Netopia, the folks who specialize in broadband gateways and service delivery software, announced the technology preview of Timbuktu Ed today at the 22nd annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, TX.
The new version of Timbuktu is specially designed for the classroom, according to company spokesperson Jessica Mullens.
Netopia has refined the Timbuktu technology for educational environments, to enable teachers to share their computer screen with students, observe students’ screens, control a student’s mouse and keyboard or send files and coursework, according to Tom Skoulis senior vice president and general manager of the Web Platforms Group at Netopia.
With just a few mouse clicks, a teacher can allow either an entire class or just a few students to observe her or another student’s, computer. Timbuktu Ed’s automatic scanning capabilities allow instructors to track the work of multiple students simultaneously, by observing any number of student desktops at once.
Using a site key, Timbuktu Ed is compatible with the Timbuktu Pro Enterprise Edition, allowing technical support administrators to quickly analyze, troubleshoot and fix problems on classroom computers, without disrupting classes, Skouylis said. What’s more, students can request the teacher’s help and get an immediate response with instant messaging. Because the chat log can be saved, Timbuktu Ed acts as a virtual “note-taker.”
Timbuktu Ed will be available later this summer and will be offered at specially discounted pricing for qualified educational institutions. The software operates on, and between, all Mac and Windows operating systems. For more info, e-mail Netopia Education Sales.