Northern Grid for Learning - School Broadband, eSafety, Learning Resources and More
FilteringNorthern Grid - Broadband Update #211 May 2012
Northern Grid - Broadband Update #119 March 2012
Using ICT Effectively and Saving You Money14 November 2011A guide for ICT Team LeadersCloud Storage - is it safe to use?Cloud based storage and online synchronisation offers individuals many benefits, one of which is removing the need to carry flash pens and portable disks around. The question that needs to be asked is what issues are raised by this increasingly popular and free service. Google Apps and Live@Edu have storage space available as part of their email offering. An increasingly popular trend is synchronising online storage. Dropbox and SugarSync are currently two of the more popular. The services mentioned are all available at no charge but with limits be it limited storage, non-existent Service level agreements or limited control over the functionality or how it changes. The main concern with Dropbox is the significant risk of breaching the Data Protection Act. Staff wishing to store personal information should not use a service that does not comply with the EU Safe Harbor agreement. The EU Safe Harbor agreement requires that personal data is stored in the EU or in other countries where we have set agreements. Dropbox is hosted in the US is non-compliant! There are also security issues with free services, in June 2011 Dropbox confirmed that a programmer’s error caused a temporary security breach that allowed any password to be used to access any user account. If you decide to use this service it’s highly recommended you encrypt your files prior to synchronisation. Web Browsers – Upgrade to Internet Explorer 9IE9 is the most secure and best performing Microsoft browser it therefore is recommended that schools upgrade. Websites designed for earlier versions may not display correctly to resolve use a feature called Compatibility View. To ensure IE9 can view all webpages correctly an icon titled compatibility view has been added. The icon normally looks like Managing Online Identities – The Challenge04 October 2011
Yesterday I delivered an after school esafety session for the staff at Southridge First School in North Tyneside. Their thoughtful and perceptive contributions showed that they understand the importance of this area of safeguarding and are ready to work together to develop policies to support all elements of teaching and learning in a safe and supportive environment. Much of what I talk about during these sessions centres on how sharing of personal information and opinions is ‘normal’, and we shouldn’t be surprised if our learners and colleagues, on occasions, behave in ways that we would consider inappropriate. I have long maintained that the only way we will see a decline in inappropriate and bullying behaviour in the (social) media is by modelling positive behaviour for our very young children to learn and adopt. If we can instil in our young children an understanding and ownership of privacy, personal information and appropriate communication of opinions, then we stand a much better chance of them growing up to be more responsible and empathetic participants in online (and offline) interactions. It is perhaps only then that we will see some secondary schools demonstrate the confidence to adopt more open polices relating to filtering and the use of personal and handheld devices for learning and recreation during the school day. There is much work still to be done, and we need patience and commitment if we are to help our young people become responsible and considerate members of our increasingly sophisticated social networking opportunities. If you would like further information about Northern Grid's support for schools email Please carry out the following checks. If any of the tests fail then your Cachepilot configuration is not providing adequate protection. Contact Easynet Support on 08453334568 for further advice and assistance. Open your browser and type the URL www.google.com a search windows will open click on the search settings link top right. If you can view and change the SafeSearch Filtering options SafeSearch in not enforced. If you have decided to allow access to YouTube for a CachePilot user group, login as a member of this group and access the URL www.youtube.com a green banner titled "Enabled Safety mode" should appear directly below the YouTube search bar. After any video is selected check to ensure that viewer’s comments are disabled. They would normally appear directly below the video. From your workstation’s browser access the following URLs. All of the following URLs should be blocked if they are not your browser will be automatically redirected to the Smoothwall home page. If any sites are not blocked check you’re filtering for configuration errors! UPDATE: Northern Grid has a new Service Provider - BT. The following services will be changing soon. Stay tuned to this page. Find out more about the New Service Provider If your school purchases broadband from Northern Grid make sure you are accessing all of the services included in the broadband price. Our Services Guide gives an overview of the services and products Northern Grid offers in the following areas: Easynet is the ISP (internet service provider) who manage and deliver internet access to Northern Grid schools. Sites that are identified as illegal are filtered before the internet connection reaches your school. This is non negotiable and Easynet, Northern Grid and your governing body could not condone such sites reaching your learners or teachers. Although this filtering process is very effective it is always possible that a new or unknown site could inadvertently be allowed through the connection and in these cases it is very important that Northern Grid are alerted immediately so the filtering can be adjusted accordingly. In the majority of Northern Grid schools there is also a second filtering mechanism located within the school building. This is called a CachePilot and the filtering rules on this device can be adjusted to meet the needs of the school. The CachePilot performs two key functions: 1) Acts as a cache and stores popular websites visited by teachers and learners so that the internet experience of users is much faster. Instead of getting the website information from the internet servers it can display pages previously visited by members of that school’s community from its own cache or memory. 