RELEASE NOTES. Modification Notes. Release Themes. Internet connectivity. Product version: 3.8. Build number: Shipping date: October 8, 2012

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1 Modification Notes Product version: 3.8 Build number: Shipping date: RELEASE NOTES 1243 October 8, 2012 Release Themes This release is a compilation of several major features introduced since May 2012; the release themes include: Internet connectivity which enables students to connect to their scheduled class even though they are not physically on school premises. New download page for students to make it easier for students to find and download the student module. Student module startup options to support Bring Your Own Device scenarios. Virtual desktop support. MyVision version 3.8 is a major release requiring a manual uninstall and reinstall of the teacher and student computers to update the software. If you are using Mac, the update will run automatically on both teacher and student machines. If you are using Window, you will be asked to do the update manually. First you will have to uninstall your current version from the Control Panel using Uninstall or change a program; next you must install the new version from netop.com. You can view your subscription, upgrade and purchase additional Netop MyVision subscriptions at Alternatively, please contact Netop Customer Service for more information. Internet connectivity The traditional constraints of a classroom are quickly dissolving with students needing to engage in classes from locations outside of the physical classroom. Having previously released support for MyVision across network segments (subnets), MyVision connectivity has now been extended to support connections between LANs, WANs and the Internet. Support is offered where either the teacher using the MyVision teacher module or one or more students using the MyVision student module are outside of the school s network. Here are some examples of use: Location of the Teacher Location of the students The teacher is teaching in the school s computer lab Students are physically located in the lab and connected to the MyVision class. Students are connecting from the library and can be supervised while they work on individual projects. Students are absent from school but connecting from their homes where they are connected to the

2 Location of the Teacher Location of the students Internet with a PC or Mac running the MyVision student module. The teacher is in their office supervising a number of students during a study session A teacher is to run a series of evening lectures for students from neighboring schools Students are connected and located in different rooms around the school. Some students are connected from the main library wing. Students are connected from multiple locations where they are connected to the Internet and have a PC or Mac running the MyVision student module. To support connections between teachers and students across the Internet, each MyVision teacher is given a School Access Key. The teacher can find their School Access Key on the Account tab in the MyVision teacher module: The School Access Key is a 10-digit number in this format: xxx-xxx-xxxx, for example The School Access Key must be copied and forwarded to the students prior to the start of the class. The student can then open a dialog box available from the notification area and enter the School Access Key for the class they wish to join. October 2012 Page 2 of 9

3 The student needs to enter the same School Access Key as their teacher and ensure this key is selected before the teacher starts the MyVision class. Adding computers and users into a MyVision class Using a School Access Key connects student computers to the teacher s computer over the Internet. However, the students username or computer must still be added into a MyVision class to be seen as a thumbnail. Once the student has entered the School Access Key, the student s computer will be listed under Active Computers when the class is edited and the teacher can then add it into their MyVision class. Alternatively, the students can be added by their usernames. The student s username can be typed into the Add Users dialogue, or if the teacher is logged into the school s Active Directory (AD) they can browse for the students username. Unauthorized teachers The use of the School Access Key prevents unauthorized teachers from connecting to students as the students must enter and select keys before their computers can be managed. Joining MyVision Teacher Subscriptions Several teachers with MyVision subscriptions can share the same School Access Key. This means that students at a school potentially only have to remember and use a single key instead of one for each teacher. Requests to join multiple MyVision accounts can be made by contacting Netop Technical Support at Student Mobility and BYOD students: advice for students The new MyVision connectivity supports two growing trends in education: 1-to-1 computing, where a schoolowned computer is taken home each day, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD - in this case a computer) schemes for students. As students come and go between the school s network and home or other networks, they must switch their connection options from I am in class to I am not at school or vice versa: October 2012 Page 3 of 9

