A live poll that works at home and fails in the classroom is worse than no poll at all. This guide explains why school web filters block classroom tools, what to look for in a tool that will not be blocked, and exactly which domains the ABC tools need, so you can ask IT once.
Why good tools get blocked
Most school filters work from category lists and allow-lists rather than from a judgement about any one site. A tool can be blocked for reasons that have nothing to do with its quality:
- It sits in a blocked category. Anything classed as games, social media, chat or file sharing is often off by default, and a quiz tool can land in games.
- It loads parts of itself from other domains. Many tools pull scripts, fonts, images or analytics from five or six different services. If any one of those is blocked, the page breaks even though the tool’s own domain is allowed.
- It needs an app or an account for students. Device policies often stop students installing apps, and data-protection rules make student sign-ups a question for the school, not the teacher.
What to look for in a tool
- It runs in a normal browser, with nothing to install on the classroom computer or on student devices.
- Students join with a short code or a QR code, with no student accounts and no personal data asked for.
- It is served from one domain, so there is one thing to ask IT to allow.
- It does not load advertising networks or ad trackers.
- It says plainly which outside services it uses, if any, so the school can make an informed decision.
How the ABC classroom tools are built
The tools on this site were made by a teacher for exactly this situation. Every tool is served from www.abcwebsites.online. Students open a normal web page on any phone, tablet or laptop and join with a code; they never create an account. No advertising networks are loaded anywhere on the site. Three of the live tools, Live Polling, the Live Word Cloud and the Q and A Wall, pass answers from phones to the board through this site’s own server, with no outside relay at all.
What to ask your IT department to allow
Send IT this table. The first row covers every tool; the rest are the extra domains some tools use.
| Tool | Domains it needs |
|---|---|
| Every tool on the site | www.abcwebsites.online |
| Live Polling, Live Word Cloud, Q and A Wall | Nothing else. Answers travel through the site’s own server. |
| Classroom Timer, Classroom Games, Live Class Activities | Google Fonts for the display font: fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. If fonts are blocked the tools still work, with a system font. |
| Live Class Activities and the Quiz Show tab of Classroom Games | The ntfy.sh relay, which carries answers from phones to the board. |
| Quick Poll (free; the teacher signs in with Google to host) | The ntfy.sh relay, which carries answers from phones to the board; code libraries from cdn.jsdelivr.net, d3js.org and unpkg.com; and Google Firebase for the page and the teacher’s sign-in: www.gstatic.com, abc-quickpoll.firebaseapp.com and Google’s sign-in pages. |
| Live Quiz Show | Google Firebase for the live rooms: *.firebaseio.com and *.googleapis.com. |
| CEFR Placement Quiz, Crossword Builder, Word Scramble, Pictionary, Story Starter, Tongue Twister Trainer, Gap-Fill Maker, WordLab, Image Optimizer, Favicon Generator, Freelance Rate Calculator | Nothing else to work. Some of them send anonymous usage counts to plausible.io; if that is blocked, they still work. |
| Word Tiles | Google Fonts for the display font. Online rooms run on this site’s own server. |
| Flashcards, Money Toolkit, QR Code Maker, PDF Toolkit | A public code library: cdn.jsdelivr.net (the Flashcards QR code and the Money Toolkit charts), unpkg.com (QR Code Maker) or cdnjs.cloudflare.com (PDF Toolkit), plus Google Fonts. |
With only the first row allowed, the three first-party live tools, the timer, most of the games and the free tools in the long row above all run. The Live Class Activities and the Quiz Show tab of Classroom Games also need ntfy.sh.
If Mentimeter, Kahoot or Slido are blocked at your school
Widely used live-response tools are sometimes blocked by category or need student accounts. The nearest matches on this site are Live Polling for polls and scales, the Live Word Cloud, the Q and A Wall for open questions, and the Live Quiz Show for a points-for-speed quiz. All of them run from the one domain in the table above.
Test it before the lesson
- Open the tool on the classroom computer, on the school network, and start a session.
- Join it from a student device on the school Wi-Fi, not from your own phone’s mobile data, which bypasses the filter.
- If the join page does not load or answers do not arrive, send IT the table above together with the privacy policy. One allow-list entry usually settles it.
Frequently asked questions
Do students need to install anything?
No. Students open a web page in the browser they already have, on a phone, tablet or laptop, and join with a code or a QR code.
Do students need an account?
No. Students never create an account. Teachers need a free ABC account to open most tools; the Classroom Timer, Classroom Games, Live Quiz Show, Live Class Activities and the free tools listed above open without one, and Quick Poll lets a teacher build a poll without an account and sign in with Google only to host it live.
Which outside services do the live tools use?
Live Polling, the Live Word Cloud and the Q and A Wall use none. Quick Poll uses the ntfy.sh relay, three code libraries and Google sign-in for the teacher. The Live Class Activities and the Quiz Show tab of Classroom Games use the ntfy.sh relay, the Live Quiz Show uses Google Firebase, and several tools load a display font from Google Fonts. No advertising networks are loaded anywhere on the site.
Does it work on school Chromebooks and iPads?
The tools run in the browser, so any device with a current browser can host a session on the board or join one as a student.
What if a tool is still blocked after IT allowed the domains?
Use the contact form and say which tool, which device and what you saw on screen. The person who built the tools reads every message.
Next: browse all classroom tools, read the other guides, or get in touch.