Hello there and welcome to our February update.

We understand that like 2020, 2021 is proving challenging for educators. No one is immune to the struggle of living in these uncertain times for such a lengthy period, however there is light at the end of the tunnel. We want to encourage our schools to keep positive and that when it comes to our software and service, we’ll continue to go above and beyond to support you.

Our latest software release is live and we’re here to unpack the highlights. There are a few updates, so without further ado, here’s what you can expect to see in the Mobile Guardian dashboard.

Standout 2.2.0 Release Features

Mobile Guardian for Schools

• Linked Parental Controls | View Only Mode
  • IT Administrators now have the ability to set up a View Only dashboard for parents.

• School | Device & Student | Browser history | View in Web Filter report
  • We have now added an additional option to view and export web browser history for an individual student from within the student details section. IT Administrators can export a report from a particular student, for a specific date range they enter.

• School | Access Requests | Alerts for access requests
  • Improvements to alerts for access requests. Admins will now be notified via email and via the dashboard when a student requests access to a website.

• Android & iOS app | Mobile Guardian Browser | UX Improvements
  • Significant UX improvements have been made to the Mobile Guardian browser to bring best practices to the experience. The team focused on ease-of-use, improved navigation, browser tab and content blocking experience, as well as a more seamless process for downloading files.

• School | Applications | Ability to remove “unmanaged” apps
  • Previously apps that were installed on iOS devices without the use of MDM could not be removed using Mobile Guardian. IT Administrators can now update the state of unmanaged apps to managed, which allows them to remove the apps from the device.

• Districts | User Authentication | Two-factor verification
  • As part of our Data Privacy Initiative at Mobile Guardian, we have further increased user security. Users now have the ability to add an additional layer of security on accounts to ensure that no data or access is given to those outside of their organisation.
  • IT Administrators are now able to set policies on two-factor authentication for the roles within their organisation.
  • Note: All users will need to use the Google Authenticator Application if they wish to make use of this setting.
  • Find out how to set up Google Authenticator and Mobile Guardian here.

• Partners | Districts | Improved license management
  • We’ve made improvements to the partner portal when it comes to managing their school districts. Partners can now manage a district's subscription in greater detail. This will apply to all new and existing district accounts. Going forward, partners need to ensure that they correctly capture all product details when setting up a district.

• iOS | Applications | Retrieve Application Serial Number
  • This new feature allows school administrators to use Apple School Manager to quickly search for apps installed on devices using Mobile Guardian in Apple School Manager.

Classroom Manager

• Improvements to Screen Share | Socket Communication
  • As part of our Data Privacy Initiative at Mobile Guardian, we have made important improvements to the Screen Share feature to reduce the broadcasting of information. Broadcast is limited from a teacher’s device to an individual student’s device within their class and only when the teacher’s device requires the information.

• ChromeOS | Close all tab button
  • Teachers can now quickly close all open tabs on all Chromebook devices in their class, using the “Close All Tabs” button.

• Classes | Historical Sessions | Improvements
  • Based on feedback from users, we continue to improve the Mobile Guardian experience for teachers. Focusing on Historical Sessions, teachers can now easily access past session information which now also includes information from the newly-added Modes section.

• Classes | Ability to duplicate classes
  • Teachers can now quickly duplicate existing classes.

All Products

Location Tracking | Allow Admins to turn off location-tracking on the dashboards

• As part of our Data Privacy Initiative at Mobile Guardian, IT Administrators for Districts and Schools can disable Mobile Guardian from tracking location on all devices enrolled in their platform. When this setting is activated Mobile Guardian will not display any location data on any of the dashboards: including classroom and parent.

Well, there you have it! A whole host of improvements to your Mobile Guardian experience. Thanks to all our users for your feedback and feature requests. It helps our product team ensure we continue to build a solution for the school of the future.

Onwards

Nicholas Norman

The Mobile Guardian Team