Have a look at Omniquad Surfwall:

http://www.omniquad.com/surfwallenterprise.htm


-----Original Message-----
From:   David Bowles [mailto:dbowles@educationsupport.fsnet.co.uk]
Sent:   Fri 6/4/2004 12:26 AM
To:     suse-linux-uk-schools@suse.com
Cc:    
Subject:        [suse-linux-uk-schools] School PC config  tips and a feature wish lists...
Nearly all OS's and commercial software applications are written with
the business sector firmly in mind. Consequently their configuration
and functionality is usually less than optimal for a school
environment. So what tips / wish-list features can you recommend?

For starters here's two of mine...

My #1 Configuration tip;

  If your school runs an office suite (OpenOffice or MS-Office), then
  it makes sense to slightly modify the standard document templates
  (normal.doc?) to automatically include a student's Login name in the
  footer, so this gets printed on each sheet by default.

  Why? Because this helps avoid the inevitable scrum around the
  printer whenever a class of 20+ students attempts to print out their
  work all at the same time. Why not include page numbers in the
  standard template as well? I've lost count of the number of times
  I've witnessed a ream's worth of useless printout end up strewn
  across the floor, with most of the next lesson completely
  unnecessarily dedicated to reprinting everything over again
  ...and again.

My #1 Wish-list item;

  Vast amounts of PC time gets wasted by students (in secondary
  schools at least) logging on to chat rooms, surfing banal on-line
  games and aimlessly Googling for no educational whatsoever. As one
  teacher put it "So much learning time is simply wasted by just
  'mousing around'". This is a bit like holding a WeightWatchers
  meeting inside a sweet factory, with piles of 'free samples' to
  hand!

  It seems the standard solution in most schools is to block access to
  the offending student's network account. But of course this is
  usually completely counter-productive, given the bored student is
  left with nothing better to do but disrupt everyone else's work (why
  are some ICT coordinators devoid of any common sense?)! I've known
  many desperate subject teachers let said disruptive pupil use their
  own staff account out of pure desperation, which of course allows
  them read / write access to all sorts of confidential information!!!

  Now why hasn't someone come up with a simple way of disabling
  Internet access to an individual student's PC or group of student
  PCs for a fixed period of say the rest of the lesson? ...with access
  to a specified (approved) web-site easily enabled by the teacher.

  So how might this work in practice? Well in most schools the only
  person in the ICT suite who doesn't have exclusive access to a PC
  logged onto their own account is the teacher. So what's needed is a
  facility whereby a teacher can commandeer a student's PC for a few
  seconds for the purpose of setting up or releasing an Internet
  block.

  Now when a student needs access to the Internet maybe a 'Password'
  prompt could pop up when they enter a URL or click on a site that's
  not been pre-approved. Perhaps this prompt might include a unique
  access number the busy teacher can cross-check against a printed
  table of pin-codes they keep in their pocket. Furthermore, different
  pin codes might allow the student or a groups of students different
  levels or time lengths of access to the Internet.

  Well I'm sure this would be a doddle for someone with better
  programming skills than me to set up, perhaps by patching a
  pre-existing web- or proxy-server. Any volunteers? I know loads of
  teachers who would be eternally grateful.

  And if you've got any real mean config tips or wish-list items then
  do please share them...


  David Bowles



--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe@suse.com
For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help@suse.com