GoGuardian Reviews

Pros

The best thing about GoGuardian is just how effective it is. With other computer-monitoring programs, students had to sign into it and, usually, they had easy ways of tricking the system. GoGuardian allows me to monitor, mentor, and alter student direction on their individual computers from the ease of my chair.

Cons

Overall, there is very little that I didn't find useful about GoGuardian. As a teacher, the price was right for me (free for teachers; I am not entirely sure if my school corporation pays for it). It is also easy to use; everything is clearly marked and the rosters are already in the system.

Pros

I love that I am able to view everything my students are doing. I love that I have the control and ability to close out any tabs which should not be open at a given time. Being able to send an announcement to all of my students at once is great when my class blocks end. I also LOVE the new features GoGuardian has created: audio calls and presentation mode. The reports at the end of each class are also amazing. You can see a timeline with what each student was doing at a given time and for how long. All of these features are a must during a normal school year, not to mention a remote one!

Cons

There are been some issues with the system status as of lately. With remote teaching right now this has essentially left me flying blind- especially when I cannot see my student's computers or see who is online.

Pros

It does well filtering what you put in if it is worded correctly

Cons

I know everything is a learning curve but this is a tad more difficult. Thank goodness support is very helpful!

Pros

It is always running, both at home and at school. It automatically sends alerts about any potentially harmful internet use. It allows teachers to help kids stay focused in class. It provides another way for teachers to show parents what their child is doing during class time.

Cons

I wish individual students could be put into different "scenes" at the same time, but that is just me wishing for an additional feature.

Pros

Ease of use - once set up, the information we get about student usage history, the ease of locking down custom filter policies, Smart alerts are a nice feature for tracking and being alerted to students more risky behaviors.

Cons

Sometimes sites would be categorized under a different category than one would expect. There is no "super-admin" access to GoGuardian teacher to oversee teacher classroom setups.

Pros

GoGuardian's teacher end content managment is easy to set up and use. Class rostering is amazing simple with Google Classroom sync. I love the new video chat feature on GoGuardian Suite

Cons

N/A. I am totally satisfied with this product.

Pros

GoGuardian makes it easy to assess in-class work. As a teacher I can filter what websites students have access to during my class period which ensures the work they submit is genuine.

Cons

The screens are not always updated frequently enough to get a "quick view" of what an entire class is doing. But, this is ameliorated when individual pages are opened.

Pros

Goguardian is a great resource to keep tabs on students without having to hover over a computer screen or their shoulder. You can set scenes to keep students academically honest and keep the integrity of the lesson while knowing that your student is paying attention to the task at hand.

Cons

There are some glitches, however, their customer support personnel reply within the hour of a request.

Pros

I love everything about GoGuardian. I am able to aggressively monitor student academic growth through GoGuardian. I am also able to manage the websites that students use on a daily basis.

Cons

I do not have any feedback for growth! GoGuardian is an amazing program. You will not regret it!

Pros

GoGuardian is incredibly easy to use as a teacher and it makes monitoring very simple. I can look and check in a couple of seconds what each of my students is doing, if they are on task and, if needed, close their tabs.

Cons

I don't think I would change anything. I love all the features!

Pros

I love being able to see what all my students are working on/doing both in my class and at home. This made virtual learning so much easier this past school year! I love being able to message my students to check in when I know they may not feel like asking a question. It eliminates some pressure. Also, It is great to be able to take screenshots right in the program to document when students do great or are off task. The new annotation and student group features are fantastic additions as well!

I also love being able to schedule classes and automatically start a "scene" that blocks anything I do not want students on during our class session. It helps to prevent students from being off task on their device when you can't observe every screen.

Cons

The only cons I have are:
1. There is a minor delay on what the students are doing and what I see.
2. I cannot see where their mouse if if they are trying to point to something and ask if that is what I am referring to.
3. If they have the chat window open, I cannot see their work page at the same time.
4. It would be nice to be able to turn scenes off for individual students, as a sort of incentive, without totally excluding them from the session and being unable to see anything they are on.