4 The MyVision student module icon (blue globe added) indicates the current connection setting, helping students ensure that they are properly connected. The connection option is remembered between computer reboots and logins. Typically, BYOD students who take their computers in and out of school will have to switch their computers to I am in class as they join the school s network and then back to I am not at school when they connect from an Internet location outside of school. The student module can store numerous School Access Keys from numerous MyVision teacher subscriptions. The student must ensure the key that matches that of the teacher whose class they wish to join. New student page on netop.com Student can now self-serve A new, easy-to-remember web page is now available for students: Students who own a computer, and therefore likely have administration rights, can self-serve by installing the MyVision student module from this page wherever they need it. The page also has student-friendly instructions on how and when to switch between the connectivity modes. Note: Licensing of MyVision is through the teacher s subscription, so the teacher s module and student module can be freely installed. The MyVision student module will automatically update from the Internet. Or if the Internet is unavailable to the student computer from any MyVision teacher module with which it connects. Students who already have the student module installed on their student computer need only follow instructions on how to enter the School Access Key. Student module controls The use of a student s personal computer raises a dilemma for schools. Students want to use their own computers when engaging in lessons, but the teacher also needs to facilitate student learning when working with computers and the web. To be able to supervise, demonstrate and assist the student requires the MyVision student module to be installed and activated, and also requires students agreement to have their personal computers managed. Some schools rely on a Student Acceptable Use policy to mandate the use of such tools as part of the student contract. Other schools prefer to offer student controls, allowing the student to actively join a class, thereby October 2012 Page 4 of 9

5 giving permission for the teacher to manage the computer. For this reason MyVision will have a number of BYOD controls. Student Module Startup Mode During installation, a new step enables the user to determine how the MyVision student module will start up. This is determined by who manages (sometimes who owns) the student computer. The following choices are presented: MyVision student module starts with computer This is the recommended setting where the school owns and manages the student computer and wishes to ensure that the student module is active at all times. Choosing this option prevents the student from manually stopping the MyVision student module. Start MyVision student module manually This choice is offered for installations where the student manages (or owns) the computer. Once the MyVision student module is installed, it can be manually started, exited and restarted as the student needs it. If the installation option Start MyVision student module manually was selected when the student module was installed, students must start MyVision student module like any other application (from the Start menu or from Applications) and can stop the module by clicking Exit on from the shortcut menu: School-allocated computers The default startup mode setting is MyVision student module starts with computer so schools who allocate specific computers to students, for example in one-to-one initiatives, do not have to take any action. Virtual Desktop support Schools are increasingly taking advantage of virtual desktop infrastructures to deliver standardized, controllable and scalable student virtual desktops. Virtual desktop can be displayed and on variety of operating systems and devices, including standard PCs and Macs, but also on tablets, thus providing a consistent teaching and learning environment for teachers and students. October 2012 Page 5 of 9

6 This release of MyVision supports environments utilizing Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services). Utilizing Remote Desktop Services in educational environments enables teachers and students with any device (almost!) to access school-managed virtual desktops thus eliminating need for students, teachers and administrators to worry about application distribution and configuration. This makes life easier for the school IT administrator and takes care of any issues students or parents might have with respect to use of privately owned devices in a school context. Supported environments This release provides support Microsoft Remote Desktop Services environment (formerly known as Terminal Services) running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2 servers as well as Microsoft Windows Server 2012 RC. In future releases additional support for Windows MultiPoint Server, HP Multiseat and Citrix XenDeskTop environments will be added. The teacher module as well as the student module can be installed and run on the server. Please refer to your system administrator for application deployment of MyVision modules on appropriate virtualized desktop environments. For an overview of the installation flow, see the technical article on virtualization support in the Netop knowledge base. Known Issues ISP dependencies for MyVision student connectivity Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may not support the use of peer-to-peer connectivity in the style required by MyVision when communicating across firewalls. This may be indicated by the unreliability of the Demo and Supervise features. Your ISP may be implementing Symmetric Network Address translation which is known to limit MyVision connections and impact performance. You may need to contact your IT administrator and ISP for a different configuration. Issue Resolutions and Improvements When using the Assist feature the teacher s mouse movement was not displayed smoothly to the student When the teacher was using the Assist feature and moving their mouse, the student did not always see smooth movement. This issue is now resolved. The Teacher s module incorrectly stated Account expires in 0 days In Teacher s module on the Account tab the "Account expires in" counter would incorrectly say zero. This issue is now resolved. October 2012 Page 6 of 9

