Picking up the right classroom management software for your students is a quite tricky task. This article will help you decide whether you should pay for or use an open-source one.
The answer simply is yes you should buy Lanschool in this comparison. The issue with Veyon is that it is not available on all device types your students will have and has no formal training or technical support. This won’t suit the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy that most schools have regardless of features.
So now lets look at what a Classroom Management Software package is and do a full comparison of the features of Veyon vs Lanschool.
Here is what we will discuss in this article:
- Classroom Management Software
- Veyon Vs. LanSchool
- Products Comparison
- Operating Systems
- Features
- Price
- Training
- Technical Support
- Conclusion: Paid or Free
Classroom Management Software
Classroom Management Software refers to the tools that are designed to control students’ attention during classes, monitor what they are doing and supply support to students. Depending on the software you use there are some common and extra features with each tool.
For an understanding of what Classroom Management Software is check out this article:
ARTICLE: What is Classroom Management software?
CMS tools must be installed on students devices and configured from the teacher’s device. This will mean you will have to have admin rights to the students devices or the computers in your computer labs. You IT department will help you with this.
Veyon Vs. LanSchool
Veyon
Veyon is the only open-source classroom management software available on the market at the moment. Previous versions were called iTalc but it has been completely rebranded a few years ago. They had given up development on iTalc and then for some reason now they have rebranded and started issuing new releases.
Like with choosing between other paid and open source software you need to review the features and normally the open source software will have less features. This is balanced out by being able to use it for free as long as you don’t try to sell it to someone after you download it.
If you would like to trial the software you will need two computers and you can then download and install the software directly from the website above.
Here is a quick teacher’s introduction to the software for you:
LanSchool
LanSchool is one of the oldest classroom management software. It is licensed by Lenovo and has a total of 12 million worldwide users. It features an interesting function that allows teachers to integrate it into Google Classroom.
As well as the Classic version it also has a Cloud based solution for use on the internet which is a feature not widely adopted yet by other competitors in the same space. This means that you can use it in your physical classroom or for remote classroom delivery.
Lanschool has a trial version of their Lanschool Air product on their website if you would like to use it and check the features out for yourself. You can click on the Trial button on the front page of the website.
Products Comparisons
Operating Systems
This will most likely be your deciding factor if you are letting students bring devices from home which is commonly referred to as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Lanschool is the only one of these two Classroom Management Systems that is compatible with all devices. I know it is not compatible with Linux but your students will most likely not be running that and it is used more for server operating systems.
| Operating System | Veyon | LanSchool |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | No | Yes |
| Android | No | Yes |
| iOS | No | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | No |
Functions Comparison
Another crucial aspect when it comes to choosing suitable classroom management software for your students is the list of available features. I have put into a table the most important features offered by the two CMS tools so that it would be easier to compare them.
| Feature | Veyon | LanSchool |
| Blocking Function | Yes | Yes |
| Data Usage Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Communication Tools | Yes | Yes |
| Device Management | Yes | Yes |
| Attention Control Measures | Yes | Yes |
| Remote Control | Yes | Yes |
| Shutdown / Restart | Yes | Yes |
| Start Applications | Yes | Yes |
| Domain Authentication | No | Yes |
| Group Authentication | No | Yes |
| Raise Hand | Yes | Yes |
| Student Share Screen | No | Yes |
| Google Classroom | No | Yes |
| Internet Classrooms | No | Yes |
You will clearly see that Veyon as the new kid on the block has all the core features but none of the advanced features that Lanschool has.
For a list of the features for Veyon you can look here:
https://docs.veyon.io/en/latest/user/features.html
For a full list of features for Lanschool you can look here:
https://lanschool.com/customer-resource-center
NOTE: Depending on whether you are in a classroom (Classic) or remote learning (Air) you can pick the right user guide to see the full features.
Price
The two applications are very different when it comes to pricing. Veyon is an open-source classroom management software. It means that anyone can download, install, and use it without having to pay a once off or subscription.
LanSchool offers two different subscription plans:
- Onsite
- Cloud Based
For the first option, you only have to pay for the software itself. You can then install it on the machines in your classrooms and on student devices. This type of license has a device or computer limit on the license so you will need to know how many computers or devices you will want to roughly install the software on.
The cloud based license is a hosted solution where the server that controls the devices is created and set up for you by Lanschool. This then allows your teacher to login and control the devices remotely as long as they have internet access for online classes.
Training
Veyon apart from a user guide and some third party training on Youtube has no formal training offering. The video tutorials on YouTube are not what you could show a student or enough for a teacher to understand how to use the software. So you will have to create your own training material for this.
On the other hand, LanSchool has formalised training in the following formats:
- Online Documentation
- eBooks
- Video Tutorials
- Graphic Instructions (Images and Screenshots)
- Webinars
- Online Live Training
- Face-To-Face Training
This is often another major difference between open source and paid software products that is worth knowing about before you commit to the free solution. Admittedly after the initial setup though due to the smaller features of Veyon it is not too hard to work out.
Technical Support
This is the final critical comparison of any open source solution to a paid software solution. If something goes wrong with Veyon there is a bug submission tool but there is no guarantee of time to fix or if it will be ever fixed. There is no number to call for support or guaranteed Service Level Agreement (SLA).
An SLA is the contractual obligation of a software support centre to fix your problem in a certain time frame or escalate it until it is fixed. This is made clear to you when you first pay and assures you of when you can get back up and running again.
For this reason if the software is a critical class tool you would only ever go with a paid version like Lanschool. They offer a 24/7 support desk where you can get help any time you need it.
Conclusion: Paid or Free
So now that we have run through the basics of what you should consider with Veyon vs Lanschool you now understand why you would pay for Lanschool. If however you are a non profit and you are providing free training or you have trainers or teachers technical enough to manage the software. You could use the free alternative.
I have used both over the years in classrooms and while the extra features are all well and good you only end up using some of the core features on a regular basis. If you have local IT support at a school or university then you could use Veyon for free.