1. Presentation
1.1 Presentation
Launches or stops presentation. While the presentation is on, all computers on the network that have the SchoolMaster installed will see everything that the teacher is doing on their computer. While the presentation is launched, students will not be able to use their computers, but will be forced to watch what the teacher is doing. This option may require significant local network resources, so it is possible to adjust image quality and transfer rate in the settings. Reducing the quality and speed significantly drains the computer network. Ctrl + PrtScr can also be used to start and stop the presentation
1.2 Presentation from a student computer
If we want to show everyone what or how some student works, then we can run a presentation from a single computer. This option is extremely useful if a student has a task solution that we want to share with everyone. Whatever student is doing will be transmitted in real-time to the screens of all the other students. To run a presenter from a particular student computer, right click on the thumbnail of the desired computer, and from the menu choose to launch the presentation. Stopping the presentation takes place in the same way as running.
2. Restrictions
2.1 Black Screen
Disables the use of all computers by disabling keyboard, mouse and computer screen. In settings, you can also set a message that will be shown to students, such as “Attention please!” or similar.
2.2 Block keyboard and mouse
Disables keyboard and mouse usage. It is used in situations where students should be allowed to see what is on the computer screen, but they are not allowed to use computers. For example, it is possible to send some task to students that they will do in their notebooks while preventing them from doing something else on computers.
2.3 Block internet
It closes all running Internet browsers and prevents them from opening.
2.4 Block applications
Here you can choose programs and applications that students can use. Over time, the SchoolMaster collects information about all running programs on students’ computers and displays their icons. If a teacher chooses to allow a program, he needs to double click on the icon of the program that he wants to allow. It is possible to allow one or more programs. If there are no programs in the list of allowed programs then all programs are allowed. To remove programs from the list of allowed programs, double-click the icon of the allowed program. Programs that are not in the list of allowed programs will be automatically excluded and will be prevented from opening.
Note: because of the architecture of the programs themselves, it is possible that the allowed program is dependent on another program, which means that in some situations the SchoolMaster will not be able to identify which programs depend on the program the teacher wants to allow, so permitted program will not be able to run because the programs on which it depends will be disabled.
2.5 Individual restrictions
If we do not want to apply restrictions on all computers, then one or more computers must be selected. After clicking on selected computer with right mouse key, menu will show up with options for applying restrictions. Please note that program restrictions can not be applied this way. To select more than one computer, you need to hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the thumbnails of the computer that you want to select. Another way is to use a mouse by pressing the left mouse button and holding it while moving the mouse and selecting desired computers.
3. Documents
3.1 Sending and collecting documents
For easier work in the classroom, SchoolMaster offers a simple way to send and collect documents that are needed for student’s tasks.
3.2 Sending documents
Documents can be sent to all students by choosing the option to send the file. After selecting files that needs to be sent, the program will ask the user if he wants to run the files after the student computer receives them.
3.3 Collecting documents
Collecting documents from a student computer is possible by selecting Collect documents. The program offers the ability to collect only those recently generated documents, for example, documents created for the past 45 minutes, with the number of minutes being changed by manual entry or by moving the mouse wheel. The second option is to delete all collected documents from student computers, preventing file build-up and unnecessary storage of memory space. All collected documents will be named so that the name of the computer and the name of the reported student are added in front of the document name so that it is easy to identify which file belongs to a particular student.
3.4 Sending documents to individual students
Documents can also be sent to individual computers. To do this, you need to select the computers on which you want to send the documents and right-click on a computer thumbnail. Then, from the menu choose one of two options to send the documents. To select multiple computers, hold the Ctrl key and then mouse click on the thumbnails of the computer we want to select. Another way is to choose a mouse. You need to click the mouse and hold the left mouse button and move the mouse to select computers.
4. Shut down
4.1 Computer shutdown
With these options, you can shut down all computers, log off all computers, or reset all computers.
4.2 Forced shutdown of all computers
Forced shutdown of the computer will shut down the computer even if there are documents that have not been saved. This option is extremely useful if you want to shut down all computers at the end of the day and be sure it will actually be shut down.
4.3 Shutdown of all computers
The computer shutdown option will be asked to confirm the shutdown if there are open unfurnished documents such as Word documents.
4.4 Restart all computers
Computers will be forced to shut down and restart.
4.5 Log off all computers
With this option all registered computers will log out. It is useful at the end of the class if there is another class in the same classroom that needs to log in with different usernames.
