About Connect

Connect is a publicly accessible web resource provided by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Its aim is to provide schools and families with the best resources from across the internet which can be used for learning.

The teachers’ space has been developed for Victorian teachers but most of the content and all searched resources are available (password free) to teachers anywhere in the world.

Our search features websites recommended daily by teachers and students. All sites are checked by a team of educators for quality and safety and each site is allocated to the search of that audience, eg teachers get lesson plans, primary students will search sites appropriate for them etc…  

Victorian government and Catholic schools can make use of the Connect as a 'locked down' space for their students. Schools can make this choice and can restrict some or all students to the 'Edulist' of over 55000 publicly accessible websites (see below for full details on the Edulist)  

Primary and Secondary students get a tailored search result and can also access topic links. There is also a new Early Childhood page which has direct links and no search.

Connect Teacher includes links to:

• Latest Resources – highlighted sites which change regularly
• Working Online – Edumail, Communicator, A-Z online tools …
• DEECD Tools – Global teacher blogs, E-safety, E-potential, Digilearn, Languages Online …
• Curriculum Resources – Science, English, Maths, TeacherTube, WebQuests …
• Topics – collections of sites listed under key headings
• More topics – topics listed under VELS headings
• New Technology ‘how to’ – blogging, wikis, podcasts, social networking …
• School created resources
• VCAA and curriculum organisations

Help make Connect even better! Most sites are included in Connect because they have been suggested by teachers and students who use Connect. If you have a suggestion of a site you think should be here, please Suggest a site.  New sites are added to Connect every day. It can take as little as two days for a simple site but sometimes up to a week for a complex site to be added. If you include your email we can keep you up to date with the progress. 

Using Connect

Schools use Connect in different ways. Anyone anywhere in the world can view and search Connect.  However only Victorian Government and Catholic schools can choose to lock students down to an Edulist only view of the internet. This allows schools to choose how they use Connect in their school.

• All students can access www, but have Connect as a default search page eg Primary. Students can still access sites NOT on the list
• Some classes search within Connect only and some classes search beyond Connect with general filtered access. We generally recommend that teachers, along with students in years 11 and 12, are not restricted to the list
• Students use Connect when they are trying to maintain their download budget. Some schools run on student usage. When a student reaches balance reaches '0'  internet schools can switch students to a Connect account.
• All students are 'Connect only' and search within Connect for safety and /or cost saving reasons. This means they are 'Edulist only'. See below for information about the Edulist. This is a school based decision and it is important that teachers and students are informed of how this works and how they can get access to the sites they need using Suggest a site.

Problems accessing content

Many websites are becoming more interactive. This means they usually need additional software (plug-ins) such as Flash, Shockwave or Quick Time.

You will usually be prompted to download the plug-in and if you do this, the site should work as intended.

Some of the links are also included here:

• Flash
• Shockwave
• Quick Time

Schools make the decision as to whether technicians, ICT coordinators, teachers or students are able to install this software. It is important that computers have the latest plug-ins to avoid a frustrating internet experience.

Privacy

Some sites require users to log in to access the full site. This may be to track users, provide greater safety, enable work to be saved or (where there is a cost) charge the user. This is particularly common in web 2.0 spaces which enable students to publish work.

Read all user information carefully to decide if you wish to become a member of such a site. Many sites designed for children do not ask for personal information however ‘signing up’ should always involve an adult. Teachers may choose to set up a class email account for this purpose to avoid individual users needing to sign up. 

If you require students to “join” a space and they need to provide personal information you must fully inform their parents to meet your Privacy requirements as a teacher.

Teachers may choose to use personal student email addresses which are available to all Victorian students (check with your school technician) to set up individual accounts. School email accounts can be monitored for safety purposes. This process should only be undertaken after significant discussions with students regarding rules and expectations for online behaviour. Parental permission is also required and they must be informed as to how this email address will be used.

Teachers may wish to model the process as a whole class activity first. Either way, you can use this as an opportunity for discussions about online privacy, what information should/shouldn't be provided and any potential risks. The web 2.0 topic includes many sites requiring free sign up.

Sites vary widely:

• Free – cost for access
• Moderated – un-moderated
• Nickname – personal information
• Basic details - more involved
• Safer – more risky

What is the Edulist?

The Edulist is the search list contained within Connect. is the complete list of sites schools can access if using the Connect internet environment exclusively. If the site is not on the list students will not be able to access it. The message from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) will state that the site is not on the Edulist.

