a click during your computer lessons.
• Recordings View – create and manage recordings of the Teacher’s screen or recordings of Students’ screens.
• Tests View – create and manage online tests and test results. Tests can also be excuted from here using drag and drop. Choose between 10 question types.
• Activity View – follow and manage students' use of applications and website in real-time. Close, Deny or Hide elements on-the-fly. View, save or print History List of used applications and sites.
• Class Setup View – prepare and manage groups for your classes in a tree-view of students. From this view you can send a message to students listed as available and invite them to join the class.
• Application Control – allow or deny the use of certain applications on students’ computers.
• Internet connection Control – allow or deny access to certain web sites and URL’s from students’ computers.
• Policy notification - notify students of the contents of an applied Policy, i.e. which applications or websites are allowed or not.
• Snapshot – grab and save screen images during a monitor or remote control session
• Record screen activity – make recordings of activity on the Teacher’s screen. Add microphone sound and distribute to Students for local replay or demonstrate pre-recorded instructions. Record also Students’ screens during a monitor or remote control session.
• Remote installation – deployment and remote installation of Student modules (Win 2003/XP/2000/NT4).

Collaboration

• Demonstrate – show the teacher’s or any student’s screen to the whole class. Broadcast multi-media content - video and sound - from a shared drive or from a Web address (URL) and zoom 50% to full-screen. Broadcast selected screen-area only. Broadcast recordings of Teacher’s or of Students’ screens. Demo of full screen DOS on Teacher. Students can request microphone, help and keyboard during demo.
• Demonstrate specific monitor – support for multi-monitor environments. Broadcast a specific monitor only selected from the list of currently installed monitors.
• Auto join demo, monitor, chat, and attention – automatically include students in ongoing activities if joining the class late.
• Attention – lock screen, keyboard and mouse of student’s computers with a single command using a text, a bitmap or a Web page.
  
• Monitor students – view the screens one at a time to follow progress of work. Optionally transfer sound from students to listen to them.
  
• Remote control – take over a student’s computer sharing keyboard and mouse to assist in difficulties. Optionally transfer sound from students to listen to them.
  
• Chat – online discussion forum in written form. Start several Chats and save Chat content.
  
• Audio chat – online discussion forum for the whole class using the sound system of the computer.
  
• Video Chat - include video stream from webcams in the Audio Chat. Show teacher or present speaker to all.
  
• Transfer sound - listen to the sound side of the student computer, while e.g. practicing languages.
  
• Send message – send a message to selected users in rich text format (RTF) containing e.g. links to web sites.
  
• Work groups – create independent work groups and transfer full Teacher module functionality to appointed assistant teachers. The main teacher retains control over the separate groups.
  
• Run program – launch documents and programs on student’s computers using a predefined list.
  
• Commands – logoff, shutdown or restart all computers with a single command.
  
• Distribute files - distribute files to groups of students to specific directories of your own choice.
  
• Collect files – collect files from groups of students from specific directories of your own choice.
  
• File Manager – powerful split-screen file manager, copy, move, clone, and synchronize files.
  
• Marker Utility – annotate students’ screens during demo or remote control using figures, text or a magnifying tool.
  
• Pass the chalk– hand over control of an ongoing demo to any student for full collaboration on common documents. Students can also request control of a document.

Classroom connectivity

• Easy creation of new classes – create new or copy from a list of existing classes.
  
• Easy handling of groups – pick students from a list of ”Available Students” (not in a Classroom) visible for all Teachers.
  
• Easy change of class – pick from a local dropdown list or from a central list of all classes.
  
• Select class at start-up – prompt for selection of a class when the Teacher module is launched.
  
• Move Class – transfer students to another Teacher, e.g. a colleague with special skills, anywhere on the network.
  
• Use Class Server - automates connection based on information in a central database with all courses, participants, and even lessons.
  
• Re-announce Class – e.g. for refreshing the Student list
  
• Select default Policy at start-up – decide which of your pre-defined Policies shall be applied on Students when connecting to the class.
  
• Wake on LAN – right-click option under Student Group View. Possible to send out a Wake-message for one or a group of student computers.
  
• Student polling – optionally have the Teacher check the network connection to Students at a selected interval.
  
• Reconnect after network connection was lost – modules reacts to getting IP address renewed when performing a reconnection to Class. This covers e.g. computers leaving Hibernation state or computers with network cable being unplugged.
  
