NetOp School 6 - Offers Teachers Intuitive Solution

for Preparation, Instruction and Evaluation

Premier Classroom Management Solution Features Innovative Interface Based on Microsoft “Ribbon” Design

Kfar Saba, Israel – Oct. 22, 2008 – Netop, the world’s largest provider of classroom management software, today launched a new version of Netop School with an innovative new interface design and increased capabilities to support teaching and learning.

The company’s premier classroom management software offers schools a complete solution for teaching with technology in a networked classroom with powerful tools for preparation, instruction and evaluation.

To develop the innovative new interface for this state-of-the-art classroom management software, Netop spent countless hours evaluating how teachers interact with classroom management software. The result is Netop School 6.0 with a user interface based on the Microsoft “Ribbon” design used in Office 2007. Described in the technology industry as “revolutionary,” the “Ribbon” design moves away from traditional pull-down menus, grouping commands in a “Ribbon” at the top of the screen.

Teachers will find this new user interface both familiar and intuitive, providing them with easy access to a rich set of features. They now have one-click access to commands with clear labels, making it easy to find functions. In addition, Netop School 6.0 takes this easy-to-predict interface to the next level by allowing teachers to customize the “Ribbon” to match their individual needs and preferences.

“Netop combined its expertise as the leader in both classroom management software and remote control technology to design this intuitive, clean interface for our premier classroom management solution,” said Dave Bloom, Sales and Marketing VP, Exsys. “Netop School 6.0 offers teachers an easy-to-use, feature-rich set of tools for using technology in every aspect of the instructional process.”

Netop School 6.0 also provides enhanced capabilities to support teachers using technology for planning, teaching and evaluation. With this newest upgrade, teachers can more easily create and edit lessons outside of the classroom – from their living room or any location – and save them on a USB stick to easily upload to the classroom management software.

Teaching with Netop School 6.0 is also even easier than before. Improved views of student computers give teachers a clearer picture of what students are working on, making it easier to monitor progress and see if students are having difficulties. Netop School’s improved workflows allow teachers to quickly limit student access to inappropriate applications and Web sites, and now include port blocking capability to eliminate distractions such as instant messaging. Plus, previously taught lessons can be recorded by Netop School 6.0, stored and easily accessed in the “Ribbon” so that they can be replayed for future classes or for students who were absent.

Netop School 6.0 provides enhanced support for evaluating student work. With this upgrade, test results can be exported from the classroom management software in a variety of formats for incorporating into a standard electronic grade book or other data management program.

Technical enhancements to Netop School 6.0 include support for Windows 64-bit operating systems with improved support for terminal servers. The upgrade is available worldwide in English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Finnish, Swedish, Hebrew, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. Netop School 6.0 is available free to current customers with Netop Upgrade Insurance (NUI). For more information or to download a free trial - Try it and buy it .....

For a tour of the new version - click here

NetOp School 5.5 - now supports VISTA

The main purpose of this release is full compliance with the new architecture of Windows Vista. On top of that a new technology is implemented to improve the control of students’ use of the internet. Previously only Microsoft Internet Explorer was being handled and blocked. Now blocking of all browsers is supported, including alternative browsing methods, like from within programs, etc. Finally, NetOp School is now delivered as Windows Installer version only while Install Shield edition is discontinued. This has also called for a revision of the Student Deployment tool.

Internet policy – blocking all browsers

Based on core Microsoft technology we have developed a specialized URL filtering software component to prevent Web browsers from accessing certain sites, regardless of the browser installed on a desktop.

The filtering is taking place at a very low level, thus increasing the filtering success rate significantly. No changes were made to the existing interface, only the underlying technology was changed to make NetOp School the most reliable filtering tool in its category – network classroom management. If blocked, the originally requested internet address is being redirected to a live ‘blocking page’ showing the ‘Blocked’ information to the Student. It is possible to decide for another ‘blocking page’ than the default. NOTE: This new method also adds the possibility to block specific ports under Internet Policy, using the convention *:21 (as an example of blocking Port 21).

To read full release note on this version - click here
To download trial software and try it out for yourself - click here
To download Brochure (PDF) - click here
For a technical datasheet - click here

See Flash demo of NetOp School

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 of this release, please go to “Release Notes”.

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.

for other features included - see below

Test Centre - powerful new feature for generating and performing tests

Surveys - another useful form of tests

Support for Video Cam to show Teacher video stream

NetOp School Class server - for larger environments - click here for details

Improvements

– CD control panel type with skip, next and select option.

– double-click on a Student record now starts a remote control session from all views

(previously only from Mosaic View).

– the thumbnails in Mosaic View can now be arranged freely (floating mosaics)

– possibility to view a Student Group first.

– background bitmap added. Can be changed like in Classroom View.

– new name for Student Group View.

– for easy configuration of connections on multi-subnet networks DNS names can be used instead of IP addresses.

– for easy configuration of connections on multi-subnet networks it is now possible to an IP address range instead of having to enter each specific address for multiple student computers.

– a selected tool will now stay selected until deselected

– new magnifying glass tool to enlarge a certain area of the desktop

– new text tool for writing on the desktop

– now also appears in Classroom View on Teacher

– will now accept environment variables

– a Student module using this identification method will now automatically be connected to a given Teacher Class, showing firsthand the [computer name], later the entered login name.

- now supports automatic reading of install files from CD when started from inside the Teacher module. If no CD is inserted, the user may manually point out the install files.

– now prompts for user credentials if a deployment to a certain Student computer demands specific user rights to fulfill the remote installation.

Platforms

- Windows 2003 enabled Teacher and Student

– Citrix MetaFrame support for load balancing in multi-server environments (server farms)

To read about NetOp School Class Server - click here

Security

– prevents unauthorized use of Teacher module (e.g. Trial version) by enabling authentication of Teacher–Student connections via a password scheme on Student. Teacher module must have a matching password to enable connection.

Try it and buy it .....