Classroom Management with Securly

Securly Classroom offers straightforward tools for teachers to manage their classrooms efficiently, ensuring student engagement and enhancing teaching confidence. Teachers can monitor student screens to ensure focus on classwork, block distracting websites, push URLs to student devices, freeze screens, and more.

Designed to assist teachers in guiding lessons and monitoring student progress, Securly Classroom provides intuitive tools that work seamlessly across Chrome, Windows, and Mac platforms.

What is Securly Classroom?

Securly Classroom, educators can view exactly what their students see on their screens. This feature allows teachers to close inappropriate tabs and block unwanted websites, ensuring a productive learning environment.

Securly Classroom settings can be customized for individual students via their User Detail page under the “Enable Classroom” option. This tool also filters out inappropriate content and helps prevent cyberbullying, self-harm, and even suicide among students.

Privacy Concerns and Criticisms

Securly has faced criticism for enabling schools to censor content and potentially infringe on student privacy. While there have been exploits to bypass Securly’s filters, most have been resolved.

Privacy Policy: Securly ensures that no data is shared with outside organizations. Data is solely used to provide the subscribed management services.

In 2023, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Securly by parents of two California students. The lawsuit alleges that Securly collected private information from students without consent and sold it to third-party vendors.

Securly for Chromebooks

Securly Classroom helps teachers maximize instructional time on school devices by providing tools to monitor student Chromebooks. These tools include real-time views of student screens, browsing history tracking, and screen locking.

Using Securly with Google Classroom

To set up Google Classroom, link your Device Console to your Google account as a super admin, then enable Google Classroom Sync under the Integrations tab. Select an OU to sync, and all teachers from the selected OU will be imported.

Securly Classroom, a Chrome extension, assists teachers in managing student devices and online activities. Compatible with Windows 10 and 11, as well as Chrome, Edge, and Firefox browsers, teachers can:

  • Monitor student screens with detailed thumbnails.
  • Lock screens to capture attention.
  • Block access to irrelevant sites.
  • Push URLs directly to student devices.
  • Chat privately with students to provide direction.
  • Share their screens or specific tabs.

Setting Up Securly Classroom

To log in, visit deviceconsole.securly.com/classrooms or securly.com and select Classroom from the Login dropdown. Choose your identity provider (Google, Microsoft Azure AD, Clever, or Classlink).

Self Onboarding Steps:

  1. Create your account and link Google.
  2. Sync Google Classroom and deploy the Securly Classroom extension.
  3. Optionally, set up Lost Devices and Lost Mode configuration.
  4. Optionally, integrate with Schoology, Canvas, ClassLink, or OneRoster.

Connectivity and Filtering Issues

Users have reported occasional connectivity issues and synchronization problems. Sometimes, the filter may block desired content.

Pricing and Subscription Details

Securly Classrooms is available through a subscription license, supporting Windows, Mac, and Chrome OS. The subscription is non-cancellable and non-refundable, valid for one user for three years.

Extension Features: Similar to an ad blocker, the extension blocks entire websites directly on the device using Google’s filtering API, providing in-depth traffic inspection without MITM decryption.

Site Lock and Push URL: These features allow teachers to permit certain websites for students only during the monitoring session.

Managing Classes

To disable Securly Classroom for individual students, navigate to their User Detail page and select “Enable Classroom.” For the Teacher 2 role and higher, manual classes can be deleted from the Classes menu by switching to list view and selecting “Delete this class” from the overflow menu. Adjust global settings for allowed/blocked URLs or keywords via the Policy Editor.