Mobile Guardian and e-safety - Web Filtering for Schools

Gone are the days of heading to the library and reading through encyclopaedias for your school projects. Now it’s all about online research. The classroom and learning experience is also becoming far more digital. Teachers are now relying on their students being able to access the internet. This is why web filtering for schools has become so vital.

But why is web filtering for schools so important?

It’s the protective layer that ensures your students are only getting access to the right parts of the internet. Without web filtering, students can view any website they want. This can be anything from videos of baby pandas distracting kids from their lessons or homework, to them getting access to harmful and dangerous content that children and teenagers should not be seeing.

So, web filtering gives you two layers when it comes to peace of mind. For one, you don’t have to worry about your students whiling away the hours on YouTube, watching the funniest skateboarding fails, when they should be focused on finishing a project. You can also rest assured that they aren’t able to get onto websites that have adult content, like pornography.

How can Mobile Guardian help protect your students?

When it comes to web filtering for schools, Mobile Guardian has you covered. It’s part of our Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution and comes with a wide range of features. Our favourite is the flexibility of the tool. A district IT manager can set restrictions for the entire network, individual schools can add more layers and then teachers can also set permissions for a particular class or lesson.

Restrictions and permissions can also be set to change depending on time and place. For example, if students can take their devices home with them, you can set your system to block Facebook during school hours or when on school grounds and then to be accessible for the rest of the day. Alternatively, you can make it so that students on a field trip can access websites related to their day out.

Another important feature to note is that the actual web filtering is applied to the registered device. This means that students can take their devices home and still be protected. They don’t have to be connected to the internet via the school or district’s proxy in order for the device to be filtered.

Have you made sure web filtering is part of your e-safety policy?

A strong e-safety policy should state, in detail, what kind of websites are off limits to students. One can even go as far as giving specific examples. However, your e-safety policy should also set reasonable explanations as to why these sites are restricted. This will allow your teachers and students to work safely online without feeling like they are being treated unfairly. If you need some help with your policy, we broke down how to set up an e-safety policy for social media to help you get started.

With Mobile Guardian web filtering for schools in your arsenal, you can really make your e-safety policy come to life. It’ll also help you to give your teachers full control of their classrooms and the homework they set.

Onwards!

Robyn Hobson

Team Mobile Guardian