Sophie Golub
Editor-in-Chief
For many students, getting accustomed to classes this year was a little different than usual, especially for the ninth grade. As the first class to utilize the 1-to-1 technology curriculum in the high school, Milken has also introduced LanSchool, a classroom management and computer monitoring program.
After two years of experimenting with the 1-to-1 program, Mr. Jason Ablin, head of school, reflected on the progress and decided to find a program to increase effective classroom management.
LanSchool is part of the school’s 1:1 program, which is presently a feature of Milken’s seventh, eighth and ninth grade programs.
The main purpose of the program is to coordinate what is going in the classroom by collaborating more effectively and limiting student distractions.
A teacher’s computer screen will have every student computer screen open in order to monitor and manage student activity. Specifically, the program allows teachers to send and share content to all screens, share a student’s screen with the class and direct students to particular websites and programs. Teachers can also send individual notes to a students’ screens, decreasing class interruptions.
“It also allows teachers to oversee what students are doing,” Dr. Jonathan Cassie, assistant head of school, said. “In doing so, the program will hopefully reduce the amount of students chatting on Facebook or playing Tetris during class. However, if a student is playing Tetris, then the teacher can go into the student’s screen and close the game.”
In order to run LanSchool students download the software onto their computer, like any other application. While connected to Milken’s network, each computer will automatically hook up to LanSchool. Every teacher has a different channel for only his or her class. When students are in a class, they sign onto the teacher’s channel, enabling the student’s screen to pop up on the teacher’s screen. When students leave the class, they sign off of the channel, disabling the teacher from viewing the student’s screen. However, Cassie, and other administrators of LanSchool, can still theoretically see any computer screen as long as the student is on the network. Additionally, LanSchool is considered a technology department cost and students do not have to pay for the program.
As the program becomes a staple of the Milken curriculum, Cassie plans on having conversations with the community to reflect on the implementation.
To read The Roar‘s anti-LanSchool editorial, click here.
To read Dr. Cassie’s editorial describing the administration’s justifications for LanSchool’s implementation, click here.