FAQs

Blocksi

Too much screen time has always been a concern. Blocksi wants to put you at ease.

Parents and teachers have long cautioned about the use of technology. But, the fear is no longer just about it “rotting children’s brains” or “not getting enough exercise.” When the pandemic shut down schools across the United States for most of 2020, it kicked the digital door wide open.

Remote classrooms were supposed to be temporary. It was an emergency measure to keep education moving. This type of instruction has been long perceived as supplemental. But, as the COVID-19 protections are slowly being rolled back, the online learning model remains entrenched.

This produces a whole new set of issues. Children must be glued to their devices not just for fun anymore, but also for school. Long hours in front of a screen still remains worrisome to parents. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 63 percent of K-12 parents were concerned about too much screen time. This is the highest-rated problem amongst guardians whose children were receiving only online instruction.

Blocksi offers a solution.

Blocksi is a K-12 web filter and classroom screen monitoring software designed to minimize screen time and online threats while maximizing the overall educational experience. Out of necessity, students are stuck in front of their monitors. With this innovative platform, teachers and parents can reassert control over what is being consumed.

Below are some FAQs on Blocksi and its role in the evolution of online learning.

What is Blocksi?

Blocksi is a platform for managing the digital needs of the modern classroom. Blocksi is a classroom screen monitoring software and K-12 web filter. This powerful, cloud-based solution empowers parents, teachers, and administrators. At its core, it gives greater control of a child’s online content. Compatible with Chromebooks, Windows-OS devices, and iOS devices, Blocksi automatically filters websites, social media, and YouTube to meet K-12 educational guidelines and demands.

What does Blocksi do?

From the dashboard, Blocksi filters content, collects analytics, and manages its student users. Inside the classroom, the software monitors screen time during in-person and virtual learning across all G Suite apps. Outside the classroom, it continues to set limits on what students experience while watching, browsing, or searching. It produces actionable data to detect trends, including cyberbullying and other harmful behaviors. Both parents and teachers benefit from these safeguards. For administrators, additional tools and reporting help align the entire district and proactively address issues.

How does Blocksi work?

Blocksi is non-proxy and hardware-free. Entirely cloud-based, Blocksi technology operates at the browser level, not at the network level. It functions with any Chromebook, Windows, and Android platform, and soon to come for iPad and Mac devices through the existing G Suite for Education infrastructure. A Google domain, administrative user, and a Blocksi signin are all that’s needed to get started.

How do you use Blocksi?

According to a PwC report, only 10 percent of surveyed teachers feel secure in incorporating new, higher-level technology into classrooms. With this in mind, Blocksi presents an effortless experience for both teachers and parents. Most of the work is done on the back end. The K-12 web filter is controllable from its easy-to-use dashboard. If more help is needed, the Blocksi.net help page contains even more resources.

What can Blocksi see?

The view is different depending on the user. Administrators have access to raw data, trend analysis, reporting, and viewing habits. These can be broken down by the user and downloaded into PDFs. Location tracking minimizes devices being lost or stolen. For teachers, their dashboard monitors every student’s screen to enforce and manage content in real-time. Blocksi supports remote learning as well. Parents are more aware of a school’s goals, even at home. Through the K-12 web filter, they can limit streaming access and enforce time restrictions. The AI-powered file scanning can identify troubling or harmful behavior and notify through automated alerts.

Who owns Blocksi?

Blocksi is a privately-held company. Its headquarters is located in Palo Alto, CA, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Fuad Bahou is the current CEO.

When was Blocksi invented?

Blocksi was founded in 2011, with a mission to connect apps and software that enable people to exert more control over their internet consumption. It balances this care for both students and devices with a low-cost product. Since it began, Blocksi has grown to nearly 50 employees.

What is Blocksi Web Filter?

Its highly-rated browser extension is free for Chrome. The K-12 web filter works for school districts, homes, and businesses wanting to set online content and time boundaries. It filters across 85 different categories and YouTube. It uses SafeSearch for text images and video with all major search engines. It also uses in-app control features.

Is Blocksi free?

The K-12 web filter extension is free to download. But teachers, parents, delegates, and administrators must request a quote. Blocksi does offer a free, 30-day trial.

Is Blocksi good?

Blocksi is backed by some of the largest brands in this space. The company is a Microsoft Partner and a Google for Education Partner. This year, it was named a Lenovo Trusted Supplier. Blocksi is a valued partner and strong resource due to its online guides and tutorials. The Blocksi.net website stores how-to videos and walkthroughs, organized into groups. This makes it an easily implemented software for any user.

How much does Blocksi cost?

Blocksi pricing can vary depending on the size of the school district and the number of devices used. Parents, teachers, and education officials can try it for free for 30 days. After that, they will need to request a quote from one of the company’s customer service representatives. For personal use, the Blocksi router and home manager is $59.50 per year. This extends content-blocking protection to the entire family.

Does Blocksi work only on Chromebooks?

Any Chrome-supported client can run Blocksi. The extension will work on macOS and Windows Desktop, in addition to Chromebooks. Just make sure Chrome is installed and is the default browser. Blocksi also syncs with any Google Workspace application, including Gmail, Classroom, Docs, and Drive.

Can Blocksi see your camera?

In remote learning classrooms, the camera can be used for audio-video conferencing. Entering this mode is safe and secure. If a device is lost or stolen, Blocksi actives a unique navigator that collects data, including location, screenshots, and camera images. These can be used in the recovery and return of the device.

What can teachers see on Blocksi?

On the dashboard, teachers view students’ screen activity as tiles. When clicked, the display becomes full-screen with metrics from that class session. This up-to-date report includes any URLs or videos previously watched. Teachers can also see any tabs currently open on each student’s device. Classroom-specific filters can be applied and enforced for an individual student. Teachers can also take even more control and close out any unwanted websites, push tabs to the student’s browser, or completely pause the internet for a period of time. When taking a test or assessment, access to resources can also be restricted.

