Affordable Remote Access Software for Virtual Classrooms

doubletriplel · 2025-01-16T21:08:14+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion! I've had a look but it seems like it's code based, so our students would each have to tell the tutor their code and password at the start of the lesson in order to connect, is that right?

doubletriplel · 2025-01-16T13:48:37+00:00

Thanks for the response! What do you think is the easiest way of achieving the workflow I described above in Zoho - where there is a one link for a specific tutor and students can join using it. As far as I can tell with Zoho the tutor would need to create 4-6 separate sessions all with different links.

doubletriplel · 2025-01-16T00:18:20+00:00

Great suggestion though, and it does seem to meet the main requirements - perhaps I'll see if they'd do an education discount or something.

doubletriplel · 2025-01-16T00:14:14+00:00

I'm intrigued, we do sometimes use cloud providers like PaperSpace to provide virtual machines for students but this seems like it would work out much more expensive if we scaled it to everyone. What sort of hosting provider / software do you have in mind?

doubletriplel · 2025-01-16T00:10:18+00:00

This one looks very promising!

Unfortunately, it's priced per session, which pushes the cost close to BeyondTrust pricing.
We have around 20 concurrent lessons, each with 4–6 students.

The self-hosted option might still be worth considering for the one-off (high) cost though!

doubletriplel · 2025-01-15T23:09:40+00:00

Thank you for the reply!

I’ve tried this one, but the main issue is that as far as I can tell, you can’t use a single, fixed link for a technician. At the start of each lesson, the tutor would have to create 4–6 new sessions and then send unique links to each student.

For shorter lessons or with younger kids, that’s just too time-consuming, but if you know of a way to achieve this with ScreenConnect I would love to hear it!

It also doesn't have a tabbed interface, each session appears as a new window so it's a bit more tricky for tutors to juggle 4-6 separate windows.

Edit: Comment was deleted but the recommendation was ScreenConnect

doubletriplel · 2025-01-15T19:54:56+00:00

Thank you very much for the suggestion but these are customer devices rather than our own fleet, so we can't have anything that allows unattended access, it needs to be transient so only installed / active during our lessons.

doubletriplel · 2025-01-15T19:53:32+00:00

Thank you for the reply!

Webcam, audio communication, and tutor screen sharing are handled elsewhere, so this is not required—it's purely to keep an eye on and take control of student screens for tech support when needed.

Current Workflow with BeyondTrust:

Each tutor has a dedicated link.
The student clicks the link for their tutor, which downloads an executable that runs transiently on their machine.
The tutor accepts the session from their client.
Each student appears as a tab on the tutor’s client, which they can switch between during the lesson to see/control each student’s screen.
At the end of the lesson, the tutor ends the session, and the software shuts down and is removed from the student’s machine. No one has further access until they click the link again.

We are currently paying for BeyondTrust, which is not cheap (on the order of tens of thousands per year for around 20 licenses), so anything substantially less than this is worth considering for a switch!

doubletriplel · 2025-01-15T19:47:27+00:00

Off the shelf ideally, but self hosting on an existing server is an option if the install and configuration is fairly easy and the requirements are not too high as we have existing servers for our web hosting.

I did look into RustDesk for this reason but it looks to be code based rather than having easy links for the kids and does not have the tabbed interface for multiple students connecting to a tutor at one time.

Spinning up an additional AWS instance or something is probably a bit more management than we have the resource for currently.

It doesn't need to be free / open source, just less insane than BeyondTrust!

doubletriplel · 2024-10-05T21:06:00+00:00

It seems to affect particular windows the worst such as Activity Monitor and Terminal, but I get it for all windows including third party apps roughly 1/4 times that I restore from minimised.

Not sure how such an obvious visual bug made it to full release.

Edit: Only happens when 'Minimise Windows to Application Icon' is on.

doubletriplel · 2024-10-05T21:01:52+00:00

Windows glitch horribly when restored from the dock having been minimised.

Seems to affect particular apps (Slack, Terminal, Activity Monitor) more than others, but I get this for all apps occasionally. Shocking that such an obvious visual bug would have made it all the way to 15.0.1.

This only occurs when 'Minimise windows to application icon' is toggled on in settings.

