iTalc classroom management software
Back to School
© Lorelyn Medina, Fotolia
iTalc gives teachers complete control over the digital classroom and integrates the PC as a learning aid and tool.
Computers are just as much a part of a school's equipment today as chalk and blackboards, but teachers often face a lack of software to help them keep track of what's going on in the classroom. Software with a range of features for controlling the student machines, such as the ability to control computers remotely, lock screens, or display the teacher's screen in realtime on all the student machines for demonstration purposes, would be helpful. Plenty of companies are developing classroom management software, but licenses can be costly. In addition, the software often requires the use of Windows while stipulating restrictive licensing terms.
The world of open source long lacked a usable alternative, which prompted me, a former student at a school in Chemnitz, Germany, to launch the iTalc [1] project. Originally designed to be Linux-only software, iTalc now also runs on Windows, and the roadmap for this year includes support for OS X. In the meantime, iTalc has been integrated by Edubuntu as part of the standard software distribution, thus increasing its user community. After you finish the installation, some configuration work is necessary to make sure that iTalc works properly and securely. For help with installation, see the "Setting up iTalc" box.
Remember that students have the ability to download the software and interrupt the proceedings, or even view other people's screens without them noticing. To prevent this from happening, iTalc has a public key-based authentication mechanism. The teacher's machine has a private key from which the software calculates a public key, which is then distributed to the student machines.
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