2) Acts as a dynamic local internet filter to provide customised web experiences for individuals and groups. It is usually the case that the local web filter (the CachePilot) handles those sites that have been broadly identified by the school as ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’. Examples of the categories include, but not exclusively, social network sites (Facebook etc.) and online shopping (ebay,... As part of Northern Grid’s fully, accredited manage service, the Email provision delivered to users should provide the following as a minimum set of requirements to meet Accreditation standards. These standards identify only the minimum requirements for an appropriate accredited email system for schools and Northern Grid recommend that you do not accept less than these standards. Using an email provision which does not meet these minimum standards infringes and negates the approved managed service standards of Northern Grid for Learning. If you are having difficulty achieving these standards with a chosen email supplier please contact Northern Grid on 0191 4611844 for advice on suppliers that easily meet these standards. Northern Grid has produced this document to assist you in checking that your CachePilot is configured correctly. It contains a list of sites with instructions on how to test your configuration settings correctly and any actions that should be taken from performing these tests; in addition to these test instructions it also contains a list of FAQs to help answer any questions you may have about the CachePilot system. Further information available in the document below. That may sound a rather strange question. After all, the internet is there, and young people use it every day. But what we (the National Education Network and Lancaster University) want to know is, “How do young people and schools use the internet?” “Have they had any bad experiences?” “Do they understand about filtering and e Safety?” “And how do their views of digital technology relate to the views of their teachers?”. We also want to know about their attitudes to social networking sites. Are they worried about what can happen through the use of these sites, or do they see them as an unremittingly good thing? Going further, there’s also the question of their mobile phones - how do they use them? When do they use them, and again, do they have any concerns? And indeed should we, as educators, be concerned with how these devices are being used. At the moment no one is quite sure what young people feel about these digital devices, and how their feelings accord with those of their teachers? Because of this we can’t be sure if current approaches to such issues as filtering and e-safety are the best approaches, or whether we should be working in different ways to ensure that pupils and teachers remain safe when using digital technology. This new research, (to be conducted across the UK), is being undertaken by the National Education Network (the UK collaborative network for on line education funded by government), and Lancaster University. It consists of simple surveys, one group directed at teachers and personnel in schools (head... Northern Grid, Easynet and Equiinet have visited each partner LA to run through the code version and offer advice on the GUI changes users will experience. Northern Grid, Easynet, Equiinet and McAfee are also working on the deployment of the Next Generation filtering platform that will replace the current SmartFilter system. We are currently planning to start migration to this service during the summer term. In order to enable the migration of CachePilots from SmartFilter to McAfee WebWasher we need to ensure that all CachePilots are on the most upto date software code version. We are therefore planning to release code updates to upgrade all Northern Grid CachePilots overnight on Friday the 30th April 2010. The CachePilot units will automatically download the update out of hours Friday evening. Users will see the new GUI when logging in following the upgrade. No bespoke site lists or configuration will be lost, although some lists may merge as part of the simplification of the Active Directory integration- please see attached document for further information. Sites are not required to do anything to enable this upgrade, the CachePilot simply needs to be powered up and online! What are your thoughts on this issue? Is your school involving your students in shaping E-Safety policy? Post a comment below! |
Northern Grid has signed a 5 year contract with BT and will be providing new, fast, affordable and robust broadband connections to schools across the North East of England. The update reports are intended to keep you informed about what to expect during the installation process and the services that will be included.
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3 October 2011
For those that weren't at the Easynet, Northern Grid Technical Seminar on the 6th of July 2010, here are the presentations and documents from the event.
Northern Grid, Easynet and Equiinet have been working with partner Local Authoritiess to enable all CachePilots to be upgraded to 5.2.5 software code. Amongst other enhancements this code version enables easier integration with Active Directory and simplified Google Safe Search enablement.
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