Using Web Limiting
Overview
To block troublesome or distracting websites or limit students to a select few websites pertinent to the class, use the Web Limiting feature in LanSchool Air. There is currently no limit on the number of URLs that can be added to the block and allow lists.
Watch this quick video demonstration of how to use Web Limiting with students in LanSchool Air: LanSchool Air Feature - Limit Web
Requirements
LanSchool Air can limit student website access in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. A browser extension must be present in the student's browser in order for these restrictions to be applied. If you're experiencing trouble with Web Limiting, see Troubleshooting Web Limiting. You may need to contact your LanSchool Air site administrator.
Configuring Web Limiting Settings
Before enabling web limiting for a class, configure the web limiting settings. Web limiting lists are created for each class.
- Enter the class for which you want to set Web Limiting.
- Select the Settings icon on the top navigation bar.The Classroom Settings page displays.
- From the side navigation, click Web Limiting under Classroom Settings .
- Decide which policy you want to set for the class.
LanSchool Air cannot disable private or incognito browsing or Chrome Guest Mode and cannot limit websites open in private or incognito browsing or Chrome Guest Mode.
It is recommended to contact your organization's IT team to block incognito/private browsing or Chrome Guest Mode use with device management policies.
Restrict All Websites
To restrict all websites, select the Restrict All Websites box.
Block Only
To only block specific websites:
- Select the Block Only box and select Edit.
- Select Add Web Addresses.
- Type a website address to block into the Web Address box.
- Select Add Another to add more than one website to the Block Only list.
- Once you have added all of websites you wish to block, select Add To List at the bottom of the page.
- If you ever require a blocked website to be allowed, you can toggle the website to be unblocked or blocked.
- Select Finish Editing at the bottom of the page.
Allow Only
To only allow specific websites:
- Select the Allow Only box and select Edit.
- Select Add Web Addresses.
- Type a website address to allow into the Web Address box.
- Select Add Another to add more than one website to the Allow Only list.
- Once you have added all of websites you wish to allow, select Add To List at the bottom of the page.
- If you ever require an allowed website to not be allowed, you can toggle the website to be not allowed or allowed.
- Select Finish Editing at the bottom of the page.
There is currently no arbitrary limit on the number of sites you can add.
Copy Web Limiting Settings
Web limiting settings are specific to each class you can either create unique lists for each class or copy the settings from another class.
To copy web limiting settings from another class:
- Click on the drop-down menu under Replace current web limiting with settings from:
- Select the class you want to copy web limiting settings from.
- Select Apply Change.
- Select which list to use; Allow Only, Block Only or Restrict All Websites.
- Select Done.
Pro Tip: You can share your allow / block list with other teachers by adding them as a co-teacher to your class. For more information about co-teaching see Using Co-Teaching.
Using Wildcards
Use an asterisk (*) to act as a wildcard character to specify even more websites in your allowed or blocked website lists.
Examples:
- Add to Blocked Sites: https://*youtube.com/ Result: All parts of youtube.com will be blocked.
- Add to Blocked Sites: https://*.*games* Result: All websites with the word "games" in the URL will be blocked.
- Add to Allowed Sites: https://*.*london* Result: All websites with the word "london" in the URL will be allowed.
- Add to Allowed Sites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo* Result: Only the Lenovo section of Wikipedia will be allowed.
If the student is taken to a completely different domain (website) than what is in the Allow or Block List, that website will need to be added to the list. For example: A student logs into the main page of their SIS but it then takes them to the school's domain. You will need to add the school's domain to the list.
Enabling Web Limiting in Class
Select the Limit student websites icon and from the drop-down menu, select either:
- Limit Websites for All (to apply the selected web limiting settings to all students)
- Limit Websites for Selected (to apply the selected web limiting settings to selected students)
- The Limit student websites icon indicates that web limiting is turned on:
- If Block Only is selected, or if students are on a blocked website, they are re-directed to a block page similar to the image below that shows the blocked address and allowed addresses.
- If Allow Only is selected and students are on any website not on the allowed list, they are re-directed to a block page similar to the image below.
- If Restrict All Websites is selected all websites are restricted and students are re-directed to a block page similar to the image below.
- To disable web limiting, select the Limit student websites icon again and select either Unlimit Websites for All or Unlimit Websites for Selected.
- To quickly make changes to web limiting lists, select Configure.
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