GoGuardian is a program many Students at Bear River may have heard of and used, to the dismay of some students.

GoGuardian is a Google Chrome extension that lets Teachers view what students are doing on their Chromebooks. The company that made GoGuardian is based in Los Angeles and started in 2004. 

Theatre Manager Erin Beatie went into more detail on how GoGuardian works in the classroom.

“A teacher has the capability to set up class sessions so they can view their class’s computer activities in real-time,” she said. “Teachers can also choose to limit certain websites during their class sessions in order to assist with keeping students on task.”

Mrs. Beatie went on to detail about how GoGuardian helps Teachers in remote learning.

“This tool not only allows for teachers to be able to assist students with staying on task, but it also allows us to see if a student is struggling with an assignment,” she said. “Teachers are able to assist them in real-time as if they were in the classroom (saves on a lot of time trying to relay back and forth technical challenges that the student may be experiencing).”

Students such as Junior Aden Mattson had some trust issues with GoGuardian but were okay with it in the end.

“I don’t think it does anything bad, I just don’t like teachers seeing stuff on my personal computer, but I’m fine with it on my Chromebook,” he said. “I don’t like that they can see all of my work open and teachers have closed tabs open for other classes before (really only happened freshman year).”

Freshman Tyler Heuseveldt says that his Spanish Teacher Mr. Mason uses GoGuardian on tests and quizzes. 

“During a quiz, it’s kind of useful to see [if] their kids are using Google translate or not.”

With GoGuardian in many classes, Mrs. Beatie explains some of the benefits for her class..

“With my class, in particular, students are presented with problem-solving challenges that carry multiple solutions that could work, but also multiple solutions that don’t work. This tool allows me to jump from computer to computer quickly to see if a student needs assistance before an assignment is turned in with an impossible solution. Grades have gone up since I have been able to utilize this program.”

Junior Rowan Knox feels that GoGuardian was not used that much during full remote learning however he does want to change one thing about GoGuardian.

“ A lot of teachers don’t use it over quarantine, so it seems more unnecessary than usual,” he said. “I would get rid of it. I would say it isn’t useful enough to warrant the violation of privacy. Not to mention the security concerns.”

Sarah Holden also a Junior shares some of the same views.

“I hate that they can see what I’m working on in other classes.”

Mrs. Beatie finalized her positive thoughts on GoGuardian.

“GoGuardian has been an excellent tool when it comes to being able to assist students in real-time,” she said. “During a time where we have had to rely so much on technology, as well as having to maintain distance with each other, it is really nice to have a program that allows teachers to still be able to provide 1 to 1 assistance for students who need it.”