Hi, James here. The most prominent feature in WMS 2012 that
gets used day in and day out, real time in the classroom is the MultiPoint
Dashboard. In a way everything is new because the features that were previously
in the MultiPoint Manager Desktops tab are now rolled into a tool specifically
for teachers, the Dashboard. We’ve enhanced features, added features and moved
to a more user friendly design.
Enhanced features:
Easier to Block All or Block Selected stations to get
students’ attention
Added Disallow to web limiting, so students can go to any sites
except the ones you know are too distracting
Web Limiting now supports non-Microsoft browsers
Faster projection of your desktop to student desktops. [But
note that this is still not a feature for broadcasting videos to everyone!
Project does not broadcast your audio, for example. Instead use Launch to
launch an application, a file shortcut or a web location to all desktops.]
Simpler projection by minimizing everything on your desktop
so you immediately focus students on a single task. We’ve also made it more
obvious when you are and are not projecting.
More intuitive Launch that presents you with the icon and
name of every app on your Start screen
New for 2012:
Dashboard Ribbon. A new, more intuitive and
touch-friendly design that puts tasks in a ribbon, similar to Office
In-class Instant Messaging. Many teachers have told
us they have some students in a typical class who are too shy to raise their
hands and show that they need help. We’ve added an icon to the taskbar on their
desktop that launches a simple window to ask the teacher privately for help.
The message from each student requesting assistance shows up
highlighted under the thumbnail of their desktop.
The teacher can choose to respond by selecting the student’s
desktop and clicking the Send button, or dismissing the request. This strictly
a private teacher-student tool. Students can’t IM other students or friends on
the internet.
Take control of a student’s keyboard and mouse.
Imagine you were unsuccessful helping a student with a task in IM. Now you can
take control of the students keyboard and mouse and show exactly how to
accomplish a task while you are both looking at the student’s desktop. This is
a little difficult to illustrate with a simple screenshot, so you may want to
check out the 2 minute Dashboard demo video at http://youtu.be/D8OTukMl72s
Orchestrate Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs. With the new
MultiPoint Connector installed on the clients you can now use MultiPoint
Dashboard to orchestrate Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs just like WMS sessions.
Dashboard Users Group. For IT Pros administering WMS
systems, we’ve had a lot of feedback from you that you wanted a separate UI
just for teachers so that not every teacher had to be a local administrator,
and potentially get into trouble with low level hardware and software settings.
So by default we now create a Dashboard Users Group which we’ve added as a third
option in the Create New User wizard and we think this fits the bill.
If this all sounds good to you get started by downloading
WMS 2012 180 day Evaluation at: www.aka.ms/WMS2012Eval
and follow the instructions after you register for the download.
Enjoy!
JD