Filtering/Security

Hi all,

I want to incorporate GoogleApps in my classroom, and eventually branch out into the rest of the school (grades 6-8). I have been getting some resistance from administrators in regard to security/filtering. Since you guys have experience with this, what have you found that works and doesn't work? Have you had issues with students posting inappropriate things? What types of policies do you have in place, and how much does Google have built into the Apps for Education in regard to security/filtering?

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Permalink Reply by Kelli L. Frazier on July 18, 2010 at 2:22pm

Good question, Maria. My district has not incorporated this at any of our schools either, as far as I know. I'll be interested to see what everyone posts.

Permalink Reply by Matt Allen on July 20, 2010 at 9:47pm

If you get the school domain, there are tons of options to restrict students. There really is no reason for any hesitation when it comes to security. I do have all students log-in names and passwords, (They can't change them, thanks to the restriction options I mentioned earlier.) and I check their docs randomly throughout the year and summer. However, I have not had any issues.

Your best bet is to look at this site: http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/k12.html and bring your case to the administrators.

One way I have been able to keep/get what I want is by offering to pilot it for everyone else. This is a bit more work, but it has been worth it so far. I also share my successes (having a 6th grade student who was home after surgery participate using Google Docs and Skype, etc.) with everyone I can. This way, I can show how valuable these tools can be.

Permalink Reply by Maria Sommer on July 21, 2010 at 8:01am

Thanks so much Matt, that helps a lot. I am planning on doing a pilot with my classes, maybe starting with just one grade level (I teach 6-8 Science), and rolling it out to the rest of the department by the end of the year. Once we start, others will join.

Maria

Permalink Reply by RIchard John McLaughlin on July 22, 2010 at 3:27pm

Hi Maria:
Isn't it weird when you are sent to a class to learn about the new technology and everyone is very resistant to it?
This is the world we live in. Google is doing wonderful things, but most people don't know about it. They are afraid that there will be problems and they will receive all this spam mail, or worst, porn.
I would strongly recommend a classroom policy about inappropriate use of the internet.
A way around surfing the web for what ever they want to look at is www.jogtheweb.com Very cool. It is a webquest site and a social networking place where you decide the websites you want them to go to. You can also post questions at the top. But better yet is that there are a lot of jog the webs done already and people share them. I found a very cool one on the skeletal system.

Permalink Reply by Roger Grant on July 29, 2010 at 11:50am

Hi Maria, I'm an 8th grade science teacher and I began limited use of Google Docs last year. I suggested Google Apps for Education to our District but didn't get any response from them. Fortunately my school administrators were more receptive. Over the summer I created a separate domain name and a Google Apps for Ed account for our school. We are a K-8 school but will provide Google accounts only to our middle schoolers beginning this fall.

I have same questions about filters. I have restricted services so students will not have chat, videos, groups or start page. I have allowed them to share outside the domain but they will receive a warning. I also increased the spam filter levels for sexually explicit and racially insensitive through Postini, although I have not created any content filters.

Google now has online training at http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home.

Permalink Reply by Maria Sommer on July 29, 2010 at 1:09pm

Thanks, Roger. I will take a look at the training page. Your situation sounds very similar to mine. Did you get an pushback about having created the domain name on your own?

Permalink Reply by Roger Grant on July 30, 2010 at 7:07pm

My school admin is supportive and they hope to use it as an example to help convince the county to sign up.

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Ross on August 1, 2010 at 8:35am

Roger,
You say you created a separate domain name. Can you provide some specifics on how you went about this?
Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Roger Grant on August 2, 2010 at 11:19am

It was really quite simple. I went to Godaddy.com and registered a domain name (wrsmail.net for Windy Ridge School mail). It is under my name but the school's address. I made a quick little website and used that as the domain name in our request to Google. Google then provided all the directions I needed to create the Google account.

WRSmail.net is the start page for our login process. If you click Google Apps Login on the left sidebar it takes you to our policy page which requires students to agree to the policy before they continue.

Permalink Reply by Lori Lisai on August 2, 2010 at 7:41pm

Hi there,
I am trying to get going with Google Apps in my own classroom. How did you set up a "quick little website"? Can I use the wiki that I created for my team as a website? Also, I assume you paid the ten bucks or so at Godaddy for the domain name?
Thanks!
Lori

Permalink Reply by Derrick Waddell on August 2, 2010 at 8:35pm

Yes, you can use your current wiki. GoDaddy will allow you to forward your domain to any current website. We used our Google Site (www.westpointhigh.com). You can get a .com for around $10.

Permalink Reply by Anne Jeschke on August 17, 2010 at 8:45pm

Derrick,
I went to your district site and notice you have a Facebook Fan page. We are exploring that too but one person on our team thinks we need to have our Fan page come from a current staff member's Facebook homepage so we can share it with existing friends. However, we DON'T want to see the news feeds of friends.

What is your experience?