• Connection service – teachers can list their classes on a public server to provide easy connection to virtual classrooms on a network.
  
• Multicast support – ability to automatically use multicast communication under TCP/IP if available.
  
• Multi-monitor environments - support for demonstrations, monitoring or remote control involving all screens.

Security

• Teacher login – handling of different user profiles and optional validation of password via Windows Security Management.
  
• Customizable tool-bar and menus – decide which functionality is allowed in the Teacher module by hiding buttons and menu points. It is possible to have global settings or individual settings for each teacher.
  
• Protection password, Teacher – protect selected or all settings with a password to prevent unauthorized access to predefined settings.
  
• Protection password, Student – protect all settings by a password to prevent unauthorized access to predefined settings.
  
• Protect Student PCs – students can limit a teacher’s access to their PC to prevent unauthorized use.
  
• Connection password (optional) – protect the Student module from being connected to a class announced by an un-authorized Teacher module (e.g. a Trial version) by applying a password on the Student module. The connecting Teacher module must have a matching password to enable connection.

Teacher customization

• Floating Desktop Toolbar – handle all teaching operations directly from your desktop with the dockable toolbar.
  
• Customize toolbars – show or hide text for buttons. Re-arrange buttons. Hide buttons.
  
• Teacher on removable media - copy Teacher module to a USB key. Makes it possible to prepare tests at home and run them later by plugging in the USB key.

• Auto join class – automatically connect student’s computers to a specific class when loading the student module.
  
• Browse for classes – lets a student look for classes listed locally or on a public server.
  
• List as available – lets students be visible for teachers on the network without being connected to a specific class. Teachers can send a message to students to invite them into their class.
  
• Select class – dynamically select class, either by name or by using IP-address or DNS name of the Teacher machine.
  
• Use Class Server - automates connection based on information in a central database with all courses, participants, and even lessons.
  
• Naming options – use Windows login name or prompt students for login name.
  
• Request help – students can request help by sending a help message online.
  
• Messages – receive and save messages from the teacher.
  
• Policy notification - view contents of an applied Policy, i.e. which applications or websites are allowed or not.
  
• Recordings – replay locally the recordings that were previously distributed from the teacher.
  
• Stealth mode – run the student module invisible and protected.
  
• Re-initialise student – change student settings remotely and re-initialize their PCs with immediate effect.

Misc.

• Language versions – available on a multi-lingual CD which includes English, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic versions of the program.
  
• Operating system support – Win 2003, XP, 2000, NT, ME, 98, 95 and Windows Terminal Server 2000, NT4.
  
• Protocol support – TCP/IP, IPX, NetBIOS
  
• Windows Installer and Install Shield – choose between two popular installation methods.
  
• Keyboard translation – different keyboard layouts supported (e.g. different languages and special characters).
  
• Dial-up networking – TCP/IP dial-up connection is available for easy Internet access.
  
• Web-update – both modules can be automatically updated from the web.
  
• Publish new updates – allow Teacher and Student modules to perform Web Update from a local web server instead of using the public web server.

Networked classroom teaching

NetOp School software for teaching in the networked classroom gives teaching professionals a unique tool to teach and manage classes in the networked classroom.

Instructing today’s computer literate students using conventional teaching tools can be challenging for even the most experienced teacher. Boards and projectors are simply not suited to subjects where hands-on experience is the best option. Fortunately there’s an economical and effective answer at hand – NetOp School teaching software for the networked classroom. NetOp School lets teachers instruct students by broadcasting their screen (or any student's screen) to every PC in the class simultaneously. This, in effect, gives all students a front-row seat and first-hand instruction.

Furthermore, NetOp School is packed with scores of user friendly features to help you manage your computerized classroom and assist students effectively. NetOp School 5.0 includes a state-of-the-art Test Center that lets you carry out online tests at the touch of a button.
The user friendly and intuitive interface in combination with cutting edge teaching and managing features for the networked classroom makes NetOp School ideal for virtual learning scenarios.

If you're still using 20th-century teaching tools in a 21st-century classroom, perhaps it's time you took a lesson from NetOp School – for your own sake as well as that of your students.

In short, NetOp School 5.0:

Prepare

Teaching starts before class. So does NetOp School by enabling you to prepare your lessons and your tests faster and easier than ever before.

And now, you can even prepare offline, at home, without having the program installed on your home PC. Simply copy the Teacher module to an USB drive, and you’re ready to go.