4.6
The above options apply to all computers. If you want to apply the above options to only one computer or multiple computers, then you have to select a computer or multiple computers and right-click. A drop-down menu will appear in which you can select any of the options listed above. Selecting multiple computers is possible by holding down the Ctrl key and then left-clicking on the computers that you want to select. Another way is to click and hold the left mouse button while moving your mouse. Once you select the computers you want, right-click on any of the computers selected and choose the option from the drop-down menu. If you right-click without clicking on the thumbnails of the computer, the restrictions will apply to all computers.
5. Test
5.1 Testing
For easier evaluation and verification of acquired student knowledge, SchoolMaster offers the ability to create and perform simple tests.
5.2 Creating a new test
The New test option opens the window with which we add questions to the test. To correctly add questions, you need to enter the text of the question and the possible answers and then choose which is the correct answer. There are three types of questions: a single answer question, a multiple answer question, and manual input of the correct answer using the keyboard. For a one-answer answer, answer the responses provided to the left, and for multiple responses, submit the responses to the right of the test-creation window. For a question where you need to enter the correct keyboard response, you need to enter the correct answer in the lower part of the window. The program will automatically identify the type of questions based on the response location. When the question is complete, you can add a new question by clicking the Next question. If the test is complete, click the Finish button. The program will then ask for a location to save the created test, after which the user will be asked if he wants to start the newly created test immediately or not.
5.3 Loading a previously created test
You can load the previously created tests and then modify or add new questions by selecting the Load test option.
5.4 Start testing
Once we’ve created a test, we can run the test by selecting Run Test. Students will be asked to enter name and last name before the test begins. If the name and last name is not entered, that computer will not taken into account and test results will not be shown for that computer.
5.5 Collecting tests
When tests are started, you can select the Collect Tests option that will stop testing and collect test results. If all the students complete the test, the tests will be collected automatically and results will be presented to the teacher. Computers that have finished testing have a green edge around their thumbnails, while computers that have red border are still under test.
5.6 View and save test results
Once the test is complete, all the tests are analyzed and the results window is opened. It is possible to view the results individually for each student or group for the entire class, and it is also possible to permanently store the statistical results in the file by selecting the “Save Results” button.
6. Settings
6.1 Adjusting control settings
In the monitoring settings it is possible to adjust the refresh interval, which is how often the images of the student computers will be retrieved and displayed on the teacher computer. The values can be 0.5, 1, 2, 5, and 10 seconds. A shorter time interval means greater traffic on the local area network.
The second option is to adjust the size of a student computer image. Possible selection is small, medium, large and very large. Keep in mind that a larger image means greater traffic on your local network.
If you have a large number of computers that you control, it is better to set a smaller image size and a larger interval so that the program does not consume significant local network resources.
The last option is to reset the computer’s arrangement on the main screen. By selecting this option, the computer arrangement is set to automatically arange computers, which means that computers are sorted alphabetically one after the other. After that, you can re-arrange the computers as desired by holding down the ctrl key, clicking with left mouse key on the computer you want to move, and then move it to the desired position with mouse key being pressed. You can then release the ctrl key.
6.2 Adjust the presentation settings
By starting a presentation, the teacher can present their work to all students in the classroom on their computers. Since transferring images to all computers in real-time can congest the local network, the SchoolMaster offers settings that can dramatically reduce overall network traffic.
Quality settings greatly affect network traffic. The smaller the quality is, the less traffic is. However, keep in mind that the low quality is only suitable for video content. For displaying text content, it is desirable to set the quality settings to higher value. The optimal quality is from 40 to 60.
The speed parameter also greatly affects the network load. It determines how often the screen image will be transferred to student computers. If you have a sluggish or congested network, set the speed parameter to higher value. If the computer or network does not have the ability to move the images at the selected speed, the program slows down the speed and adjusts it to the conditions. The recommended values are from 300 to 500 milliseconds.
The last option allows you automatically minimize main window of the SchoolMaster when presentation is started. If enabled, the program will automatically be minimized as soon as the presentation starts.
6.3 Adjusting the document settings
In Document Settings, you can set up a teacher and student document folder.
The teacher folder is the folder where the documents are collected from students. All collected documents are permanently stored in that folder, which is especially useful if the teacher needs to review more complex student tasks.
The student folder is a folder on the student computer from which the teacher collects the documents. Also, sending documents from a teacher’s computer saves documents in that folder on a student computer. A student can access his folder by clicking on the program icon in the lower part of the screen in the area where the clock is located.
