Project Red

We do not filter for teachers. We do filter students during the day, but not at home after hours. We have a ways to go to change this for students.

Randy Ziegenfuss

Janna - so do teachers have unfiltered access? Our teachers don't have unfiltered access. For example, they are not able to access Facebook. They are also, obviously, not able to access inappropriate sites. However, it is less restrictive than what students have access to. Students access Youtube EDU rather than Youtube. They also have Gaggle Tube, which is filtered Youtube.
I'm also wondering what you think of the student filtering. I have mixed feelings about student filters. I want students and parents to take ownership for and be responsible for online content that is accessed. It is difficult to teach something that we don't have access to. i.e. online etiquette for social medial. At our 1:1 parent meetings several parents indicated that they'd like the security of an off campus filter when students are not at school. We've installed this and it is a 'lite' filter compared to what they have at school. They are allowed to access their social media, which seems to be the most important part of their teenage lives, but when trying to access a porn site, for example, they get a message from our filter provider that prohibits them from access.
How restrictive is it? Do students complain about their access and are many still using Youtube? Students do complain about the Youtube EDU access, as do the teachers. Many educational videos don't make that list. Teachers have learned to research what they want to share with students ahead of time so that they are sure students will have the access.

Janna,
Yeah, this is a tough one to balance - total access to needed resources and ensuring safety and security. I also lean toward the openness and finding other means of 'monitoring' and adjusting if need be. It's a good plan for teachers to be able to plan in advance to get the needed access to resources...but it does add time/work for them that students could do for themselves. I'm interested in others' efforts on this front. I believe some Signature Districts have totally open access. How does that work? What kind of systems are in place for safety/security, etc.

thanks for the post.

Students do have access to YouTube; however, right now we use "quota" time. They are given 2 hours of YouTube time daily. Each time they access the site, 10 minutes are automatically clocked off. The two hours allows adequate time for use in classrooms and no overdose once they get home. Overuse was a concern of our community. The quota time solves this issue. Last year they had one hour but this year we increased to two hours.