Best Practices for Filtering Policies

Content Filtering can be challenging to manage, especially when multiple people are managing the Filtering Policies at your school. Following these best practice tips will ensure your Filtering Policies work correctly and effectively.

Before creating a policy

1. Check what Content Filtering criteria you can use with your school’s configuration.
2. Review and edit your existing policies to ensure you don’t have multiple policies for the same or similar content. You can use the Search and Test Policy tool to quickly check whether a Filtering Policy already exists and whether it will filter a particular user.
3. Check to see if any websites or search keywords are in your Object Pools as well as directly in a Filtering Policy.

Simple but effective Policies

Overly complex policies can lead to conflicts or inconsistencies across users and devices, especially when multiple staff are involved. Having simple and purposeful policies makes reviewing and troubleshooting easier.

Descriptive policy names

Give each policy a clear and concise name that reflects its purpose and target audience. We recommend using a format like: “Block/Allow - What you’re filtering - Who you’re filtering - Additional Notes (if applicable)”.

What “Type” to use

Because websites and applications use multiple web addresses for their various functions, Linewize creates Signatures for specific websites and applications that contain all of the web addresses they use. Use the Signature in your policies to ensure a website or application’s functions are fully filtered.

Use the Category Search tool to check a website’s Theme, Category and Signature and whether there’s a Signature for the website. You can also request a review of a website’s category if you believe it should be different, or request a Signature for a particular website or application.

Policy Logic

Formatting Websites

When you enter a website’s URL into a filtering policy, omit the https://, http://, www. or / at the start or end of the URL.

Using Criteria

You can use criteria to customise your policies (for example, Time-Based Filtering Policies), but using multiple criteria in a policy unnecessarily can cause filtering issues. When you add more than one criteria to a Filtering Policy, a user must match every criteria for the policy to apply.

Managing Over-blocking

Too many filtering policies can disrupt lessons, especially when teachers can’t allow access to certain content using Classwize. Discuss with teachers and other school staff on what content needs to be blocked to find a good balance.

Filter specific users and groups

If you only need to filter content for a particular user or group:

1. Use the Criteria to specify it rather than applying the policy to everyone or a general group of users.
2. Ensure the group has the correct users before you create the filtering policy.

Excessive Locked Policies

Only use Locked Policies for specific cases, as they stop other filtering features from allowing or blocking content. If your school lets teachers manage filtering using Classwize rules, ensure you don’t make Locked policies for content that teachers may want to block or allow during class time.

Filtering Themes

Themes are collections of Categories, Signatures and websites that are very general and filtering them alone may not give you the outcome you want. You can use them along with other policies to ensure your users can still access relevant educational content.

To block Gaming but allow Educational Games:

1. Create a policy to block the Gaming theme.
2. Create a policy to allow Educational Games.
3. Move the Educational Games policy above the block Gaming policy.