Is Blocksi illegal?

Blocksi is a legal, classroom management tool designed to help monitor, share, and communicate. In fact, the platform helps many school districts maintain compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA mandates that schools and libraries filter any internet services and adopt formal Terms of Use policies. Custom Blocksi extensions go beyond federal requirements without sacrificing access for teachers and administrators.

Is Blocksi safe?

Blocksi is a trusted partner for Microsoft, Google, and Lenovo. To be endorsed by these industry leaders, the classroom screen monitoring software undergoes high levels of scrutiny. There is often a routine re-evaluation to make sure these standards are continuously met. With a simple download, Blocksi actually makes going online a safer experience for students. It provides category, keyword, video, and image filtering options. If a student displays a pattern of harmful language or behavior, Blocksi alerts adult users. These protocols ensure safety for all students using the software.

What is Blocksi Education Everywhere?

As the name implies, Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere (EE) offers four, linked dashboards that are available anywhere, at any time. Because Blocksi Manager EE doesn’t use any hardware, administrators, teachers, parents, and delegates unite to construct a virtual screen monitoring platform for students that is entirely secure. At school or in the cloud, students will not face slow response times or errors. This integrated system is offered as a bundle package for school districts wanting to foster safe, online learning environments.

What is Blocksi chat?

Available from the teacher dashboard, the message function is between a teacher and a student only. Students cannot message each other. A teacher can message an entire class, a specific set of students, or just one student. The chat bubble icon can be used as a direct message. This dialogue can continue, as needed. If “Message All” is selected, students will immediately see the message and can respond. The teacher will be notified by the blinking tile under the student’s name.

Admin Dashboard

Is Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere a full cloud-based solution?

Yes, Blocksi Manager EE does not rely on any hardware security appliance, whether at school or in the cloud, via a virtual security appliance, which is pretty much the same as having a hardware security appliance.

Blocksi Manager relies on a fully distributed database architecture in the cloud, and does not rely on any proxy solution that tends to cause SSL certificate errors or has slow response times.

Blocksi Manager filtering technology commands the browser what to display and does not rely upon any DNS proxy.

What SSO provider is being used to access the Administrator Dashboard?

Blocksi Manager requires you to have a Google domain and a Google Workspace Super Admin user to be able to register and access the Administrator dashboard. If you have an LDAP or AD Identity provider, Google Workspace for Education provides tools to bridge these— the Google Workspace SSO and a third-party identity provider.

Is Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere a DNS Proxy or DNS forwarding solution?

No, Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere is to be used with any Chrome client whether on a Chromebook or on a desktop (Windows or macOS) and sits directly in the browser, filtering at the browser level rather than at the network level.

How long does it take to set up and maintain my filtering policies across my whole domain ?

Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere leverages the Google Workspace for Education Ecosystem and pushes it to every Chrome client's extensions through the Google Cloud.

As such, deploying an efficient and granular filtering policy across a 20,000-Chrome-client school district does not take more than 10 minutes.

How do I manage my content filtering policies across my various domain and sub domains ?

The Administrator dashboard is a cloud-based dashboard that you can access from anywhere, including from your smartphone. It is secured by your Google Workspace Administrator account.

Can I manage the Parent and the Teacher accounts from my Administrator Dashboard?

Yes, the Administrator dashboard allows you to not only grant access to the parents and teachers for their respective dashboards, but also enables specific features on the Teacher and Parent Dashboards, such as specific filtering policies for teacher's classes, as well as Blocksi content analysis for cyberbullying and for other inappropriate online behavior.

Can I use Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere with other devices than Chromebook ?

Yes, you can use Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere with any other device that supports Chrome browser and extensions, whether on a macOS or Windows Desktop or on Chromebooks.

How do I enforce Chrome browser on Windows or macOS desk ?

You can prevent the use of a third-party browser, other than Chrome, by using apps such as Net App or use Blocksi DNS along with the Blocksi client for Windows and macOS. Blocksi DNS enforces the Chrome browser.

Does Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere support YouTube filtering in a extended way, or does it support only the YouTube Strict Mode filtering?

BMEE supports very rich and enhanced Buyout filtering. For example, you can block all YouTube content or specific parts of YouTube while allowing only channels of your choice. BMEE YouTube filtering allows filtering across 20 YouTube categories, channels, and content description as well as exception lists. Exception lists support two modes of filtering: strict and moderate.

Does Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere support geofencing and time-based filtering policies?

BMEE supports geofencing, meaning that you can have different filtering policies based upon where the Chromebook or Chrome client is located. At the same time, it supports time-scheduled filtering policies and as such allows you to set different granular filtering policies onto the Chromebook or Chrome client at certain times of the day.

Does Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere supports insights per user ?

BMEE supports full analytics per user, per OU, per action, and provides content analysis to detect misbehavior at a per user level across 12 misbehavior categories such as cyber bullying, profanity, etc.

Is Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere a proxy-based solution?

No, BMEE does not use proxy for URL categorization. The Blocksi extension sends categorization requests to the Blocksi Cloud service. Traffic does not traverse any Blocksi-maintained proxy server.

Does the Blocksi solution work with HTTPS sites as well?

Yes, Blocksi solution supports HTTP and HTTPS protocols.

Does Blocksi solution use HTTPS decoding/encoding?

Blocksi does not force any HTTPS decoding and thus does not generate any certificate errors when users access HTTPS sites.

Is Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere a Google Workspace approved solution?

Yes, Blocksi Manager Education Everywhere can be found on Google Workspace Marketplace and the Blocksi extension is also available in the Chrome Webstore.