What causes blank displays on student tiles in Hāpara Highlights? Follow
This article helps teachers and administrators understand why student tiles sometimes show blank displays instead of the student's current screen or list of recent browser tabs.
In this article:
Overview
Student tiles may show a blank display when Highlights can’t display a student’s browsing activity.
Common causes include:
- Time/IP restrictions
- Inactive browsing
- Offline students
- A teacher/admin account detected in the browser.
Use the steps below to solve these issues.
Messages shown when student tiles show blank displays
What you see on the student panel |
What it means |
What to do |
School is finished for the day |
Highlights is limited by your district’s school hours and it’s currently outside that window. |
Teachers: ask an administrator to review time restrictions. If you need after-hours access for a class or test, request a temporary adjustment. |
Outside school network |
Monitoring is restricted to specific network locations (IP ranges). |
Teachers: Have the student connect to an allowed network (on-campus/VPN). Ask an administrator to verify that IP restrictions include the correct ranges. |
Currently not browsing |
The student is logged in but has no active tabs (or only a blank tab). |
Teachers: Ask the student to open an allowed site or class resource. The student tile should update once active browsing starts. |
Offline |
The device or browser is not connected to Highlights. |
Teachers: Click the refresh icon (two arrows) on the student tile. If still offline, have the student check Wi‑Fi, sign into Chrome with their school account, and confirm the Highlights extension is installed and up-to-date. See Why students appear Offline in Highlights. |
Teacher or administrator account detected |
A non-student Google account is signed into the browser, so monitoring is disabled. |
Teachers: Ask the student to remove other Google accounts from Chrome/their Chromebook so only their school account remains. Then refresh the student tile. |
Still blank after checks |
Local/device or policy configuration may be interfering. |
Teachers: Click the refresh icon (two arrows) on the student tile and confirm the student is on an allowed site. |
Additional tips
- Teachers: Use the Refresh button on a student tile to see if that reconnects the student tile display.
- Administrators: Confirm that the time/IP rules match your intended policy (school hours, on-campus networks).
- Administrators: If many student tiles show blank panels, check for a wider network outage or a recent policy change.