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Topics Map > Teaching and Learning > Illinois Compass 2G
China, Access to content
Summary of what we know about access to Illinois content and services in China
We receive questions as to what resources and services are available to students in China. The following is based on testing and feedback from students and is subject to change.
Educational Technology Tools
Top Hat
- TopHat, will not work in China without a VPN and not all features will work, per their documentation. https://success.tophat.com/s/article/Does-Top-Hat-Work-in-China
Collaboration Tools
- Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype all work in China.You can find instructions here.
- Google drive and hangouts are blocked in China.
Learning Management Systems
- Both Moodle and Canvas appear to work in China, though there may be issues with page formatting. Not all embedded content will work, particularly YouTube content. Instructors using YouTube content who also have students in China will need to seek an alternate method or video. (Kaltura can redistribute a YouTube link in our player, but it will still play from YouTube and be blocked.)
- Facebook and Wikipedia are blocked.
- Some news sites (i.e. NY Times, Wall Street journal, Washington Post) are also likely blocked, so a link to a new source is likely unavailable to students in China.
Video Distribution
- Kaltura/Illinois Media Space is accessible in China, though older embedded videos in Compass may have a problem as a result of how content was added to a page. These will need to be addressed on a case by case basis and re-embedded using new embed code tools.
- Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Chinese firewall may block some videos based on captions or metadata in the video description. To our knowledge video content doesn’t appear to be scanned for blocking.
- Echo360 (Engineering): Works for students in China
- YouTube: Blocked in China
- Vimeo: Blocked in China
The information above is subject to change at any point. Students should not use a VPN to access blocked sites or content.