Faronics Insight and Bangor Township Schools
The Situation
Bangor Township Schools is comprised of 5 schools and a family center located in Bay City, Michigan. Among its other achievements, Bangor prides itself on its proactive attitude towards placing technology in the classroom. Having the latest hardware and software available in the computer labs is a high priority for the district, as Bangor Township believes that having the best technology available will better prepare their students for today’s world. As such, Bangor Township’s computer labs are used for digital imaging projects, web design, and productivity software applications.
Although computers in schools have the power to enhance the classroom experience for both students and teachers, the benefits can easily be lost to distractive elements such as games, instant messaging, and web surfing. For Josh Kolka, Technology Administrator for Bangor Township Schools, helping teachers battle these distractive elements was becoming a priority.
“Some of our labs have computers assembled into pods,” says Josh. “It’s great when it comes to fostering collaboration and teamwork between students, but it does make it very difficult for a teacher to monitor what students are doing at all times. Teachers would walk around the classroom to monitor activities, but once they walked to another pod a student could easily visit a game website and stop doing their work.”
As a result, Josh was receiving requests from lab teachers for a solution that enabled them to view and control student workstations from their own workstation. Although Josh wanted to help these teachers, he was not sure if Bangor Township Schools could implement such a solution due to the potential cost and time commitment required for planning and implementation.
The Solution
“I was renewing our Deep Freeze licensing and was looking at Faronics’ new products when I came across Insight,” says Josh. “This was exactly the type of program that the teachers were asking for.” After downloading and evaluating the trial version, Josh knew he found the solution he needed. He found Insight easy to use and implement, and immediately made the decision to purchase Insight for five of Bangor’s high school and middle school labs.
 Insight has empowered Bangor Township’s teachers with full control over their classroom computers and student attention. Teachers no longer need to walk around the lab to monitor student activity; teachers are now able to view thumbnails of every student screen from one central console. This has greatly helped reduce the chances of a student visiting an inappropriate website by circumventing Bangor Township’s web filter. Insight enables teachers to send students a warning if they visit an inappropriate website, and block the Internet access of
While Insight has the power to minimize distractions, it also has the power to enhance learning. “Earlier this year we ran into a problem where the projector in one of the labs broke down and we did not have the parts on hand to repair it,” says Josh. “Shutting down a teaching lab for a whole week while waiting for a part to arrive was not an option.” Instead, the lab teacher was able to use the Show Teacher Workstation functionality of Insight, which broadcasts the teacher screen to all student workstations. This saved the district time and money by not having to pay for the additional expense of a rush delivery for the projector part, as well as not having to endure any computer lab downtime.
According to Josh, the Insight feature that is most popular with the teachers of Bangor Township is the remote control option. The teachers are able to monitor student activity via the Insight Console, and if a student visits a website or opens an application that is off topic, the teacher remotes into the student’s workstation and closes it.
“The implementation process was so simple; we separated each lab by channels to allow easier management,” recalls Josh. “Since we have over 150 workstations running the Insight client, network traffic congestion was a concern of mine. However, once we had everything installed I did not notice any network slowdowns whatsoever.”
The combination of Deep Freeze and Insight has delivered absolute control and protection to Bangor Township Schools. Deep Freeze protects Bangor’s workstations from accidental or malicious software changes without restricting user access, and Insight provides teachers with total control over classroom computers and student activity.
The Benefits
Insight has empowered Josh Kolka and Bangor Township Schools with the ability to:
 Accelerate Student Learning
Students are able to request and receive help directly in their workstation session, allowing teachers to advance through coursework quickly and effectively. One-to-one assistance can take place without pausing the lesson or disrupting the rest of the class.
Enhance Teaching Effectiveness
Bangor Township’s teachers are able to efficiently and effectively interact with students directly through their computers. Real-time communication allows teachers to develop cooperative classrooms where learning is achieved through interaction and collaboration.
Monitor Classroom Activities
Teaching effectiveness is strengthened with the ability to monitor student activity to ensure they are on task and engaged. Teachers are able to make sure students with diverse abilities do not fall behind or become discouraged.
About
Computers in schools have the power to enhance the classroom experience for both students and teachers. But the benefits can easily be lost to distractive elements such as games, instant messaging, and web surfing.
Designed with the needs of teachers in mind, Faronics Insight is the ultimate classroom management solution that empowers teachers with full control over classroom technology and student activity. Faronics Insight enables teachers to harness the educational and productive aspects of computers, while minimizing distractive behavior and temptations. Teachers love the fact that they can share their screen with students, provide remote assistance to students from a central console, and monitor classroom screens to ensure students are on task. Students appreciate the ability to request and receive help directly in their workstation session, and have their voice heard through classroom voting. With the ability to disable applications, Internet access, and blank student screens, teachers can quickly gain student attention when required.
About Faronics
Faronics delivers software products that manage, simplify, and secure IT environments. Our products ensure 100% workstation availability, and have dramatically improved the day-to-day lives of thousands of information technology professionals. Deployed on over six million workstations in fifty countries worldwide, Faronics' technology innovations benefit educational institutions, healthcare facilities, libraries, government organizations and corporations.
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