Internet Filter: Managing Your Level of Access

filter.png

Our Internet content filter (Lightspeed Relay) uses a variety of processes to recognize who users are, and the purpose of this document is to make users aware of how those processes work, and how to manage their level of access when they can’t access the content they need.

Levels of Filtering

The district provides 4 levels of filtering based on the user accessing the system. 

  • Administrators: District administrators and principals are provided with open access that is only filtered for content that could be damaging to their devices (malware, viruses, phishing sites, etc.).  
  • Digital Media Coordinators: Staff whose responsibility it is to update social pages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) for their buildings have those sites available to them all day.
  • Staff: All staff are provided with access to sites that, while appropriate for education, might also have content that would be inappropriate for students, or that could be classroom management obstacles or bandwidth hogs. For example, staff have access to Pinterest and the full YouTube site, where students normally only see restricted portions of YouTube.
  • Student: Anyone that doesn’t fall into any of the above categories will receive the most restrictive content filtering.  

Managing Your Access

By default, anyone that connects to the Willard network is filtered as a Student. Whether on a wired connection or a wireless connection, when a device connects, it is assumed that device belongs to a student, unless some action is taken to elevate that user to a higher level.  

All Staff, including Digital Media Coordinators and Administrators have options to make sure they are connected at the level they need, based on the device they are using to connect. The links below will take you directly to the portion of this document that you need for your specific situation:

Staff Members Using a Windows Desktop or Laptop

On Windows-based desktops and laptops, logging into the Chrome browser will inform the filter of the user’s status.  You generally will need to use Chrome to elevate your filtering status above the "student" level; other browsers (Firefox, Edge, etc) will be inconsistent in elevating your access.  It is most effective if your login to Chrome is "syncing".  You can check this by clicking the user icon circle at the top right of the Chrome browser, then look for "Sync is on" with a green circle indicator:

image.png

If instead of "Sync is on", you see "Sync is Off", then you need to click the "Turn on Sync" button:

image.png

When you click to turn ON the sync, you will be informed that your organization (the school) will manage your profile--that's happening anyway!  Just click Continue, then confirm you really want to turn on Sync by clicking "Yes, I'm In!".

To check to see if you are logged in to the filter, browse to http://filter.willardr2.net Links to an external site.. You should get a screen that looks like this:

image.pngAt the bottom of the site you will see the phrase "You are logged in as...", followed either by your email address if you ARE signed in, or "Guest" if you are NOT.  If it indicates that you are NOT signed in ("Guest"), continue below...

You may see that "you are browsing as a guest and have limited Internet access".  Click the "Sign in now" link.  The screen will update to show a "Sign in with Google" link:

image.png

Click that button and complete the sign in process using your school email credentials.

At this point you should have the privileges required to go to the sites you need.

 

Staff members using a Chromebook

On Windows-based desktops and laptops, the Chrome browser does a good job of determining that you are a staff member. On a Chromebook, you must login to the chromebook using your school email address, then that will be sufficient to make sure you are getting the filtering level required by your position.  There is no need to check for syncing, or if you are logged in to the filter, these things will happen automatically.

 

Staff member using something besides Windows or Chrome devices 

Stay tuned for additional information for iPads, phones, etc.