Lenovo LanSchool vs. Securly Filter

I have recommended it across campus and would not hesitate to do so again. It has been great in our lab environments and would like to continue using it for years to come. In the future as we move away from physical labs I will be investigating to purchase for BYOD devices, however I know that I will face pushback from students on this. However we must weigh privacy & security vs. using BYOD devices and integrity on exams.

Incentivized

As I stated earlier, if you have iPads in a 1 to 1 usage, [Securly Filter] is your best filter. Students cannot break it or mess with any settings on a device that has an MDM setup.

Incentivized

• Lenovo LanSchool has a very easy to use and easy to learn interface. With software, the hardest thing to do is to teach new teachers or veteran teachers how to use technology in their classrooms. Being able to easily teach teachers to use this software is one of the best aspects of the [Lenovo LanSchool].
• Something that LanSchool does well is to monitor student actions. On the screens, you can see all the linked computers of all students. This feature lets you see every student on one screen. The alternative is walking around the classroom or scrolling through pages of student screens, with LanSchool you can guarantee that you are seeing all screens at once.
• Overall classroom management is a key feature on the platform. You can share files, freeze student screens, blank out student screens and share another screen to the entire class. There are far more options in terms of engaging the students than a conventional method of asking students to pay attention. Installing LanSchool is a huge asset for teachers to engage and update their lessons.
• A cool element I seldom use is the speaking software, being able to speak through their computer screens is great to give direction or get attention quickly.

Incentivized

• Blocks objectionable content
• Customized profile management by OU.
• Logging

Incentivized

• Messaging could be improved for notification when messages are sent.
• When multiple users use the same computer, sometimes LanSchool needs to be restarted to show changes in usernames.
• You can save layouts, but I would like more options for how to arrange the layout you see the computers on your screen.

Incentivized

• Delegated management is sometimes difficult to get working, requiring undocumented changes.
• Pricing has gone up for Chrome devices.
• Syncing is a manual process.

Incentivized

Love, Love, Love this product!!

Incentivized

I don't like giving a 10 since everyone always has room for improvement, and while Securly is doing an awesome job, there is still room for improvement across the board.

Incentivized

VNC Connect required you to manually add the "client" workstations to the "dashboard".

Incentivized

Securly Filter integration with Google Workspace for education makes it an ideal pairing for K-12 institutions. It has a friendlier portal and more intuitive UI, particularly when retrieving activity logs. The policy customization is also far easier and responsive. That being said, it does not provide a full-fledged firewall like Untangle NG (nor many of the other useful features from NG, such as simple-to-deploy VPN).

Incentivized

• Helps us serve thousands of students each year
• Has helped us improve classroom management
• Saves us time with technology set up (e.g. being able to do all from Lanschool, not having to set up each individual computer every day)

Incentivized

• Securly has reduced our workload managing filters.
• Securly makes it quick to respond to user audit requests.
• Securly is quick to set up.

Incentivized