Audience: Blocksi Administrators | IT Administrators

Prerequisites: To perform the necessary actions in this guide you will need to be a Google Admin and have access to your Google Admin Console. 

Introduction

Ensuring a secure and controlled online learning environment is crucial for educational institutions. To secure students’ devices using Blocksi through the Google Admin console, administrators can implement specific user, browser, and device settings. This knowledge base article provides step-by-step instructions on configuring these settings effectively. By following these guidelines, educational institutions can enhance the effectiveness of Blocksi in monitoring, managing, and filtering student activities, thereby maintaining a safe online learning environment.

User & Browser Settings

Note: We recommend configuring these settings at the user organization level, rather than the root level.

Incognito Mode:

• Set to: Disallow incognito mode

• Reason: Disallowing Incognito Mode prevents students from disabling extensions, including Blocksi. This ensures that Blocksi can continue to effectively monitor, manage, and filter student activities.
  

Task Manager:

• Set to: Block users from ending processes with the Chrome task manager

• Reason: Enabling this setting prevents students from ending the Blocksi extension process through the Chrome Task Manager and gaining temporary unrestricted access.
  

Developer Tools:

• Set to: Never allow use of built-in developer tools

• Reason: By disabling Developer Tools, students are unable to access Chrome Shell (CROSH), a command line interface that offers similar functionality to Linux Bourne Again Shell (BASH) or Windows command terminals. Because CROSH mode grants full access to the Chromebook, restricting this access is vital to upholding the security and effectiveness of the filtering system.
  

Screenshots:

• Set to: Allow users to take screenshots and video recordings

• Reason: This enables the capture of screenshots and video recordings of student devices by teachers for monitoring and assessment purposes.
  

Screen Video Capture:

• Set to: Allow sites to prompt users to share a video stream of their screen

• Reason: Enabling this setting allows teachers and students to share their screens to the Teacher Dashboard or student devices, enhancing collaboration and instructional capabilities.
  

Chrome Management for signed-in users:

• Not a requirement but recommended.

• Set to: Apply all user policies when users sign into Chrome, and provide a managed Chrome experience

• Reason: Selecting this setting pushes all extensions deployed to the user’s account when they are on a personal device.
   

• Set to: Do not apply any policies when users sign into Chrome. Allow users access to use Chrome as an unmanaged user

• Reason: Selecting this setting removes any extensions deployed to the user’s account when they are on a personal device.
  

Device Settings

Note: We recommend configuring these settings at the user organization level, rather than the root level

Guest Mode:

• Set to Disable guest mode

• Reason: Disabling guest mode prevents students from accessing unmanaged sessions on Chromebooks, ensuring that the necessary extensions, including Blocksi, are pushed to their devices.
  

Sign-in Restriction:

• Set to: Restrict sign-in to a list of users

• Reason: By allowing specific domains, this setting restricts sign-in to only authorized users, enhancing security and control over Chromebook devices. Type your domain in the Allowed users field that appears. Remember to include *@ in front of the domain name.
  
  

Autocomplete Domain:

• Not a requirement but recommended.

• Reason: Entering your domain allows the Chrome browser to prefill the domain for users, simplifying the sign-in process and enhancing user experience.
  
  

Conclusion

Implementing appropriate user, browser, and device settings play a vital role in securing students' devices using Google Admin console. By following the guidelines provided in this knowledge base article, educational institutions can strengthen the effectiveness of Blocksi in monitoring, managing, and filtering student activities. This, in turn, promotes a safer and more productive online learning environment for all stakeholders involved.