Dialogue > Article > It's a bad day to be a distraction

My name’s Duncan the Distraction and I’ve got a big problem! You see classrooms used to be my stomping ground. All the kids, especially the “cool” ones wanted to hang out with me. Billy would want to play solitaire, Suzan would use chat programs to talk to all of her friends, and Jeremy (he was the coolest) he would go on every internet site EXCEPT the ones his teacher wanted him to. My job was easy, with the help of computers there was no better time to be a distraction, life was good. I had other distractions asking me “Hey Duncan, how do you do it? You’re so cool, I want to be just like you!” I told them, to be a distraction like me you had to forget the old days of hand written notes, and hiding magazines in your text books... to be a distraction like me you needed a computer!

Yes computers… they were the perfect distraction tool. They were perfect because for the most part my friends like Billy, Suzan, and Jeremy had grown up on them, and knew their way around a computer better than most of their teachers. Teachers had no control over me and my friends, they would tell us to research something online, and we would… for 30 seconds… then we would have 10 new windows open with websites we wanted to explore!!

But that all changed today... today my life as I knew it would be over. Today my arch nemesis Mrs. Anderson eliminated me from her classroom.

Little did I know that Mrs. Anderson was well aware that I and some of her students were goofing off on the computer during class; and she had secretly been searching for a way to stop it. My good old friend the Internet stabbed me in the back, he showed her a product called BrowseControl, and I’ve been crying ever since. BrowseControl gives computer power back to teachers like Mrs. Anderson. From their own computer they can control every other computer in the class, or school even! With the click of a button teachers can lock student keyboards, forcing students to pay attention. Remember my friends Billy and Suzan? Well with the Application Blocker feature they won’t have access to specific Windows applications like MSN or solitaire. And Jeremy, ohhh Jeremy, well BrowseControl has multiple internet controlling features to make sure he’s never surfing where he shouldn’t be again. BrowseControl’s Internet ON/OFF button allows teachers to instantly give/deny access to the whole internet. Or teacher’s can use the Allowed or Blocked List to either allow access to only specific websites, or deny access to specific websites. Other BrowseControl features include USB/CD drive blocking, an Internet Scheduler, and a Shutdown/Reboot Scheduler that enables teachers to schedule when to turn off and turn on all the computers in the class.

Codework would like to introduce three products that teachers and school administrators will find useful in their classrooms and schools.

BrowseControl is an Internet/ Application Restriction Tool that manages student Internet access and limits the use of unauthorized applications. Features include: block Internet access, an “Allowed” website list, “Blocked” website list, operate in PC or User mode, Application Blocker, USB/CD blocker, and more.
see http://www.codework.com/bcontrol/product.html

BrowseReporter is an Internet Monitoring Tool that tracks Internet usage on a per PC or per User basis, and generates comprehensive reports and charts. Features include: Capturing URLs and total surfing time, generate both summary and detailed reports and charts, export reports to Excel, Word, HTML, XML; bandwidth monitoring, remote screen capture, email reports, scheduler, and more.
see http://www.browsereporter.com/.

AccessPatrol is an Endpoint Security Tool that secures unauthorized access to your network from devices such as USBs, iPods, CDs/DVDs, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, MP3s, iPhones, etc. It also includes an Energy Management Utility for remotely shutting down and booting PCs across the network. Other Features include assigning “full access”, “read” or “no access” permissions, Allowed List, manage offsite laptops/computers, Web based console, scheduler, and more.
see http://www.accesspatrol.com/