Week+Five+5362

=Information Systems and Technology Plans= = = =I selected the 8e6 R3000 Internet filter by Marshal8e6 to compare and contrast with the Total Traffic Control system by Lightspeed Systems. The Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida selected the 8e6 R3000 product. In choosing a filtering system, they stated that scalability and price was important to them and the system met their needs although they did feel that the price was high. The cost of the 8e6 R3000 starts at $3,000. with added costs depending on a variety of factors. They reported that the best feature of the system was the fact that the students were not able to bypass the filter. They were also pleased with the fact that they could set up different filtering profiles for teachers and students which gave them the feeling that they were empowering their teachers.= = = =The Kenosha Unified School District No. 1 of Kenosha, WI selected the Total Traffic Control system because they were already using Lightspeed for filtering spam and decided to standardize with Lightspeed products. This district valued the reliability and ease of configuration of the product and liked the fact that, like the 8e6 R3000 system, there was no getting around the filter. One added feature of the Lightspeed system was a tool called Lightspeed Guide that could be installed on laptops to go home with students. This allowed the same filtering system to be used whether the student was at home or at school which resolved some of the concerns they had. The cost of the Lightspeed system is $10 per workstation per year.= = = =In my opinion, the best choice in an internet filtering system depends on the features that the school or district deems are important to meet their individual needs. What I observed from reading about the various systems selected by school districts was their values were varied. Price, reliability, ease of configuration, safety, integration with existing products, functionality, and capability to override the rules as needed, were some of the features that the schools listed as important in making their selection. This is why I feel it is important before going into the process of selecting a filtering system to first determine what the needs and values are of a school district before meeting with a company representative who would possibly have a tendency to "wow" them with all the bells and whistles.=

I agree that safety should be the primary factor in selecting an Internet filtering system. I liked the feature that the 8e6 system had that allowed the school to set up different filtering profiles for students and teachers. = = =Something new that I learned this week at the TCEA conference in Austin was that teachers are coming up with all sorts of creative ways to get around their school's web filters. If I recall correctly, someone shared that they have embeded videos into another website, such as a classroom wiki or blog as a way of avoiding the dreaded "access denied" screen. I am not sure if this will work for you, but it may be worth a try. I know that I have embeded YouTube videos into my personal blog but then I don't have to deal with filters. In my opinion, if it's a video that the teacher has reviewed as appropriate for students and it meets the district's guidelines for appropriate content then the teacher should be able to use it in the classroom.=

=Final Project = ==

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