Android Tablet Classroom  Management

Software Overview

(October 2013)

In digital learning environments tablets offer unique pedagogic opportunities. Today many schools have introduced tablet-based classrooms, with Android emerging as the technology of choice. However, without effective management they can easily become a teacher’s worst nightmare, disrupting, rather than aiding learning. About Computers Class room management software, uniquely for the Android-based classroom, fully facilitates teacher monitoring and control of student tablet activities.

How it works: About Computers Class room management is based on the Wi-Fi network  of the classroom with  no server or internet connection required. Students enter the class and work from their designated tablet. The teacher has their own laptop or tablet with the About Computers Class room management management software installed on it. The students simply connect to the class by selecting the teacher’s name or the name of the class they need to join. Wi-Fi connection means Class room management fully integrates with and enhances whatever existing

Teacher with tablet

technology and pedagogic approach the school has. Whether a 1:1 initiative, whiteboard or tablet storage carts being moved between classrooms Class room management is instantly available and seamlessly  integrates  with  class  teaching:  No   user  registration,  account  setup  or purchasing/installing of infrastructure, software, 3rd party devices or middleware required.

The About Computers Class room management software enables Android tablets already existing in the classroom to be used to their greatest pedagogic potential: In learner-led activities, collaborative learning and interactive learning; all

Teacher with tablet

while the teacher stays in full control of all student activities in the classroom. The software emphasizes the ability for students to  collaborate and  be  independent learners,  while  teachers  can  monitor  each student’s progress and help them privately or demonstrate their work in front of the whole class. Keeping students on-task, the software allows teachers to ensure students don’t get distracted or have access to inappropriate resources.

With About Computers Class room management all students’ Android and/or Windows tablet activities can be managed in the interests of learning – all from the teacher’s own Android mobile device

or laptop. About Computers Class room management software empowers teachers to not only convey an enriched educational experience and keep students on-task, but also to ensure individual attention and discrete assistance can go to the students who really need it.

What makes Class room management so relevant for today’s classroom is the ability to transforms students’ Androids, as well as other Windows tablets into a rich 21st century learning environment. Android tablets represent the long-term technology trend in education, fast replacing all other student  devices  in  class.  About Computers  Class room management  is  the  only  solution  that  allows  teachers  fullmanagement of the Android classroom as an add-on app to the tablets.

The fact that Android technology so engages and excites students can and should be harnessed for the purposes of education. However, open access to such a platform, especially with the availability of the Internet and game applications, can pose a risk  to effective learning. Focusing students on task  and monitoring their activities for help is a must. As such About Computers Class room management can facilitate dynamic and mobile learning: Students can easily connect to the classroom Wi-Fi network, while the teacher stays in control, using his own mobile device to freely move around the classroom and coordinate student activities (without requiring extra hardware or third party applications).

Class room management provides a platform for teacher and student, as well as student and student collaborative learning. Teachers can show their own screen and broadcast video presentations to students. Equally teachers can present a selected student’s screen to the rest of the class, as well as sharing students’ screens with each other. Educating in this manner can motivate and empower students’ learning, but teachers can always keep the class on-track via real-time screen (each student’s live screen is shown as a thumbnail in real-time on the teacher’s screen) monitoring, supervising or limiting Internet activities and much more.

Tablet

 Class room management  functions

Functions for demonstrations

• Screen broadcast: Broadcast teacher’s tablet screen to student tablets
• Collaborative interactive whiteboard: Open a virtual interactive whiteboard in students tablets, enabling simultaneous collaborative work of the teacher and the students on the same virtual whiteboard
•  Lesson planner:  This live lesson planner allows teachers to create and execute a pre-planned lesson agenda which is interactive and flexible, happening in real-time according to a pre-defined schedule. This includes timed operations on student tablets (i.e. screen broadcast, lock/unlock students tablets, etc.) and popup notifications for the teacher. For example, the teacher can create a lesson plan and will receive prompters – pop-up message reminders of the lesson subject, or key points to mention. Student tablets can be scheduled to be locked at certain points during the lesson for a frontal discussion, and then released, with a web page sent to all tablets, together with activity guidelines. One student screen can be chosen to be shared with the class for demonstration.
• Video broadcast: Broadcast and stream video files to the class

Functions for monitoring:

• Remote control: Control students’ tablet screens remotely
• Student demonstration: Broadcast and share selected student screen to the class
• Students  thumbnails: View student screens in small thumbnails on the teacher’s tablet or laptop
• Slide-show: View a cyclic slide-show of student screens and set the cycle interval
• Chat: Group and individual chat and discussion center
• Remote messages:  Send on-screen pop-up messages to the class

Functions to keep students focused and on–task:

• Lock screens: Teacher can lock the tablet’s screens for attention, displaying a message at the top of the screen
• Block Internet:  Block the web browsing on students’ tablets
• Lock application: Select applications from a list and lock them from future use
•  Co-browse: Launch and enforce a web page remotely and co-browse the internet with the class
• Send and collect files: Teacher can send files to and collect files from the students’ tablets

Functions for management:

• Password protect  student: Protect the student application from being stopped or uninstalled by using a password
• Password protect  teacher:  Protect the teacher application login and launching by using a password
• Log-on/off: Remotely Log-off and Log-on students tablets
• Shut-down: Remotely shut-down and restart students tablets
• Remote install: Remotely install applications on student tablets
• Set student  name: Teacher can set a student name remotely
•  Attendance: Save the attendance list as a text file

Functions for assessment:

Integrating with existing classroom technologies and keeping a finger on the classroom pulse by checking what has been understood and what stage of learning the students are at. These functions also engage the class by changing the pace or style of learning to keep things interesting, adding another facility to the teacher’s toolbox

• Run a pop-up quiz
• Run a survey
• Run an exam
• Get instant results