Creating and using groups in Highlights Follow
In this article:
Using the Groups drop-down menu
Editing student groups from the Student Tile
Online lesson strategies for groups in Highlights
The ability to group learners in Hāpara Highlights helps you more easily differentiate instruction, provide learning accommodations and implement class projects or group work. You can use groups in Highlights to target your online instruction in a variety of ways. Features like Share links, Announce and Guide browsing all work with specific groups that you create. Plus, you can filter your Highlights screen to focus on specific groups to provide the support they need.
Using the Groups drop-down menu
The Groups drop-down menu is where you can manage your student groups in Highlights.
To use the Groups menu:
1. Log in through app.hapara.com.
2. Select your class.
3. Click Highlights at the top of your page.
4. Next, click Browser Tabs or Current Screens.
5. Then click Groups, located in the white toolbar on the top right-hand side.
Using the group menu, you can:
- Create groups
- Add or remove students from groups
- Delete groups
- Rename groups
- Change a group’s color
- Filter which groups you want to see
- Set your group preference
Creating groups
In the Groups drop-down menu, you can quickly create a new student group. For example, you could create a group for students who need guided browsing sessions. Or you could create a group for students who need specific accommodations, which would allow you to instantly share resources with them.
To create a new group:
1. Click on the Highlights tab.
2. Click Browser Tabs or Current Screens.
3. Next, click the Groups drop-down menu on the right.
4. Then click New Group.
5. Type the name of the group in the text box.
6. Click the blue + Add button to add students.
7. Select the student name(s) to add them to the new group.
8. Click the blue Add student button at the bottom.
9. To return back to the main Groups menu, click the arrow at the top left-hand side of the window.
Adding or removing students
You can also add or remove students from a group in Highlights at any time. This allows instruction and learning to stay flexible.
To add students:
1. In Highlights Browser Tabs or Current Screens, click the Groups drop-down menu.
2. Click Edit Groups.
3. Next to your preferred group, click the pencil icon.
4. Click the blue + Add button to add students.
5. Select the student(s) you want to add to the group.
6. Then click the blue Add student button at the bottom.
To remove students:
1. Click the Groups down-down menu.
2. Then click Edit Groups.
3. Next to your preferred group, click the pencil icon.
4. Click the X next to a student to remove a student from the group.
Deleting groups
You can also easily delete groups you no longer need in Highlights. Perhaps students in a particular group needed more online browsing guidance at the beginning of the semester. Later, they’re ready for more browsing independence, so you decide to remove the group.
To delete a group from your class:
1. In Highlights Browser Tabs or Current Screens, click the Groups drop-down menu.
2. Click Edit Groups.
3. Next to the group you want to delete, click the trash can icon.
4. Then click the red Delete button that appears.
Renaming groups
If you need to rename a group in Highlights, you can quickly do so.
To rename a group:
1. In Highlights Browser Tabs or Current Screens, click the Groups drop-down menu.
2. Click Edit Groups.
3. Next to the group you want to rename, click the pencil icon.
4. Click inside the text box.
5. Type over the previous group name.
6. Click the blue checkmark button to finalize the name change.
Changing a group’s color
At any time, you can also change a group’s color. At the top of a Student Tile, you’ll notice color bars representing each group the student belongs to. This visual cue provides an efficient way to see which groups your students are part of.
To change a group’s color:
1. In Highlights Browser Tabs or Current Screens, click the Groups drop-down menu.
2. Click Edit Groups.
3. Next to the preferred group, click the pencil icon.
4. Then click on the colored circle. This opens the color options.
5. Select the group’s new color. Changes will automatically save.
Set group preferences
When you set up groups in Highlights, you may want to use those same groups in other Hāpara tools such as Teacher Dashboard or Workspace. That way, you don’t have to create the same groups in each tool.
On the other hand, you may want to create different groups in each tool based on instructional needs.
To set your group preferences or change preferences:
1. In Highlights Browser Tabs or Current Screens, click the Groups drop-down menu.
2. Click Edit Groups.
3. Next to Groups are shared across tabs, click Change.
4. Select Shared across tabs or Specific to each tab.
Filter by student group
As you use Highlights, you may want to view specific student groups on your screen. The filtering feature in the Groups drop-down menu allows you to select the group or groups you want to focus on.
To filter groups:
1. Click on the Groups drop-down menu.
2. Deselect any groups you don’t need to display.
3. Select any groups you do want to display.
Editing student groups from the Student Tile
In an individual Student Tile, you can also edit which group(s) a student belongs to. This is helpful when you want to make a change to a single student’s groupings.
To edit a student’s groups from the Student Tile:
1. Click Browser Tabs or Current Screens at the top left-hand side of your screen.
2. Find the student’s individual Student Tile. The colored bars at the top will quickly show you which groups the student belongs to.
3. Click the three dots to open the drop-down menu.
4. Select Edit groups.
5. Select or deselect which groups you want the student to belong to.
Online lesson strategies for groups in Highlights
You can use groups with features such as Share links, Guide browsing or Announce to target your online instruction in Highlights. Each of these features work with specific groups that you create.
Differentiation
First, you can create groups in Highlights to differentiate online instruction more easily. For example, you can use the Share links or Guide browsing features for groups and include websites that meet grouped learners’ different instructional needs.
Learning accommodations
When you have learners with IEPs or 504 plans, you can also more easily incorporate accommodations by creating groups based on those learning needs.
Personalized group work
Additionally, you can create groups based on students’ interests and then use Share links or Guide browsing to assign online content to these groups. You can also use the Announce feature to send formative feedback to a group.
Differentiated instruction |
Learning accommodations |
Personalized group work |
Create levelled reading groups and provide digital content at their different instructional levels. |
Create a group for students who need extra time on assessments. Then set up a guided browsing session that gives the group extra time. |
Allow students to choose the project they want to work on from a list of options. Then assign students to groups based on their chosen projects. Share resources by group using Share links or create guided browsing sessions. |
Launch a guided browsing session for a group and include resources based on their instructional needs. |
Create a group for students who need oral instructions, and use Share links to open an audio clip on the students’ screens. |
Use the Annouonce feature to send positive formative feedback to student groups about their group project progress. |
Use Share links to open enrichment resources onto a group’s devices. |
Create a group for students who need an English-to-Spanish word bank and use Share links to open the word bank on their devices. |