David Bowles
Now why hasn't someone come up with a simple way of disabling Internet access to an individual student's PC or group of student PCs for a fixed period of say the rest of the lesson? ...with access to a specified (approved) web-site easily enabled by the teacher.
So how might this work in practice? Well in most schools the only person in the ICT suite who doesn't have exclusive access to a PC logged onto their own account is the teacher. So what's needed is a facility whereby a teacher can commandeer a student's PC for a few seconds for the purpose of setting up or releasing an Internet block.
Now when a student needs access to the Internet maybe a 'Password' prompt could pop up when they enter a URL or click on a site that's not been pre-approved. Perhaps this prompt might include a unique access number the busy teacher can cross-check against a printed table of pin-codes they keep in their pocket. Furthermore, different pin codes might allow the student or a groups of students different levels or time lengths of access to the Internet.
Well I'm sure this would be a doddle for someone with better programming skills than me to set up, perhaps by patching a pre-existing web- or proxy-server. Any volunteers? I know loads of teachers who would be eternally grateful.
And if you've got any real mean config tips or wish-list items then do please share them...
All of this is relatively simple with Squid as a proxy. Dave Williams