Pros

Over the years of use, many new features/upgrades have been release, at no additional cost to us. The support is great!

Cons

The price was pretty steep, until we negotiated lower pricing through our vendor. There are still some granular Admin permissions that are not yet available. But, I have been part of multiple brief one-on-one discussions or panels with GoGuardian reps, regarding adding these features and more.

Pros

Instructional videos are easy to follow.
Features are mostly intuitive.
Multiple groups/classes can be monitored at once, allowing for greater flexibility.
Scenes auto-populate tabs, reducing lost time as students figure out where to go.

Cons

Glitches are difficult to troubleshot, but seem to resolve on their own eventually.
Does not prevent students from opening installed apps and getting off-task.

Pros

It works well for day to day usage and gradually improves usability throughout the years. The alerts system is fairly decent at seeing issues and reporting them to the administration in the district. Customer service is very helpful and friendly.

Cons

Several components of the software do not work or otherwise have low functionality. The product was poorly transitioned over from an old interface to a the new, more user friendly one. This causes users to have to jump between old and new to manage the software which is a bit of an inconvenience.

Pros

It alerts us to inappropriate searches, monitors youtube, and other daily student activities. It has a great teacher interface to monitor their classrooms as well.

Cons

It is pricey for what it does. If they raise the prices one more time, we will drop them. You have to switch between two different user interfaces to get a complete look at student activities. They have a new admin 2.0 panel, but have not merged the full functionality of the old and new panel together yet. Not sure why?

Pros

I love being able to see all of my student computers on one screen. I have really found this software to be helpful in keeping students on track in class.

Cons

I have had some difficulties with the "scenes" feature. If I set the scene to only allow students to access a specific website(s), often, the students will still hit a wall when they have to sign in to that website. I then have to go to each individual computer to allow them access to it.

Pros

We use GoGuardian to increase monitoring student 1:1 devices. Students and parents are aware that devices are monitored.

Cons

I want to be able to group certain courses together so that when I identify that a student is on/off task I want that learning in the app to apply to that entire group of classes so that the learning of the app is quicker.

Pros

This is an easy to use web filter tool for small schools that need to manage separate filters for different age groups. It is very easy to set up different profiles.

Cons

It is expensive. The fees to maintain our accounts are more than we expected and it's hard to negotiate once you already have the tool set up.

Pros

Ease if use!! It is so easy to set up as a teacher and monitor your classes.

Cons

It took a bit to get it set up as an administrator but once we figured it out all has run smoothly! Their customer service was extremely patient and helpful.

Pros

I love that I can see what each student is doing and open a direct monitored chat with that student when they are having issues or have questions. Very little to no interruptions of service.

Cons

So far, I have no dislikes. Any time I have had questions, the service team has been ready to answer and very helpful!

Pros

This software is great for monitoring students during remote learning. It allows us to see which sites our students our using and I love the features of exiting out of sites and freezing the screens.

Cons

Nothing, I think it is a great tool for remote learning!

Pros

- Easy to use and manage
- Offers various ways to manage and view user history and data
- Smart Alerts help with the small details on things that we may not catch on

Cons

- Sometimes slow to adding new features, but when they're added it does it right the first time.

Pros

I love the real-time feedback this program offers while my students are engaging in a technology-based assignment.

Cons

I have not found anything I dislike about this program.

Pros

Teachers can monitor, view, and exhibit some control over student screens during their classes without actually touching each student's device. That makes 1:1 classroom management soooo much easier.

Cons

I don't really have any cons with the product. They are continually improving and providing updates.

Pros

GoGuardian makes it easy for me to see if my students are engaged and on task. I like that I can close tabs, set scenes, and send them messages through the chat feature - this especially works with shy students who might prefer to ask questions through chat instead of in front of the whole group.

Cons

There are a lot of workarounds where students can still access blocked sites, such as YouTube and gaming websites.