Computer Lab Monitoring

I am bringing my students to the computer lab for 3 weeks starting today.  Usually they are self-motivated to use the computers to do the lab work.  To be able to observe and assess how students are doing, I want to see ALL of their screens at the same time (every teachers dream).

The school has already installed VNC software on all of the student computers.  This allows a teacher to observe one computer at a time, and even take control when the student is having difficulty with something.

For Mac’s, on OS X there is an AWESOME piece of software called Remote Desktop.  ARD presents the teacher with a thumbnail view of each computer’s screen.  When a student needs help, the teacher can switch to a full-size view of a single screen and then move the student’s pointer to assist.

I was able to find a windows program that can do some of this, called VNCon.  It has it’s limitations, and hasn’t been updated since 2004.

I recommend checking out this software:
http://vncon.chronetal.co.uk/