Thanks to my guests Mike & Andrew from Netspace in yesterday's Elluminate session. This was rescheduled from last week [when the technology gods weren't smiling on us]. The lack of advertising for the new date meant the audience was well down. However, thanks to Jason for joining us. Despite all this a good discussion was had by all and you can catch it all in the recording. [See the link at the bottom of this blogpost.]
“So what's growing in the walled garden? And… Can you go out the gate?” Internet Filtering in DEECD schools
Recording Link: [For optimum success here copy and paste this link into your browser [ Firefox works well]. rather than clicking on the link. You should be asked for your name and an email address to access the recording]
https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2010-07-27.2333.D.E8015B7198387BB2534AAAC8CE1224.vcr&sid=2007026
• How does internet filtering work in DEECD schools?
• What flexibility do schools have to alter this?
• What other internet filtering issues are there for schools?
• Meet my Guests:
Mike D’Monte, Education & Government Manager, Netspace Online Systems.
Andrew Mansfield, Education Trainer, Netspace Online Systems
• Let’s have a survey!
Who is responsible for filtering the internet to DEECD schools?
A • DEECD ITD
B • School Technicians
C • The DEECD contracted ISP
D • The Minister of Education
E • School Principals
Survey Results
• What is the criteria for internet filtering for DEECD schools? i.e. “what is blocked and what is not?
• See http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/manage/filtering.htm
Types of Filter warnings
Edulist Restriction
ACL Restriction – Access Rights
Time Restriction – Schools can set what time the Internet will be available
• Who decides what is on the “black list” and who controls / monitors the filtering?
• Is this “black list” the same for all schools / year levels?
Access to individual sites can be set independently on each network or group. That
is setup by the ‘Administrator’ of the School network.
This functionality works based on ‘domain names’ not on IP addresses.
Above you can see ‘Facebook’ and ‘•Tunnel.com’ have been blacklisted.
To Whitelist you essentially follow the same process except select ‘White’ from the ACS dropdown box.
A teaching group may want to have access to ‘Youtube.com’ for teaching purposes.
To enable this they would have to get the administrator add the following address
details into the Whitelist for their group.
What’s Blocked:
1 Adult Content BL
4 Gambling BL
8 Chatrooms BL
9 Dating Sites BL
10 Game Sites BL
13 Crime/Terrorism BL
17 www•Email Sites BL
18 Violence/Undesirable BL
19 Malicious BL
25 Government Blocking List BL
30 Swimsuit/Lingerie/Models BL
31 Spam BL
What’s Not:
2 News
3 Job Search
5 Travel/Tourism
6 Shopping
7 Entertainment
11 Investment Sites
12 E•Banking
14 Personal Beliefs/Cults
15 Poli=cs
16 Sports
20 Search Sites
21 Health Sites
22 Clubs and Socie=es
23 Music Downloads
24 Business Oriented
26 Educational
27 Advertising
28 Drugs/Alcohol
29 Computing/IT
• Let’s have another survey!
Can DEECD schools take responsibility for “white listing” websites?
A • Yes B • No C • Not Sure
Survey Results
• If schools “white list” websites, what responsibilities come with this action? This is the DEECD advice
“Sites must have sound educational value and must be delivered in a way that provides an appropriate level of safety. To allow access to a site, schools must consider the quality and safety of the site. Schools are able to allow and deny sites permanently or for a session or a day. This administration will only apply at their school. It is recommended that a team within the school review the websites. The team should include curriculum experts and technical experts. The team must consider the inclusion and denial of sites in view of their educa=onal quality and their potential to impact positively on student outcomes and their level of safety in particular, their potential risks.”
• http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/manage/filtering.htm
• Can there be selective “white listing” of websites or parts of websites for certain year levels? Yes but not
"The new eduSTAR.ISP will enable you to allow specific videos into the school's space without the whole of YouTube being available." [This appears on the DEECD webpage below, but is incorrect
• http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/manage/filtering.htm
• Cybersafety
"Inclusion of student representatives to identify and define appropriate behaviours around the use of sites particularly those with web 2.0 func=onality is recommended. These behaviours should be taught explicitly within the school's curriculum."
• http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/manage/filtering.htm
• How can you teach cybersafety in schools, when students live in the “walled garden” of filtered internet at school, but have the "jungle" of unfiltered internet at home?
• Teachers should also read this
http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/files/documents/1999_PPNewsletter_June_V3.pdf
• What if students are smart enough to get around DEECD filters e.g. web proxy? Who has the responsibility for this behaviour?
• Obviously schools should have Acceptable Use Policies in place and well as teaching digital citizenship
• From a ISP point of view, what should schools do about students using the internet irresponsibly?
• What are the filtering implications for schools, if schools own devices such as a set of smart phone, iPodTouch or iPad etc. with internet access to school? [or let students to bring such devices to school for educational purposes?]
Where to now?
• Add your opinions to the discussion board on The Educators Guide to Innovation Ning.
http://guidetoinnovation.ning.com/forum/topics/whats-burning-in-elearning-the
My Contact details
Mark Richardson,
Williamstown Primary School
richardson.mark.m@edumail.vic.gov.au
