Press Release

December 1, 2021
Digital Arts Inc.

GIGA School Device Usage Case Study of Kagawa Prefecture's Takamatsu City Board of Education
— To create an environment where technology education is the norm by utilizing "Whitelisting" made possible by Digital Arts' i-FILTER. —

Information security solutions provider Digital Arts Inc. (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Toshio Dogu; hereinafter referred to as "Digital Arts"; Securities Code 2326) is pleased to announce on December 1 it released an introduction case study of the Takamatsu City Board of Education in Kagawa Prefecture, which used the web security cloud service i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition as a security measure for the one device per student GIGA School Program.

Introducing a Case Study of a Board of Education That Introduced Filtering to Ensure Proper Use of Devices

The GIGA School Program, which aims to provide devices and high-speed internet to every student nationwide, coupled with the increased need for online learning brought on by the pandemic, has led many local governments to fully introduce devices by the end of fiscal 2020. Each municipality continues to promote the use of technology in schools and investigate the optimal way to operate the program, including how to use devices for learning and usage rules for students.

In the midst of all this, it was found that a tragic incident occurred in September, 2021 where an elementary school girl in Tokyo committed suicide after being bullied in chat rooms on devices distributed through the GIGA School Program. Children are still in the developmental stages of relationships and communication, and their internet literacy, too, is in its infancy. At this stage, both the issue of whether to allow students to use devices connected to the internet without restriction and the use of GIGA School devices have been highlighted. To prevent such incidents from happening again, is there any way to keep an eye on children's safety and allow them to use their devices safely?

Since April 2020, Digital Arts has been providing the web security cloud service i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition so that students can use GIGA School devices safely and teachers and parents can have peace of mind in letting their children use the devices. On December 1, we released a case study of the Takamatsu City Board of Education in Kagawa Prefecture, which introduced i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition in its efforts to make technology education the norm at its schools.

Initially, rules were established and implemented to allow children to decide how to properly use devices themselves.

Placing emphasis on improving classes and developing students' information literacy, Takamatsu City is promoting the use of technology in an aim to "foster the qualities and abilities necessary in the age of technology." In addition to distributing tablets under the GIGA School Program, the board of education has established a comprehensive "One Device per Student" environment that includes a "local internet breakout" that allows devices to connect to the internet via any school's internet connection, as well as digital learning platforms and a cloud-based class support system.
They also introduced i-FILTER@Cloud" GIGA School Edition as a security measure for off-site learning. Implementing filters is "just as important as the digital teaching materials used in the One Device per Student Initiative," said Kentaro Oebesu, supervisor of the ICT Education Promotion Office, Takamatsu City General Education Center, Takamatsu City Board of Education.

"In order for children to develop independence, I think it's important to have an environment where they can freely use devices. However, as the GIGA School Program is still in its early stages, I am not sure that allowing them to see everything will really help them develop that independence. It takes knowledge and experience for children to be able to make the right decisions and use devices properly, and in order to provide such learning opportunities, it's important to have both teachers who want to let children use the devices freely and those who feel uneasy about doing so work together in a way that is acceptable to both parties. This is why we believe that in these initial stages, it is necessary to set some rules. We felt it was essential to introduce filters to provide safety and encourage teachers to actively use the devices." (Oebesu)

Takamatsu City Education Center (exterior)

Register the URLs only of the YouTube videos you want students to see. Can be configured to meet the different needs of different schools.

"School computers are allowed to watch all YouTube videos, but educational computers are limited to specific categories except some educational videos. We value the fact that we can meet the specific needs of each school using advanced settings, and that the cloud version, i-FILTER@Cloud, feels the same to use," said Oebesu. In the city, there has been an increasing number of situations where videos relevant to the content of classes have been used. There have even been requests to use educational computers during swimming lessons to show students examples on YouTube. At present, the viewing of videos is prohibited on tablets distributed under the GIGA School Program, but in the future, the board aims to utilize the tablets in the same way as their educational computers, according to the needs and purposes of the school.

Ensuring proper use and a safe educational environment with "Whitelisting" and advanced filter options

For filtering, the board is using "Whitelisting," which only allows access to websites that have been confirmed safe. "Whitelisting" blocks URLs that have not been registered in the i-FILTER filter database and whose connection safety has not been confirmed, thus minimizing the risk of students accessing dangerous websites. Takamatsu City has been using "Whitelisting" without any issues, and if a URL is found that they want to access, they can simply unblock it to ensure safety and security.

It also uses filter templates that can be used for different grade levels. This function allows users to simply set appropriate filters for each grade level: "Lower Elementary School," "Upper Elementary School," "Middle School," and "High School. Currently, Takamatsu City uses the same templates for both elementary and junior high schools, but in the future, they hope to create separate templates to meet the needs of each school. In addition, when they receive an alert for the "device quarantine function" that blocks devices when they access inappropriate websites, they will check the logs to see what sites the students have accessed. Oebesu said, "Some students visit to inappropriate sites. When they do, we sometimes use it as an educational opportunity and contact the school from time to time," he said.

In Takamatsu City, the use of technology seems to be spreading, especially in pilot schools. Increasingly, students are taking advantage of the benefits of technology, such as collaborative learning using class support systems and online classes. In addition, they have seen children using the programming tool "Scratch" to create works of art during their recess, or working on digital learning platforms by themselves. For the future, they are preparing to use tablets for off-site learning. We want to create an environment where students can use tablets for learning at home without worry," said Oebesu.

- The full case study of the Takamatsu City Board of Education in Kagawa Prefecture can be found here

Digital Arts "i-FILTER@Cloud" GIGA School Edition Special Lineup

In addition to "post controls" and "web service controls," which prohibit posts related to cyberbullying, our system is also equipped with a "Child Protection System."

Digital Arts' web security cloud service i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition is a filtering service for schools that has been improved to enable the use of the GIGA School Concept's one device per student initiative and allow safe and smooth learning in educational settings. Based on i-FILTER's filter database, which has the No.1 share in the domestic market*, detailed filtering rules can be made to meet the learning environment's needs.

In addition, all three operating systems recommended by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in its GIGA School Concept can use the "post controls" function, which controls the posting of messages by students on hidden message boards and social media websites, and the uploading of photos taken with the device's built-in camera. This will prevent children and students from using the devices for private use, using them for purposes unrelated to learning, and writing messages that could lead to bullying. In addition, "Web Service Controls" controls functions such as login, writing, uploading, and downloading for each web service, and the "Child Protection System" blocks students' access to suicide-related websites from their own devices using i-FILTER@Cloud and alerts designated teachers and staff or the Board of Education by e-mail. These functions help support educational settings to keep an eye on children's safety and find distressed students as soon as possible.

i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition

i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition

* Fuji Chimera Research Institute, Inc. "2021 Network Security Business Survey General Guide" Web Filtering Tool Market Share (FY2020) (Published September 2021)

Digital Arts Inc. Overview
Digital Arts Inc. is an information security solution provider focused on the development and sales of security software for web, e-mail, files and other uses.
Since its founding in 1995, the company philosophy has been "Contributing to a safer, better, more convenient internet lifestyle" and since developing web-filtering software to prevent the browsing of harmful information on the internet, the company has been promoting internet security products to companies, the public sector and homes everywhere.
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URL: https://www.daj.jp/