Digital Arts improves i-FILTER features ahead of the second phase of the GIGA School Program
— —Features that meet the standards set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and classroom support using tech— —

　Information security solutions provider Digital Arts Inc. (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Toshio Dogu; hereinafter referred to as “Digital Arts”; Code 2326) is pleased to announce that as Japanese schools move into the second phase of the GIGA School Program, it will begin offering improved versions of features for schools in its web security product i-FILTER from April 1, 2024.

i-FILTER Can Now Visualize How Services Are Being Used, a Standard Required in the Second Phase of the GIGA School Program.

　The GIGA Schools Program, launched in 2019, is about to begin its second phase, with updated devices being rolled out from FY2024.
　Ahead of this second phase, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced the “Minimum Specifications for School Computers Under the GIGA School Program” in January 2024. The announcement clearly stated that devices must be equipped with a feature that would allow the objective monitoring of usage, and that this usage data will be used in MEXT device usage surveys.

　In order to comply with this standard, Digital Arts has improved i-FILTER’s features to add the ability to see device usage more clearly. This will allow users to see at a glance detailed usage information, such as off-site learning, and will greatly reduce the burden on administrators.

Detailed Usage Information at a Glance*1, Greatly Reducing the Burden on Administrators

　Digital Arts offers i-FILTER, a web security product that uses a proprietary database to allow access only to safe websites. The product has been adopted by 59%*2 of Japanese boards of education that have installed paid web filters.
　This update to the usage visualization feature will provide a graphical display of overall internet usage rates, as well as users and schools with high after-school and late-night usage, enabling correlation analysis on the management screen. With these features, administrators are able to check up on off-site learning and students who frequently use their devices late at night without having to check access logs each time.

Further Supporting Classes Utilizing ICT Through the Renewal of the Educational Video Web Portal D-Contents

　Digital Arts will be renewing its educational video web portal D-Contents, which is freely available*3 to i-FILTER users, with the aim of realizing individually optimized learning and supporting class management by teachers.

　The D-Contents web portal aggregates and posts videos for learning, and allows users to search by grade or subject.
After the renewal, videos will be displayed in order of most viewed by i-FILTER users nationwide, and video playlists will be able to be created and deployed*1 to improve the overall usability of the website and promote the use of educational videos in classrooms.

　With D-Contents, students can study on their own based on their own personal progress and interests without the restrictions of time or place. In addition, teachers can use the system in new ways, such as conducting classes using popular videos as reference and sharing playlists of videos that can be used for class preparation and review with their students.
　D-Contents will be further updated in the future to make it more of a part of students’ and teachers’ everyday lives.

*All images shown are for illustration purpose only

　For the second phase of the GIGA School Program, where the tech environment developed under the GIGA School Program is expected to be further utilized, Digital Arts will provide a safe and secure environment for schools to use the internet and contribute to the realization of independent learning using technology.


*1 The i-FILTER usage visualization feature and D-Contents playlist feature are only available in i-FILTER@Cloud GIGA School Edition.
*2 Results of interviews with boards of education who have implemented filters (based on our research as of the end of September 2023)
*3 Supported in i-FILTER@Cloud, i-FILTER Ver. 10, and i-FILTER Browser & Cloud.