7 When starting the MyVision Teacher on a Mac computer, an error message was shown When the Keep-in-Dock option was used on a Mac and the MyVision teacher module was started from Mac dock, the MyVision teacher module would not start and an error message was shown. This issue has now been resolved. Peer-to-Peer over the Internet When students using MyVision are at home and connect to a class over the Internet, they connect directly to the teacher computer in a peer-to-peer relationship; this ensures efficient updates as the workload is shared. However, some schools may have a setup which does not support peer-to-peer connection, depending on the way they have chosen to handle IP addressing and on their Internet Service Provider configuration. In such exception scenarios MyVision automatically ensures that student computer connects through a Netop server. Demo, Assist and Supervise may work slightly slower in these scenarios. When a student computer joins a class over the Internet, the student computer thumbnail will display a blue globe on the student thumbnail. On the student computer a small globe added to the MyVision student icon indicates Internet connectivity: Note that the globe icon signifies Internet connection only; it does not indicate whether or not a Netop server is used. Getting started made easier Users who have downloaded the MyVision teacher module for the teacher computer will need to download the student module for each student computer. The student module can now easily be downloaded simply by clicking the Download Student button on the MyVision teacher module home page: In the dropdown menu users can chose Mac version or Windows version according to the student computers they have, or they can chose to go the download page on netop.com where additional download options are available, including.msi download, Update notifications To replace the service window notification s we have previously sent to MyVision customers, MyVision will now notify users about future updates and potential downtime when they log on to MyVision. To help users make October 2012 Page 7 of 9

8 the most of new features, MyVision will also inform about recently added features or improvements when users log on. Demo on computers using multi displays In previous releases teachers using multiple displays could not demonstrate applications or documents which were not on the main display. This issue has now been resolved and teachers can demo applications displayed on all monitors. When a teacher has multiple monitors and starts a demo, MyVision will scale all screens from the teacher s computer and display them on the students main display. Note that with this update teachers may have to re-think their demos as anything they have on a secondary display will also be visible to students. Any secondary displays on student computers will show Demo on main monitor for the duration of demo session. Attention when student computers have multiple displays When the teacher applied the Attention feature to student computers with multiple displays, only the students main display was blocked. This issue has now been resolved and all student monitors will be blocked by attention screen. Improved handling of different types of proxy servers Some schools use proxy servers in their LAN to provide access to the web. MyVision silently detects proxy settings and tries to use the same settings to connect through proxies. In case of success, MyVision will not display any messages and the MyVision teacher module will connect to the MyVision server without displaying any message. In case of failure, the MyVision teacher module will ask the teacher to provide the correct proxy settings or to contact network administrator who is likely the appropriate person to assist with configuration. Please note that MyVision currently supports only HTTP Proxy, NTLM and Socks proxy types. Teacher and student module can run on the same computer MyVision now allows the teacher and student modules to run on the same computer. This makes a number of alternative scenarios possible, for example teacher as a student and teacher as a supervisor of other teachers. Teacher as a student: mobility in a computer lab In a computer lab, the teacher uses a computer called LAB-TEACHER to create a class of computers and adds a computer called LAB- STUDENT08-COMPUTER as one of the student computers in the class. At a later time, the teacher uses LAB-STUDENT08-COMPUTER, opens the MyVision teacher module, logs in and starts the class that now contains himself as a student in the class. The thumbnail for the self-computer will be labeled You and the teacher cannot apply blocking features on himself (for example Lock Web and Attention); any attempt to do that will be simply ignored. October 2012 Page 8 of 9

9 Teacher as a supervisor of other teachers: super monitor An IT administrator can install the MyVision teacher module and add all teacher computers from the school to his class. This is possible because teacher and student modules can run on the same machine and in the same logon session. So the IT administrator has a wide view of what happens in the school and can assist teachers remotely if needed; the IT administrator can control the teacher computers the same way a teacher can control student computers. October 2012 Page 9 of 9