The training division of CS Holdings has switched to the latest version of a UK-developed desktop management, training, and examination system, which provides a high level of electronic interaction between tutors and learners.
PE Technikon was one of the first local institutions to deploy an earlier version of Netsupport School (NSS) and lecturers say in a very short time it has become one of their most valuable teaching tools.
Netsupport School (NSS) is a management tool that enables tutors to interact with learners in a variety of ways, explains Tito Pereira, MD of local distributors, Blue Label Technology. "Tutors can remotely monitor learners` activities, open and close applications, distribute and collect assignments, lock screens, and even reboot or shutdown learners` computers. NSS also includes facilities to restrict the web sites and applications that can be accessed by learners."
"CS Holdings is to implement NSS at its Midrand campus this week with 20 virtual classes," says Johan Grobler, Education Solutions division technical manager. "NSS is extremely light on resources, is easy to install and deploy, and enables us to stream video content to learners when required."
"Netsupport School is independent of course content or teaching methodology", explains Pereira. "It runs on all Microsoft Windows operating systems, has few system requirements, is not server based, and is easy to install and use."
"After rigorous testing and evaluation, Blue Label Technology chose to distribute the Netsupport suite of management products because of the quality software and backup support from the developers."
Despite the name, Pereira says NSS has attracted a wide range of interest, extending beyond school instruction to all training environments. "Netsupport School can be extremely useful for teaching new applications to staff in the business environment."
The NSS module, which has five million users globally, was introduced to the local market earlier this year. Pereira says NSS is particularly well suited to the local market and because training is delivered over a network, class members need not be in the same room or even the same building. "It enables significant cost savings by rendering teaching aids such as overhead, video, data, and DVD projectors unnecessary."
Pereira says NSS is also a powerful time saving tool. "Notes, assignments and exams can be distributed and collected within seconds, and exams created using the built-in test designer can be marked by the system, allowing for automatic reporting on results."
The test console enables tutors to run and monitor learners` progress in online examinations that are stored in a separate password protected database.
"Another attraction of NSS for CS Holdings is the fact that it is a rand-based product", says Grobler. He says this presents a much better value proposition than most other products that are dollar-based. Netsupport also has a pricing model that Blue Label Technology believes will make it attractive and well suited to the South African market.
"Organisations using Netsupport School pay per seat and not per user", explains Pereira, "making it extremely cost effective where computers have more than one user." He says further cost benefits are found in the incremental discount built into the pricing model and the fact that an annual fee set at 15% of the initial investment includes maintenance, support, and automatic upgrades to future versions of the software.
Share