6.4 Adjust the control settings
Here it is possible to disable Task Manager on students computers if necessary and to select a message that will appear on the screen after the screen lock option is turned on. An example of such a message would be “Please, pay attention!”.
6.5 Adjust the smart board settings
SchoolMaster offers the ability to connect with a smart board, making it easier to work in an IT classroom. The only option offered here is to choose whether global restriction apply to a computer that manages a smart dashboard. For example, if we block the screen on all computers and this option is turned off, then all computers will be screened, but not on the smart panel. Even if this option is turned off, it is always possible to apply a restriction on a smart board individually by clicking the right mouse button on a smart board computer screen and choosing the desired restriction from the menu.
7. Other
7.1 Miscellaneous
The SchoolMaster also provides many other features that make it easier for teachers to work.
7.2 Take control of a student computer
SchoolMaster allows you to take control over the keyboard and mouse of the selected computer. With this option, the teacher does not have to step up from his place to help the student, but by direct control of the computer, he can help the student or point out where he has been mistaken. To take control of a student computer, you can double-click the mouse on the computer thumbnail you want to control.
7.3 Zoomed monitoring of students
If we want to observe the work of a student without taking control, it is enough to click on the computer that we want to observe and enlarge the image by moving the mouse wheel. By moving the wheel in the opposite direction, the image size will return to normal.
7.4 Sending messages
If we need to send a text message to the students, we can do that by right-clicking and we choose to send the message from the menu. A window will open in which you need to enter the message and click on the button to send the message.
7.5 Remove all restrictions
To quickly remove all active restriction, just right click and select the option. All active restrictions will be canceled immediately.
7.6 Broadcasting a student’s screen to other students
Sometimes student makes the task which we want to show to everyone, but not by starting presentation from that computer. Instead of presentation we can send just one screen image from that computer to everyone else. To do that, we have to choose the computer from which we want to capture and send the screen image, zoom image by mouse wheel, right-click and choose the option from the menu. The program will capture the screen of the selected computer and send it to all other students. Student computer will open a special window with a picture that does not interfere with the student’s work, which is not the case when we use presentation option. Presentations disable the use of a student computer and therefore this option is extremely useful.
7.7 Sending a screenshot of your computer screen to all students
Like the previous option, this option is used to take a picture of a computer screen and transfer it to all computers on the network. This option only sends one image without disabling the computer use, as opposed to the presentation option where the images are being sent continuously and the student’s work is disabled. This option can be activated by the combination of the Ctr + Alt + p keys.
7.8 Set the computers arrangement on the main screen
All computers are by default arranged in a way that they are listed alphabetically in the main window of the program. For easier operation, the program offers the ability to manually re-arrange the computers on the main window. For a manual arrangement, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the computer icon with left mouse key and move the mouse to the desired position while the mouse button and Ctrl key are pressed. When the computer is positioned on desired location, release the Ctrl key and release the left key mouse button. Repeat this process for each computer. Once the computer arrangement is set up, it is automatically remembered and applied everytime program starts. To return to the automatic arrangement, go to the program settings and click on the “re-arrange” button.
7.9 Automatic updates
Updating a program may require a considerable amount of time and work since the new version of the program needs to be installed on all computers in the classroom. To avoid this, the SchoolMaster offers an automatic update feature. Once you install the latest version of the program on your teacher’s computer, the program will automatically install the latest version of the program on each computer that has an older version of the program than the version installed on the teacher’s computer. This procedure will be work in a silent manner in the background. Of course, it is always possible to do the installation manually if this is necessary for some reason. It is important to note that it is not necessary to go to the SchoolMaster page to check if there is a new version available for download, but it is enough to click on the “Check for updates” button from the settings window, and if there is a new version, the program will download and run the installation after update is downloaded. Soon after launching a new version, the program will update all computers independently. If a computer is not turned on, it will be updated on next first connection with teacher’s module.
7.10 Working with a smart board
For full control of computer classroom, SchoolMaster offers the ability to connect to a smart board. To install the program on the smart board computer, you must select a smart borad option during installation, and the program will adjust everything fory you. When there is installation of smart board module in the classroom, in the main window of the SchoolMaster, the smart board will be displayed at the very top of the window and all other computers will be positioned below. This applies only if the computer setup is set to be automatic. If you have manually configured your computer’s schedule, and the smart board is not visible, then re-adjust the arrangement setting by clicking “Re-arange” button in the settings and set arrangement manually again.