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Hāpara Highlights Share Screen: Administrator FAQ Follow

Carrie Whalen
  • Updated

In this article:

 

Availability: Gradual rollout and not available to all customers immediately.

 

Overview

This article helps administrators enable the Share Screen feature and helps teachers share a tab or window to student screens during class.

Share screen lets teachers instantly broadcast a browser tab or window to every student’s screen in a class. 

It’s off by default and must be enabled by a Hāpara Admin (domain-wide or per school) in Admin Console → Settings → Highlights → Share screen. 

Students viewing the shared screen are temporarily locked to the teacher’s content. Availability follows your existing Highlights time and location rules.

 

Steps to follow

For administrators: Enable the Share Screen feature

  1. Sign in to the Hāpara Admin Console.

  2. Go to Settings → Highlights (Screens).

  3. Scroll to Share screens.

  4. Toggle to Yes to enable for the entire domain.

    • To enable per school only: use the All schools dropdown (top left), select a school, then set Share screen → Yes.

  5. Inform teachers that the Share Screen feature is now available and remind them of your Highlights time/location rules.

 

For teachers: Share your screen to the class

  1. Open Highlights for the class.

  2. Click Share screen in the top bar.

  3. Choose Tab or Window to share.

  4. Confirm the share. Students will immediately see your shared content and will be locked to it while sharing is active.

  5. To stop sharing, click Stop sharing in Highlights.

 

What the Share Screen feature does

  • Whole-class sharing: Teachers can broadcast a tab or window to all of their students in the selected class.

  • Lock-to-view: Students are temporarily locked to their teacher's shared content to keep everyone on the same page.

  • Teacher choice: Share a single tab (recommended for privacy) or an entire window.

  • Follows rules: Uses the same time and location restrictions your administrators has set for Hāpara Highlights.

 

Access and permissions

  • Included with Hāpara Classroom Management (no additional charge).

  • Who can share: Teachers and co-teachers of a class.

  • District and school leaders/observers: Users in leadership roles (e.g., members of the td.users Google Group) cannot share to students unless added as a co-teacher on the class.

  • Adding co-teachers: If permitted in your domain, add co-teachers via the class Class info tab.

 

Troubleshooting: “I don’t see the Share Screen feature”

  1. Admin hasn’t enabled it yet

    • Ask your Hāpara Admin to turn on Admin Console → Settings → Highlights → Share screens.

  2. Highlights extension update

    • Ensure the Highlights extension is up to date in Google Admin Console (force install & auto-update).

  3. Student extension version

    • On a student device: Puzzle icon → Manage extensions → Hāpara Highlights → Details.

    • Version must be 6.4.1 or higher. If lower, restart the device or have IT push the update. Screenshot 2025-05-22 at 1.31.24 PM.pngScreenshot 2025-05-22 at 1.31.31 PM.png

  4. Student sign-in & sync

    • Student must be signed into Chrome with the school Google account and Sync = On.Screenshot 2024-12-17 at 1.28.57 PM.png

  5. Class context

    • Start/share from within the correct class in Highlights.

  6. Role permissions

    • Leadership/observer roles cannot share unless added as a co-teacher.

 

Classroom scenarios (when to use the Share Screen feature)

  • Quick re-teach for remote/roaming students: Share your navigation steps to help students working in the library or another room.

  • Pre-task reminders: Display a digital anchor chart or checklist before writing time.

  • Accessibility support: Students with low vision or reading challenges can follow your on-screen demonstration from their own device.

  • Whole-class reads: Keep everyone on the same paragraph while modeling reading strategies.

Tip: When sharing your teacher screen, select Tab share to avoid accidental exposure of unrelated windows or notifications.

 

Additional tips

  • Privacy best practice: Close unrelated tabs/windows before sharing. Use Tab share where possible.

  • Network readiness: For the smoothest experience, ensure classroom Wi-Fi can handle a brief burst when starting a screen share.

  • Student agency: After modeling, stop sharing to release students back to their own work.

  • Communicate norms: Tell students what they’ll see and when sharing will stop.

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