Teach

NetOp School helps you take full advantage of all the opportunities offered by the 21st-century classroom. From individual help through chat functionality to management of students’ progress, NetOp School puts you right next to the student – wherever he is.

The new version of NetOp School enables the use of interactive whiteboards in class with presentation on the whiteboard as well as transmitting interactive whiteboard entries directly to student PCs.

Evaluate

The intelligent scoreboard is the latest feature for NetOp School 5.0, where designing tests becomes even easier with a slide bar tool to help you determine when a given test part has been passed and how much each part should affect the overall test score.

Features:

NetOp School 5.0 offers new and modified features

The latest release of NetOp’s versatile teaching software – NetOp School 5.0 adds more cutting-edge facilities for teaching of students. The renowned software from NetOp offers novel tools for classroom management. For an overview of the new and modified features, characteristics and improvements, see below. For a comprehensive list of features, please go to “Features”.
Activity View

The view gives a live overview of each student's use of programs and websites. The teacher can Stop or Hide programs and sites on the fly. A History List logs all activity during class.

• View programs and websites activity of each individual student in one section
• View joint activity of all students in a section below
• Close, Deny or Hide (Unhide) programs and websites of each or all students
• View application and web history per student or per application
• Save or print History List. List is saved as CSV-file for easy import in e.g. MS Excel.

Test scoring

To improve the overview of the Test score, a new way of scoring questions has been introduced. Previously you’d score each individual question without having the overview of the running and total score of the test. Now the scoring is done on a central score board using a graphical interface.

• Total test score is 100%
• Question scores represented as a fraction of 100%, depending on the number of questions
• Questions can be weighted to represent a larger fraction of the total score
• Questions can be assigned a Passed Score value
• Questions can be assigned to score negatively, i.e. wrong answer awards a negative score value

Options

New Option added: Protection – replacing and improving the Maintenance password scheme. Previously either all or none of the options were protected by password.

• Select which options you wish to protect with the password
• Teacher users are prompted for password if trying to access a protected option
• Teachers can freely manipulate options not protected by password

New Option added: Sharing – enabling easy setup of shared paths for common files. Previously these had to be set in the netop.ini file.

• Share Tests, Policies, Lesson Plans, Recordings and Snapshots (see below)

A new choice for viewing Options as either Icons or a tabbed dialog has been added.

Audio monitoring

It is now possible during a Remote Control session or a Monitor session to transfer the sound of the remote computer to be replayed via your own audio equipment, e.g. for listening to students practicing languages.

Improved MSI

• Improved MSI – now fully compliant standard MSI files for easy deployment through 3-party tools. The NetOp module MSI packs can be customized by the NetOp Transform Editor for creation of MST files for distribution together with the module MSI pack.

Miscellaneous news and improvements

• Demonstrate in multi-screen environments – a teacher’s demonstration of a multiple-screen desktop will now be delivered on all screens on the student side. This also applies for a demonstration of a student’s multiple-screen desktop. Earlier the demonstration would be delivered to only one screen with a scroll option.
  Any other selection than entire desktop (e.g. specific monitor) will still be delivered to only one screen on the student side.
  Obviously best results will come from using same resolution on both sides. Scroll bars will be added if necessary.
• Remote Control or Monitor in multi-screen environments – a teacher remote controlling or monitoring a student’s multiple-screen desktop will now see the result on all screens on the teacher side. Earlier the result would be delivered to only one screen with a scroll option.
  Obviously best results will come from using same resolution on both sides. Scroll bars will be added if necessary.
• Move Class – transfer students to other teachers on the fly anywhere on the network
• Join Class notification – optional balloon tip when Students join late
• Policy notification – optional notification for students when a Policy is applied. The notification comes as a tray icon which also lists the contents of the Policy – which applications or websites are allowed or not.
• Invisible connection when Monitoring – non-intruding on Student
• Snapshots to file – screen images saved directly to a file on Teacher side
• Screen Recording and Screen Images – extra tools for snapshots or recordings to be saved as e.g. avi files.
• File distribution – improved handling for distribution of complete folder structures to students. If distributed directories do not exist they will be created, thus keeping the original structure.
• File collection – improved handling for collection of only specific file types throughout a complete directory structure.
• Name recordings on Save – the teacher is prompted for a filename instantly after finishing a recording.
• Remote Control in bitmap mode
• Close Marker mode dialog by using the window close button
• Teacher minimizes to tray - when Minimize button on the window is pressed.