Brianna Bellinghieri ’22
Recently, certain EA students are experiencing trouble when it comes to their Google and Youtube accounts as well as Wifi connetion. Huy Tran, the new Head of EA Technology, explains these changes and the steps one can take to fix them.
Several students received an email notifying them that their Google Accounts were closing. However, this is not the case. According to Tran, “Google accounts are not closing.” He believes that these emails are in regard to Youtube accounts. Students that have used their EA Google account to create personal Youtube channels may be locked out of their Youtube accounts. This is due to Youtube’s new policy, as explained by Tran “You cannot have a channel with a school account anymore.” These are considered brand accounts, as they are linked to a school or institution. Brand accounts should represent the school, not the individual. Tran continues that students with closed Youtube accounts, “have to fill out a form to have those accounts opened again…but as far as Google Accounts, nothing is lost.”
Another frequent difficulty students are facing is the sudden surge in restricted Youtube videos on the EA wifi. Michael Wennemer ‘21 explains the problem, “When I’m at school, I sometimes want to watch educational videos like Crash Course U.S. History, however Crash Course videos often times seem to be restricted.” Tran clarified that it is not the school which is restricting videos but Youtube itself, which denies access to certain videos for all accounts linked to student identities.
Tran says, “This is something that happens at every single school. But there are no restrictions for faculty. Any video you want to see, any faculty can approve it and you can see it.” Therefore, in order to view a restricted Youtube video, “all you have to do is tell your teacher, and your teacher can just approve it.” These filters and limitations are to protect the school and to “make sure that young kids are not accidentally watching something inappropriate.” However, it may be challenging for Youtube to determine whether or not a video is for educational purposes, causing the banning of potentially beneficial information.
As for problems with Wifi, most of them stem from the fact that EA’s Wifi system is outdated, as it hasn’t been updated since the campus move back in 2008. James Austin ‘22 says, “I often have trouble with the Wifi. On certain days EA Apple is extremely slow and blocks me from doing work on Google Drive and other websites.” One of the first initiatives Tran began to work on when he entered his position was to replace the Wifi. This way, EA can access new, informative features to help them continue to improve the technology at EA. For example, with this new Wifi system, the school can view the extent to which the Wifi is used each day, the most frequently visited websites, what areas have the heaviest use of Wifi, along with lots of other data. Furthermore, “with a new system,” Tran elaborates, “you can get better range, higher speed, but particularly more features for us to manage devices.” Although not likely in the short term, a new WiFi system may be implemented sometime in the future.