YouTube restricted mode blocking videos

[xicor]

Hi

 

we have youtube setup as restricted by LGFL but I am finding many many videos that are categorized as educational to be blocked and this is driving me and my staff crazy! I'm not keen on setting youtube to moderate - any thoughts ? there has to be a way to allow specific youtube videos through or white-list them by the admin? we use office 365 so cannot use a google account.

 

Thanks

[LGfLMarkB]

Hi. I'm Mark, the Online Safety and Safeguarding Manager at LGfL.

 

I’m very sorry to hear about your frustrations. Unfortunately, YouTube does not allow us to customise beyond a few elements.

 

There are certain protections in place via LGfL, but as YouTube is delivered as encrypted traffic, we cannot filter individual videos/links, but rely on their modes which are set by DNS and their categorisation.

 

On mobile devices, there is YouTube Kids,but that is only available as an app on an Apple or Android mobile device – there is no web / browser version. For mobile devices it is a good alternative – however you may sometimes find videos blocked on it that you would want to show.

 

At LGfL schools though, you have a few options: have YouTube turned off altogether (see last paragraph below-not a good plan), or have it turned on in one of three modes – open (no school would usethat as porn etc would be available), moderate restricted and severe restricted. Our schools default to the latter, so you will be on that unless you requested a change.

 

This most restricted version will have the safest settings, but will not guarantee thatyou cannot come across inappropriate material…equally you may be subject to videos being restricted that you want to watch. We cannot change that due to the encryption mentioned above.

 

You can therefore change this mode but we do not recommend moving to moderate restricted if you have YouTubeavailable to pupil users (do you??). If not, you might consider that, but you cannot have 2 modes in operation; also remember to turn off autoplay and cue videos to the start to avoid showing what may be inappropriate ads).

 

It is unfortunate as we all know how much excellent educational material is uploaded to YouTube, but unfortunately we cannot are limited to what Google (which owns YouTube) allows usto change (such as the mode). I will however, raise your message with a contact I have at Google who works in the area of child safety there and with whom I've discussed this previously. **if you send me the links in question I'll send them to her and 9f they are clearly educational then we might be able to get them 're categorised...but not quickly, I fear. (Btw I'm on a train and in meetings for the rest of today so if you send me that, sorry I won't reply till tomorrow)

 

If you do want to change mode, please open a support case to request this. Your Headteacher will be notified as it's a key safeguarding decision.

 

Worth flagging but only relevant if you use chromebooks is that if you use chromebooks via a teacher console you can whitelist a video for the chrome domain when logged in, but thatonly works on chromebooks and has not been made more widely available by google.

 

It is worth also mentioning that as part of ‘appropriate filtering’, schools are told not to ‘overblock’ in Keeping Children Safe in Education, but equally, to ensure they do block inappropriatethings. So it is a tricky tightrope I appreciate (you could well be criticised by Ofsted if you turned off YouTube altogether – although this is possible). It serves as a good reminder that you may want to talk to parents about YouTube and ensuring their homedevices are switched to restricted mode (only one version of restricted available on consumer networks).

 

Thanks / sorry again. I hope this helps to explain, even if it doesn’t change the issue

[dfergusson]

Hi

 

we have youtube setup as restricted by LGFL but I am finding many many videos that are categorized as educational to be blocked and this is driving me and my staff crazy! I'm not keen on setting youtube to moderate - any thoughts ? there has to be a way to allow specific youtube videos through or white-list them by the admin? we use office 365 so cannot use a google account.

 

Thanks

 

How come you can't use a G Suite Account? we have both Office 365 and G Suite Accounts.

[xicor]

thanks for your reply Mark, if you could please send me your email i can consolidate the video links and hopefully your contact can unblock them, some were actually from a Microsoft channel for teaching kids how to code!

 

 

Hi. I'm Mark, the Online Safety and Safeguarding Manager at LGfL.

 

I’m very sorry to hear about your frustrations. Unfortunately, YouTube does not allow us to customise beyond a few elements.

 

There are certain protections in place via LGfL, but as YouTube is delivered as encrypted traffic, we cannot filter individual videos/links, but rely on their modes which are set by DNS and their categorisation.

 

On mobile devices, there is YouTube Kids,but that is only available as an app on an Apple or Android mobile device – there is no web / browser version. For mobile devices it is a good alternative – however you may sometimes find videos blocked on it that you would want to show.

 

At LGfL schools though, you have a few options: have YouTube turned off altogether (see last paragraph below-not a good plan), or have it turned on in one of three modes – open (no school would usethat as porn etc would be available), moderate restricted and severe restricted. Our schools default to the latter, so you will be on that unless you requested a change.

 

This most restricted version will have the safest settings, but will not guarantee thatyou cannot come across inappropriate material…equally you may be subject to videos being restricted that you want to watch. We cannot change that due to the encryption mentioned above.

 

You can therefore change this mode but we do not recommend moving to moderate restricted if you have YouTubeavailable to pupil users (do you??). If not, you might consider that, but you cannot have 2 modes in operation; also remember to turn off autoplay and cue videos to the start to avoid showing what may be inappropriate ads).

 

It is unfortunate as we all know how much excellent educational material is uploaded to YouTube, but unfortunately we cannot are limited to what Google (which owns YouTube) allows usto change (such as the mode). I will however, raise your message with a contact I have at Google who works in the area of child safety there and with whom I've discussed this previously. **if you send me the links in question I'll send them to her and 9f they are clearly educational then we might be able to get them 're categorised...but not quickly, I fear. (Btw I'm on a train and in meetings for the rest of today so if you send me that, sorry I won't reply till tomorrow)

 

If you do want to change mode, please open a support case to request this. Your Headteacher will be notified as it's a key safeguarding decision.

 

Worth flagging but only relevant if you use chromebooks is that if you use chromebooks via a teacher console you can whitelist a video for the chrome domain when logged in, but thatonly works on chromebooks and has not been made more widely available by google.

 

It is worth also mentioning that as part of ‘appropriate filtering’, schools are told not to ‘overblock’ in Keeping Children Safe in Education, but equally, to ensure they do block inappropriatethings. So it is a tricky tightrope I appreciate (you could well be criticised by Ofsted if you turned off YouTube altogether – although this is possible). It serves as a good reminder that you may want to talk to parents about YouTube and ensuring their homedevices are switched to restricted mode (only one version of restricted available on consumer networks).

 

Thanks / sorry again. I hope this helps to explain, even if it doesn’t change the issue

[xicor]

to be honest I don't want the trouble of having two separate systems, my users are very bad with technology and having 365 by itself if confusing enough for them

 

How come you can't use a G Suite Account? we have both Office 365 and G Suite Accounts.

[LGfLMarkB]

Happy to give it a go:

mark DOT bentley AT lgfl DOT net

Best

Mark

[LGfLMarkB]

Hi @xicor

I didn't get an email btw. No probs if not, but just in case you think I'm not answering...

Mark

[xicor]

apologies for the delay, I have not had the chance to send this through yet, I have posted another new thread related to something else that you might find interesting, see link below

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/london-grid-learning-lgfl/202618-adult-content-through-twitter-lgfl-connection.html

[LGfLMarkB]

No probs. Happy New Year to you. In the meanwhile, whilst I appreciate you said your weren't interested in G Suite for now, please have a look at this new guidance we published on how you can access an incorrectly categorised video: https://youtube.lgfl.net

 

Best

Mark