Apple Remote Desktop Monitoring

Here at SWA we monitor all the Macbooks in the school using Apple Remote Desktop. It is truly a powerful tool that enables all teachers to see the student's screens whenever they need to. Our IT Tech Dept monitors every screen in the school. We use an Internet filter but Remote Desktop enables us to interact with students through chat, control the screen, view a whole class at once and lock the screen.

As a teacher I like to use it to guide the students in their work. I send messages about what they are doing to help guide the students more individually. You might argue that walking around the class has the same effect. For me Remote Desktop allows me to send my students off to work on a project in a quiet place away from the classroom. I don't have to worry that they will be off task as I can see their screen and know what they are up to.

On the technical side our on site technicians can help students with troubleshooting remotely. Just yesterday in Grade 3, one of the students was about to use iMovie to edit a documentary, only to discover that his laptop (from the laptop cart) had iMovie '08 instead of '09. I used iChat to contact our Tech Dept and they were able to install iMovie '09 remotely.




The photo shows the student waiting for the update with his screen locked via Remote Desktop so that he cannot press the wrong key during the installation. The problem was solved within 10 minutes.

Open Office for Kids OOo4Kids

Today I tested OOo4Kids or Open Office for Kids. It was fast loading as promised and I found the interface to be easy to use with lots of icons. First go to the website to download it OOo4Kids For installing on the Mac just double click the .dmg file to start the process and then drag the program icon to your Applications.





There are four different options: word processing, drawing (which includes a mind mapping feature as you are able to add what is known as 'call outs'), presentations and spreadsheets. The fifth icon is for opening a file.



It is important to know that OOo4Kids saves in its' own format unless you choose the 'save as' option from the menu. There are many formats to choose from. I really like there is a one click button that allows saving as a PDF.



Here is the word processor. Easy and visual - just like it should be.



Here is the drawing app. There are lots of customizations which are really easy to use.



This is the presentations wizard. You can use templates or make your own. There are a lot of features here that allow children to make a truly multimedia show.



This is the spreadsheet feature. It is a much simpler version compared to Excel.

I think that this is a fast, easy to use software that has a nice price tag. Schools should be taking advantage of OOo4Kids as it is affordable and user friendly.