Safe and Secure Tablet Learning in Elementary Schools
i-FILTER® Browser & Cloud meets MobiConnect for Education
Chosen by Sugiyama Primary School

TOKYO, Japan (May 16, 2017) – Digital Arts Inc. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Toshio Dogu; “Digital Arts”; Code 2326), a leading provider of information security software, and Inventit Inc. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Atsuhito Suzuki; “Inventit”), a remote management solution provider for internet devices, announced to support Sugiyama Jogakuen University Affiliated Primary School for a safe and secure use of personal tablets in the classrooms. Digital Arts’ i-FILTER Browser & Cloud, a web filtering software for smart devices, and Inventit’s MobiConnect for Education came together to realize an optimal solution for educational institutions.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology set a goal to “drive education utilizing personal information device” by 2020 under its Vision for Digitalized Education. While there is no doubt of the effectiveness in utilizing tablet devices for learning, many teachers and parents are concerned with elementary school students having full access to the device while their cyber literacy and morale are still underdeveloped. Teachers are also concerned of performing lessons using tablet devices with so little experience. It is imperative for teachers and parents to have confidence in the cyber environment that surrounds their children in order to effectively facilitate active and independent use of tablets. Because cyber morale and literacy levels are different among student age groups, flexibility in filtering settings must be available to match the students’ developmental stages. Another issue is that schools will be in charge of managing a few hundred devices, therefore logistics, such as device setup and application installation, must be executed with minimal disruption in order to realize security and efficiency.

Driven by a collaborative study with Sugiyama University Department of Education, Sugiyama Primary School began to incorporate ICT initiatives since 2014 by installing Wi-Fi, electronic blackboards, and digital presentation devices into the classrooms. Given this environment, they performed a study on effective ICT use with each student owning a personal tablet.

As a result, the school’s highest priority was to prevent cyber-related troubles, which was the number one concern expressed by parents and teachers, and Sugiyama Primary School elected to use i-FILTER Browser & Cloud for web filtering, available with a wide range of filtering categories and proven track record in many educational institutions across the nation. Sugiyama chose MobiConnect for Education as an MCM tool, also deployed by many schools that use iPads, with unique features tailored for schools in order to provide a safe tablet learning environment and operational efficiency.

Digital Arts worked with Sugiyama Primary School digitalization coordinator to decide which website categories to block, and upon referring to recommended settings on the i-FILTER Proxy Server by school types, reflected the web filtering settings to i-FILTER Browser & Cloud. Starting April 2016, the school was ready to launch a system where all 140 fourth and fifth grade students learn on their personal iPads. First through third grade students share the school’s iPad or iPad mini to actively integrate ICT in classroom teachings.

The combination of i-FILTER Browser & Cloud and MobiConnect for Education limits the browser students can access to ensure a safe cyber experience and allows schools to consolidate device setup and management for a secure and efficient tablet operation in the academic settings.