At this time one Internet Service Provider (ISP), Editure provided free download cost of all sites on the Edulist. All other ISPs at this time do charge for sites within the list. 

Some sites are hidden on the Edulist (you can access them but not get them in a search result).

Why? Some schools request sites for their own use. This might include a paid subscription, highly specific sites such as a local football team or classroom blog and sites which might be needed for controversial issues such as extreme political views, racism etc. 

These sites are included (but not discoverable through search) to allow teachers to present them with an education context and purpose.

The aim of this is to maintain the quality of the search for the general user whilst still allowing access to additional sites requested by individual teachers, students and schools.

How can I turn on and off the Edulist?

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) give schools the ability to restrict student access to only those sites in this list at school.

The tool for this is provided at each school by the ISP and can be turned on and off as needed. Each ISP handles the Edulist in a different way and pricing is one example. For full details see ICT Support Services.

• At this time Editure is the only ISP who are providing the Edulist sites as a 'free download' for their schools. 'Free' refers to providing access to these sites as part of the schools subscription fee with no additional fees.

How long does it take a site to get into Connect?

Stage 1 - Website quality assurance

Websites are added to Connect by a DEECD education team. Staff receive daily recommendations via the Suggest a site link and they investigate and quality assure each website. Both the size and complexity of the site (some sites have hidden URLs which also need to be investigated) and the number of requests will impact on the timelines. Generally a site will be included in Connect and on the Edulist within a day or two. The daily list is then ready for ISPs to collect and provide access. 

Stage 2 - School access

Access at schools is provided by the schools ISP and depends on the time the Edulist is collected and then made available to their schools. Each ISP is different; some are overnight whilst some may take a few days.

Techo tip: If you search and see the site you have requested and click on it and can’t access it this means that the site has been processed by Connect staff but your ISP has not yet made access available for your students. 

Why are sites not included?

Each site added to Connect is subject to a safety and quality assurance process. Sites might not be added for a range of reasons. Remember to include your email address when suggesting a site to get specific feedback. 

• The site includes inappropriate content which may be sexual, racist, violent or extreme in nature
• The site contains a large number of external links which cannot be checked unless individually requested. If included such sites can be very frustrating for users who are clicking on many links to sites which may not be in Connect. For example, one fashion directory website contained more than 10,000 links to external fashion sites, and each site would need to be checked for safety and quality
• You can search the site and find inappropriate content or links within that URL eg www.video.com might have www.video.com/areallygreatvideo  but it could also have www.video.com/inappropriateconnectforschools
• The site is regarded as more recreational than educational and/or has safety issues eg MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, YouTube

Techo Tip: If the website uses '/' at the end of its URLs we are often able to include the individual part of a website.

Site removal

Websites can quickly change. Sometimes these changes make the site inappropriate for education use. If you see such a site  please contact connect@edumail.vic.gov.au.

Web 2.0 sites are constantly evolving. Even when sites are initially included, unforseen problems can arise. Sites that can be searched are particularly problematic as it is impossible to assure the ‘safety’ of user-generated content which is constantly changing. The creators of such sites do not have an obligation to provide a safe environment and in particular some American sites can be reluctant to impose on 'free speech'. As educators we do want to include the latest options for our students to use web 2.0 tools but our first priority is to ensure safety.

Sites within a site

Sometimes a site might be added to Connect but you can’t navigate through the site. This is often because the 'base url' (the first part) changes as you move to a different section. It is like a website within a website. If the URL is not on the list the students will not be able to access the website.

As an example, the official Beijing Olympics site was: http://en.beijing2008.cn/. However results were located at http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/A.shtml and the torch relay at http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/. These urls needed to be added to ensure the site worked properly. The Connect team try to include the major parts of such a website but it may be that the site has developed a new section we are not aware of.

When adding a site, check that the base url remains the same or provide a list of other URLs within the site. Notify us if you see a new part of a significant site has been developed.

Some web 2.0 sites need to be added individually. For blogs made in Global Teacher each produces a unique URL such as http://murch.globalteacher.org.au/ or a wiki created at Wikispaces such as http://hume-elearning.wikispaces.com/ICT+Toolkit.

The name of the individual space comes before the site name. This means that we need to have each URL put into Connect. Just including http://ww.globalteacher.org.au won’t allow access http://murch.globalteacher.org.au/. If you have created multiple class blogs/ wikis etc please send the complete list to connect@edumail.vic.gov.au.

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