App that blocks other apps

[SwedewS]

Hi!

I work in a school where each student has their own computer.
And of course, some students can't focus during the classes and just sits and plays games and their grades sinks and their parents gets angry and want to go back to carve in stones as they did when they went to school.

So I'm looking for a program that will allow me to block other programs during a set period of times and just allow a few hand picked programs to be launched.
I don't want to use Parental controls because the students can use the computer freely during breaks or else the mood will sink among quite a few and they will cause mutiny.

Does anyone know of a program that will allow me to set which programs that will be able to launched? Preferably over a set period of time but thats not a deal breaker, as long as I can block other programs

Sorry for all grammatical and spelling errors

 

[rigormortis]

iphone configuration utility ???

or whatever they call it now??

 

[simonsi]

Is this a BYOD environment or are the machines school assets?

If this is BYOD I can't see anything being possible, you would need to install this app on their machines with greater access permissions than the owners have which is a non-starter.

Assuming these are school assets then you can control internet access (on/off as well as selected/limited sites), and the school controls which apps/games are on those assets in the first place.

Do you have a robust school policy in place for their usage?

 

[DJLC]

I'm the Technology Director for a K-8 public charter school. We have 1-1 MacBook Airs in grades 6-8.

While I'm not aware of any time-bound possibilities, we do limit the apps students can run via Profile Manager. We have a 2009 Xserve running OS X Mavericks Server, while all the student MacBooks run OS X Mavericks. My rules are set up such that only apps in the Applications folder can be launched (minus a few apps kids should never use, like Terminal and Directory Utility). Students do not have admin accounts, and thus are unable to add anything to the applications folder.

I will say our web filtering software, zScaler, does allow time-based internet filtering rules. But this is provided for free by the state of North Carolina via the NC Research and Education Network (NCREN). On campus it's a GRE tunnel straight into the filter; off campus it's a PAC file. But I have no idea how much this would cost.