Before Remote Learning, Schools Need Remote Filtering

Schools around the world are working to build, implement, and expand remote learning plans to educate students through Coronavirus closures. But before virtual classes and video lectures and digital curriculum, schools need to think about the backend solution that’s keeping students safe as they learn online: remote filtering.

Thousands of schools have come to Lightspeed Systems to provide remote filtering in the last two weeks for two primary reasons:

1. They had no remote filter.
Schools relying on a firewall filter struggle to keep devices safe and students protected when the learning happens off-campus. With remote learning, schools are shifting to filtering solutions that work anytime and anywhere so students are as protected learning in their bedrooms as they were in the classroom.
Lightspeed Filter™ protects devices everywhere they go, thanks to Smart Agents installed on the device and a hardware-free set up.

2. Their remote filter offered limited on OS support.
Another challenge schools are facing is device shortages for distance learning. This means they’re pulling iPads and Windows or Mac laptops out of carts, libraries, labs, and storage closets to send them home with students. A remote filter designed just for Chromebooks doesn’t cover it. Lightspeed Filter supports Chrome, Mac, Windows, and iOS devices.

Remote filtering is more important than ever:

• More devices are going home with students
• Different operating systems are being used as take-home devices
• Younger students who didn’t have take-home device programs now do
• Students are online more than ever as other activities are cancelled
• Parents are concerned about the safety of those school devices
• Lessons are often delivered via solutions like YouTube, that need a filter to be safe
• Students are isolated and scared about this unprecedented shift in their lives
• Students are more likely than ever to be using technology late, and to be pulled down dangerous online paths
• Schools need visibility into activity and device usage to report on and improve remote learning programs
• School boards and the media and the community are talking about remote learning, and wondering about its safety and efficacy

Remote filtering blocks dangerous content like pornography and violence, protecting kids from things that they shouldn’t be seeing. It can also focus them on learning content for part of the day. And it can report on activity so everyone is assured that even through this pandemic, students are safe at home and safe online.

Schools are closed to protect students. We need to protect them online, too.