{"id":21024,"date":"2023-09-26T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lightspeedsystems.com\/blog\/7-school-web-content-filter-features-that-save-it-directors-time\/"},"modified":"2024-12-05T22:54:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T22:54:39","slug":"7-school-web-content-filter-features-that-save-it-directors-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lightspeedsystems.com\/de\/blog\/7-school-web-content-filter-features-that-save-it-directors-time\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Filterfunktionen f\u00fcr Schul-Webinhalte, die IT-Leitern Zeit sparen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As a school district IT professional, you have a web content filter deployed to be in compliance with the Children\u2019s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). However, your role as a school district IT professional has grown more important and more difficult than simple CIPA compliance.<\/p>\n

Comprehensive web content filtering is mission-critical to effective digital learning, particularly since schools have provided devices to students for learning.\u00a0Recent data published by Education Week<\/a>\u00a0shows that ninety percent of district supervisors provide devices to high school and middle school students.<\/p>\n

Learning today is ubiquitous across the physical and digital world, so learning and digital exploration go hand in hand. District IT must have guardrails in place to ensure students only have access to age-appropriate content, but web content filtering is more than blocking inappropriate websites\u2014it\u2019s about keeping students safe and focused on learning.<\/p>\n

Information Technology resources, though\u2014both time and money\u2014are in increasingly short supply.<\/p>\n

So how do IT teams ensure comprehensive filtering while managing with resource and time constraints? Below, please find the seven must-have features for IT teams that want to save time while ensuring safe digital learning for all students at any age.<\/p>\n

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1\u2014Works with All Devices, at School and at Home<\/strong>
\nIdentifying a solution that ensures school-managed, \u201cbring your own device\u201d (BYOD), and IoT devices are covered, with seamless deployment options, saves a lot of time since you won\u2019t have to manage multiple filtering solutions to ensure scalability, performance, security, and reporting. Web filtering has evolved beyond inline solutions, with cloud and hybrid approaches that now give schools enhanced flexibility and protection without the added latency and costs of hardware.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Provides Consistent Coverage Across All Devices and Operating Systems<\/strong>
\nTry as you might, your school district\u2019s network connects with a variety of devices, operating systems, and browsers, and you\u2019re responsible for protecting them all. From teachers using Microsoft Surface, to students leveraging Chromebooks and iPads in class, finding a solution that can provide the same level of functionality and reporting can save you valuable hours when troubleshooting policies and identifying user-related issues, so your IT team members don\u2019t find themselves in a vortex of time-consuming manual work.<\/p>\n

3\u2014Flexible Policy Management<\/strong>
\nOne size does not fit all when it comes to a school content filter! The needs of teachers are much different than students, and the needs of a 12th-grader are different than those of a 5th-grader.<\/p>\n

Identifying a web filtering solution with ample categories to cover the entire K-12 spectrum, such as gaming, social networks, sexual content, and generative AI, will prevent categorization errors that directly impact your IT department\u2019s day-to-day productivity.<\/p>\n

Customizable policy controls enable admins to set parameters and selectively allow or block content by group, which could include grade levels, buildings, schools, and more, empowering quick and granular control of the filtering experience.<\/p>\n

4\u2014Easy, Granular Control of YouTube & Social Media\u00a0<\/strong>
\nEducators are increasingly incorporating user-generated videos and social media into both their curriculum and their communication strategies. IT admins spend a lot of time managing custom policies for YouTube videos since relying on user-driven categorization of video content is not the best approach, making it crucial to find a solution that allows not only videos to be accurately and easily categorized, but also blocks comments, thumbnails, and YouTube shorts.<\/p>\n

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The YouTube controls are fantastic, giving my teachers and students access to the educationally focused content they need for learning while keeping them safe on the platform. <\/p>\n

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