DyKnow

I was easily able to track my students devices and block certain webpages that I found not suitable.

Kommentare: I benefited from this software by easily being able to blow websites that interfered with my students coursework or would distract them.

Vorteile:

I really enjoy the fact that I can monitor students on their devices by using the classroom analytics feature which allows me to view the history of student activity on a specific day. This tool also allows me to go back and see which students were off task and which were actually paying attention.

Nachteile:

The biggest problem I have found with this software is the fact that students cane easily bypass the software by downloading extensions within the browser that will allow them to play games, but will not show up on my monitoring screen. I also often receive errors from the software saying that it can not be loaded at that time.

Great for monitoring, could be better when it comes to action

Kommentare: Works great for helping teachers monitor student behavior on chromebooks. The two main flaws that I have noticed are:
1) If a student downloads a chrome extension (many games are available this way), it does not show up on the monitoring screen, but rather says "Out of Browser". Teachers are unable to block these activities.
2) Teachers cannot take over individual student screens. The ability to take over an individual student's screen and click on the correct link (or links) for them would allow for redirection or assistance without hassle. This would also help alleviate the above issue, as it would allow teachers to manually "x out" gaming apps.
Other than these two issues, I enjoy using Dyknow and trauly believe that it holds students accountable for their actions on the Chromebook.

Vorteile:

Holds students accountable, allows me to multitask.

Nachteile:

No manual takeover, no way to combat gaming through web extensions

Dyknow Review

Kommentare: While I like the features that Dyknow has when it comes to monitoring my classroom activities, I get extremely frustrated with Dyknow on the days that it doesn't work. There were multiple times over the year where I relied on Dyknow to act as a blocking software while my students were taking a quiz or a test and Dyknow failed to perform. Multiple times I received errors that Dyknow couldn't load or couldn't find the students it was supposed to be monitoring which left me at a disadvantage when it came to creating successful blocking plans that accomplished the tasks I needed them to. I also wish Dyknow had a feature where I could set it to automatically begin monitoring my class at certain times - because it has to be open in a separate tab and I have to remember to begin the monitoring in addition to everything else I have to do, there were many times where I didn't set it to monitor my class. Since it doesn't build a record for that student unless I remember to start monitoring, this meant I didn't have a record for many days in the social studies classroom. Would love to see an adjustment where I can sync it with a daily schedule and set it to start monitoring at specific times.

Vorteile:

Easy to use Blocking plans were easy to set up

Nachteile:

A lot of error messages or instances where Dyknow failed to load or quit part of the way through a class it was supposed to be monitoring Errors where having Dyknow running and blocking activity on student laptops led to programs they were using refusing to let them type in text boxes Time consuming to have to uncheck every student when attempting to establish segmented blocking - wish it started with no students checked and allowed me to check just the one or two who needed to be blocked

Classroom Management At Its Best

Kommentare: I spent a long time not being able to control my students and DyKnow was a game changer for me.

Vorteile:

DyKnow gave me back control of my classroom. The ability to control what students can and cannot access if invaluable to keep them on task. I am able to set up pre-made lists of blocks to quickly access them for my classes.

Nachteile:

I wish I could take control of my students computers and close tabs rather than just blocking access. I would also like to control programs outside the browser. That is the main feature I would like.

Classroom lecture management made easy

Vorteile:

Technology can either be a distraction in a classroom if students are using them in non-productive ways, yet they can be a boon if they can be used properly in a classroom setting. Dyknow is a tool that helps point tech in the classroom towards the latter, more helpful outcome. It provides many useful tools for monitoring students, delivering lectures, and student engagement. Since Dyknow is cross-platform, it can be deployed on school computers as well as a variety of personal devices owned by students.

Nachteile:

Students will try their hardest to work around Dyknow monitoring. In environments where students have Dyknow installed on their computer, reliability can be spotty, cutting into class time while trying to diagnose certain problems.