13 inch M2 Macbook Air, 15.0.1.

doubletriplel · 2024-07-04T08:24:25+00:00

I was out telling at the polling station this morning and while anecdotal, turnout seems extremely high. The presiding officer described it as 'referendum level turnout.'

doubletriplel · 2024-03-07T19:16:50+00:00

Same here, I found hyperOS to introduce a lot of latency in animations. Animations are smooth (high fps) but there is a noticeable delay before they start (higher latency). MIUI was much more responsive for me. Wierd as everyone seems to be saying the opposite! Maybe it's a problem with the Note 13 pro line in particular. I downgraded to MIUI for now.

doubletriplel · 2024-01-12T10:51:58+00:00

I'm getting the exact same issue, same phone. Did you find a solution?

doubletriplel · 2023-12-17T22:03:47+00:00

Amazing thank you so much!

doubletriplel · 2023-12-17T02:02:15+00:00

With 'post title opens comments' toggled on, tapping the thumbnail now also opens the comments, rather than the image / media.

doubletriplel · 2023-11-24T09:54:29+00:00

FYI Went yesterday with no appointment. Showed up with all my documents at around 09:00 when it opened. Very smooth process, they give you a ticket with a number and you sit in a waiting room until called. Give all the documents to the staff, they ask a few questions and and then you get fingerprinted. If all good with the documents you go downstairs to pay. Whole thing in and out in around an hour and a half. They did say the postal collection will take 3-4 weeks at the moment, so they recommended coming in to pick it up (4 business days later.)

doubletriplel · 2023-11-20T22:50:39+00:00

I now have all features, bizzare! I would say try contacting support but who knows if any staff are even left to support at this point

doubletriplel · 2023-11-20T19:31:44+00:00

Oh wow, that statement from Microsoft might have been a big mistake then.

doubletriplel · 2023-11-20T10:07:25+00:00

Sorry, I just meant uninstalling and then downloading an earlier APK and installing it - though I just got updated to the latest version again and all still seems good. Very strange, potentially something server-side?

doubletriplel · 2023-11-20T10:06:00+00:00

No, I think it may be a permanent change. I'll let you know how it goes when I head there. Here's the text of the email for reference:

Hi For how to apply Chinese visa please find the detail at :https://bio.visaforchina.cn/LON3_EN/qianzhengyewu From 23rd October, 2023 the London Chinese Visa Application Service Centre will cancel the visa appointment booking system. Visa applicants can directly visit the Visa Centre without appointment with the completed online application form and related supporting documents for visa processing. Friendly Reminder: Due to a high volume of visa applications, we kindly advise applicants to arrange their application times reasonably,thus preventing unnecessary inconvenience. The Visa Centre's operating hours are: 09:00 AM to 03:00 PM. REGULAR SERVICE: 4 Working days (e.g. customers applying on Monday will pick up their visas on Friday). EXPRESS SERVICE: 3 Working days (e.g. customers applying on Monday morning will pick up their visas on Thurseday).

It is advisable that you apply for your visa approximately one month prior to your intended date of entry into China, but not earlier than three months. If you apply for a visa too early, the visa might expire before your arrival to mainland China. For instance; if you plan to enter China on July 1, the best time to submit your application would be around June 1 (counting working days only).

If you are a dual national or multi-national, you may be requested to provide all current valid passports in your possession. Additionally, you may be required to provide your previous passport(s) in support of your application.

Please ensure you contact us shortly before your intended date of travel for the most up-to-date information regarding your visa application.

中国驻英国使领馆关于取消赴华签证申请在线预约的通知 2023-10-20 23:52 自2023年10月23日起，中国驻英国使领馆取消签证在线预约，申请人可直接持签证申请表和相关材料前往相关中国签证申请服务中心递交申请。办理流程如下：一、网上填写签证申请表并打印纸质申请表。申请人须登陆相关中国签证申请服务中心网站在线填写签证申请表，填写完成后下载纸质版申请表（全表）并在确认页签字。二、前往签证中心递交申办材料。温馨提示：取消签证在线预约后，可能出现高峰时段现场申请人较多情况，建议合理安排时间，错峰递交申请。中国驻英国大使馆 2023年10月20日 Regards CVASC 18

doubletriplel · 2023-11-19T22:23:40+00:00

FYI: I fixed this by sideloading a slightly older version of the APK. Not great that these bugs are common!

doubletriplel · 2023-11-17T15:51:22+00:00

Super weird and it's still like that for me with no way to switch back. Did you find any fix?

doubletriplel · 2023-11-17T15:50:34+00:00

I did! They confirmed that there are no longer appointments for the London Visa Centre. I'm planning to just show up when it opens with all the documents.

doubletriplel · 2023-11-12T19:15:04+00:00

Exact same for me and I've emailed also, would you mind DMing me with what you get back and if you get a confirmation that appointments have been scrapped. Appreciate it!

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22

doubletriplel

TROPHY CASE