The Tutor Console

The Tutor Console is the primary interface for:

  • Configuring the Tutor (Control)

  • Connecting to Students

  • Maintaining Student information

  • Selecting which Students to work with

  • Selecting tasks to carry out.

Tutor Console in home view, showing a selection of Student icons.

Tutor Console window

NetSupport School provides three modes to view the user interface: advanced, which provides full access to all NetSupport School's features, intermediate, which provides access to the primary features and frequently used teaching tools and easy, which provides access to a focused set of classroom management features. You can switch between advanced and intermediate mode by clicking the Intermediate Mode/Advanced Mode icon on the toolbar. Easy modeClosed The Tutor Console displays a focused set of classroom management features, allowing you to maintain control over your classroom. can only be selected when the Tutor Console first starts up.

Note: The options described here are if you are using the Tutor Console in advanced mode. Fewer options are available when using intermediate or easy mode.

The caption bar

This indicates that you are in the Tutor Console and displays the name of the NetSupport School Tutor machine. If the Teacher SupportClosed Enables teachers to request support from a technician. When the Tutor Console is connected to the Tech Console a Support icon appears on the caption bar. feature is enabled in the Tech ConsoleClosed A unique console specifically for technicians, providing a single view of all machines across the school., a Support icon appears here, allowing you to chat or message a technician.

Note: If you have hidden the view modes on the left-hand side of the Tutor Console, the current view mode is displayed here. Clicking the icon allows you to switch view modes.

The following options are available on the right-hand side:

[Hamburger menu icon]

Opens the Quick Access listClosed You can add a selection of features to the caption bar for quick access., allowing you to add commonly used features to the caption bar. By default, Mute All, Lock All, Internet and the lesson timer are displayed.

[Minimise window icon]

Minimise the window.

Application window

[Maximise window icon]

Maximise the window.

[Close window icon]

Close the window.

Options

From this drop-down menu, you can switch the user interface to intermediate mode; turn off the colour-coded user interface; access the settings, help file, version number, licence and Technical Support information; and access any Tutor Console updates (Options is highlighted if there is an update available).

The ribbon

The ribbon provides access to all the features and tools.Positioning the cursor over an icon will display a brief description of its function. The ribbon is organised into the following tabs:

Class: From here, you can ask Students to register their details at the start of a lesson, access individual Student features, set the level of web access and communicate with Students.

Note: Additional icons may appear here depending on which view mode you are currently in.

Group: Provides access to the group functions within NetSupport School.

Select: From here, you can select which Students to work with and view in the List viewClosed Displays the currently connected Students or groups. You can switch the display mode between large icons and details view from the View tab in the ribbon..

Feedback & Wellbeing: Allows you to give rewards and animated stickers to Students (these appear on the Student Toolbar), request feedback from Students to check their wellbeing, access the Test Designer and run tests at Students.

Journal: Allows you to start a Student JournalClosed The unique Student Journal ensures all relevant information from a lesson is recorded for future review. and decide what content is added for Students to review after the lesson.

Work Planner: Send files to or collect files from Students, manage the available Student resources, set a class timer and create and manage lesson plans.

Administer: Provides access to the Student management functions of NetSupport School such as power on/off, reboot, log in, log out and manage user accounts, modify and apply settings to Android Students, access replay files and create user-defined tools that can automatically run a task on a Tutor Console machine.

View: Allows you to select the view mode, how Students are displayed in the List view (large icons or details view) and whether to view the group, action bar and Student Toolbar. You can also print or lock the current layout and set a background.

Whiteboard: A full-screen interactive whiteboard is provided and from here, you can access a range of screen annotation tools.

Note: This option only appears when Whiteboard view is selected.

The lesson plan bar

The lesson bar allows you to create a lesson, provides tools to manage the lesson once in progress and advises you on the current activity.

Note: To enable/disable the lesson plan bar, select the Work Planner tab in the ribbon and click/clear the Lesson Plan option. It is displayed automatically when a lesson plan is running.

The group bar

Until you have defined groups of Students, only the 'All' group appears. Once defined, the group name and the number of members appear. With the required group selected, you can change properties such as the displayed name and icon image by clicking the Group options Burger menu icon and selecting Properties.

Clicking the right-hand side of a group tab displays a drop-down menu, allowing you to access commonly used features.

To enable/disable the group bar, select the Group or View tab in the ribbon and select the Group Bar option.

View modes

The left-hand side of the Tutor Console lists the available view modes. Clicking an icon here changes the display of the List view and the icons applicable to the mode are displayed in the Class tab.

Note: You can hide these icons, allowing more space in the List view. Select the View tab in the ribbon and clear the Action Bar option. The view mode icon is displayed on the caption bar, showing which view mode you are in and clicking this icon allows you to switch views.

The following view modes are available:

Home view
Monitor view
Audio view
Q&A view
Web view
Application view
Survey view
Print view
Device view
Typing view
Whiteboard view
Note: You can customise the view modes displayed by selecting the View tab in the ribbon, clicking the drop-down arrow in the Mode section and clicking Customise.

By default, the colour used in the Tutor user interface changes to match the current view mode. You can turn this off by clicking Options in the Tutor Console and selecting Colour Coded UI (this option is highlighted when turned on) from the drop-down menu. You can also enable/disable this in the Tutor User Interface settings.

The List view

The List view displays the currently connected Students or groups. You can switch the display mode between large icons and details view from the View tab in the ribbon or the status bar.

The status bar

The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the Tutor Console. It shows the current class you are in (you can end and refresh the class from here), the number of currently connected Students and number of Students in the selected group. You can select which Students to perform actions to from here and how Students are displayed in the List view.

See also:

Working with classroom layouts

Setting backgrounds

Connecting to Students