Smart Classrooms | News

LanSchool 7.7 Expands Classroom Management Support for iOS, Android

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 07/11/12

Stoneware has updated its LanSchool classroom management suite to version 7.7, offering expanded support for mobile devices and tighter integration with webNetwork, a platform for delivering applications and network resources from the Web.

LanSchool provides a way for teachers to manage devices in a classroom. The new version lets a teacher monitor, limit, and track Web browsing on an iPad through the new integrated Web browser. An iOS Student app also includes the ability to receive "Show Teacher" and "Show Student" screen broadcasts. A Remote Control Student feature allows teachers to move around in the classroom and still be able to remotely use the mouse and keyboard on a selected student's machine. A Remote Control Teacher feature allows teachers to use all the features of the LanSchool Teacher Console remotely.

The update also works with Android smart phones and tablets. Teachers can view student thumbnails, receive "Show Teacher" screen broadcasts, administer tests, send messages, receive voting results and reply to questions from students who are using Android devices in the classroom.

Integration between Stoneware's two products also enables districts and schools running LanSchool 7.7 and the new version of webNetwork, 6.1, released in June 2012, to manage classrooms where students connect to the cloud in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) setting. Whereas previously students and teachers had to install a LanSchool agent on their devices, requiring administrative rights, now they can authenticate to the webNetwork Unified Cloud, and an on-demand agent will load from the cloud to run temporarily on the device.

LanSchool 7.7 and webNetwork 6.1 can be downloaded free by customers with current maintenance agreements. LanSchool educational pricing starts at $599 per classroom. webNetwork corporate pricing starts at $50 per named user. Volume and educational discounts are available for the product. The "on-demand" LanSchool agent is included as part of the LanSchool software download and requires the use of webNetwork 6.1.