LanSchool

LanSchool
Developer(s) Stoneware, Inc.
Initial release February 9, 1986 (1986-02-09) (as LanFan Technologies)
April 2001 (2001-04) (as LanSchool Technologies, LLC)
Platform Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS
Type Classroom management
License Proprietary
Website www.lanschool.com

LanSchool is classroom management software owned by Lenovo. It is used by schools to monitor students' activity in a digital classroom. It includes a screen monitor, keystroke monitor, teacher-to-student chat feature, URL monitor, Camera monitor, microphone access, and various other features. Both the LanSchool keystroke monitor and URL monitor can store data for later collection.[1]

Technology

LanSchool products use a proprietary remote desktop protocol that communicates via TCP and UDP. A console application is installed on the Teacher’s computer which communicates peer-to-peer with a software agent running on the student computers. The software is available in a 'Teacher' and 'Student' edition. The Teacher edition allows the user to access and control the computers with the Student edition installed on them. Lanschool can be downloaded on multiple software such as Windows and Mac.[2]

History

Originally named LanFan Technologies, the company was founded in February 1986[3] when Dana Doggett began exploring the concept of a software application that would allow an instructor to leverage a local area network to teach using technology.

Dana developed a software tool called PC Chalkboard that was immediately implemented by Novell. PC Chalkboard allowed Novell lab instructors to broadcast their screens to each PC in the lab. LanSchool was licensed by both Intel and IBM and actively marketed through each company’s education sales channel. The IBM relationship is still active today. In April 2001, Dana left Intel and formed a new company, LanSchool Technologies, LLC where he could work on LanSchool full-time. The new company’s mission is to improve education worldwide through the use of innovative technological solutions.

Acquisitions

LanSchool was acquired by Stoneware in 2011. In September 2012 Lenovo announced the acquisition of Stoneware and the acquisition was completed on December 26, 2012.[4]

Product features

Some of the product features included in LanSchool are:

  • Extensive cross platform support for Windows, Google, and Apple operating systems,
  • Thumbnail view allows teachers to quickly view each student's screen,
  • Detail view allows teachers to quickly see detailed information on each student's session/history,
  • Keystroke monitoring (if enabled by the school) can report on weeks of student use with actual keystroke history,
  • Screen snapshot capability allows teachers to instantly document screen, user, time, date, and other information,
  • Internet history shows a list of websites visited by a user, and
  • Running programs view shows all programs running on a student's machine, even if minimized.
  • Whitelisting and blacklisting of websites/programs. [5]

This is not an exhaustive list of product features.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Monitor Students". Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  2. ↑ https://helpdesk.stone-ware.com/portal/kb/articles/installing-lanschool-7-8-on-a-mac
  3. ↑ "Press Releases - LanSchool". LanSchool Press. 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  4. ↑ "Lenovo To Acquire U.S. Cloud Company". UBM Channel. 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  5. ↑ https://www.lenovosoftware.com/lanschool/
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