Bakersfield, Calif. (June 29, 2009) – YouTube is the third most popular site on the Web, yet many school districts block it due to safety and security risks. The high-traffic site garners more than 100 million U.S. viewers watching 15 billion videos per month, and contains many valuable educational videos—along with content that’s inappropriate for students. To allow access to approved YouTube videos while maintaining network security and protecting students, more than 250 school districts are using the Educational Video Library from Lightspeed Systems Inc., a leader in network security and management software for schools.

Part of Lightspeed Systems’ Total Traffic Control network security software, the Educational Video Library enables educators to use YouTube videos for classroom instruction without any of the risks. Approved YouTube videos are displayed through a portal on the local network. All of YouTube's video functions operate normally, but the community information and links that are usually displayed on the YouTube Web site, such as promoted videos and user comments, are removed. District administrators can designate teachers and staff to submit and/or review videos for classroom use. As part of the submission process, videos are categorized and tagged for easy searching.

A recent survey of district technology directors commissioned by Lightspeed Systems and Thinkronize Inc., creator of netTrekker, revealed that the three most frequently cited reasons for schools adopting Web 2.0 technologies, such as YouTube, are to address students’ individual learning needs, engage student interest, and increase students’ options for access to teaching and learning resources.

The Educational Video Library enables schools to balance learning and safety in a Web 2.0 environment. “At the high school level, staff and students are all taking advantage of the EVL [Educational Video Library],” said Andy Blanchette, a technology specialist for Sartell-St. Stephen Public Schools in Sartell, Minn. “Students are able to add links to the videos in PowerPoint presentations, and staff are adding a large variety of videos in all subjects to EVL.” Library media specialists from each school building in the district are responsible for reviewing and approving the videos submitted by teachers.

One of the reasons Greenwood School District 50 in Greenwood, S.C., implemented the Educational Video Library was to free up time for IT staff who were receiving constant requests to unblock online videos. The Educational Video Library provides a straightforward, streamlined system for submitting, approving, and searching online video content. “I can't blame the teachers for wanting to use YouTube as an instructional resource; there are countless educational videos on YouTube,” said Zach Lloyd, network systems specialist for the district. “We opened up our firewall to allow staff to access the video library from off campus, utilizing LDAP for authentication with e-Directory. Teachers can either submit videos while at home, or make a note of the URL and submit them on campus. Reviewing falls on either IT staff or our instructional technology specialist, depending on who gets to it first.”

The Educational Video Library is included in the latest version of Total Traffic Control, the sophisticated, easy-to-use network security and management software that offers a full range of features in a single comprehensive application. Districts have the option to enable the Educational Video Library feature at any time, and can set permissions for video submission and review. Since the Educational Video Library was released in February 2009 to current and new customers, its use has grown rapidly, with nearly 4,000 videos approved and shared by educators to date. With the summer release of Total Traffic Control 7.03, Lightspeed Systems’ customers can share approved videos with each other through the Educational Video Library, creating a networked database of educationally rich video content that is easy and safe to access.

More Information

For more information, contact Lightspeed Systems at 661-716-7600, or go to www.lightspeedsystems.com.

About Lightspeed Systems

Lightspeed Systems Inc., founded in 2000, develops comprehensive network security and management solutions for the education market. Lightspeed is committed to helping schools operate their networks effectively and efficiently, so educators can provide a safe online teaching and learning environment. The company’s flagship product integrates content filtering, mobile filtering, antivirus, spam management, bandwidth management, email archiving, and extensive monitoring and reporting features into a single interface. Lightspeed’s software is used in more than 1,000 school districts in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia to protect more than 5 million students. For the past two years, Lightspeed has been recognized on the Inc. 5,000 list as one of fastest-growing private companies.

Contacts

Lightspeed Systems
Crystal Cochran
661-431-1649
crystal at lightspeedsystems dot com
www.lightspeedsystems.com

C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.
Kristen Plemon
608-839-9805
kristen at cblohm dot com
www.cblohm.com

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