Quick start guide with Hāpara Follow
In this article:
Getting students logged in to Student Dashboard
Quick start guide to Hāpara Teacher Dashboard
Quick start guide to Hāpara Highlights
Quick start guide to Hāpara Workspace
Logging in to Hāpara
To log in to Hāpara, follow these steps:
- Go to app.hapara.com. It’s a good idea to bookmark this page for convenient access later.
- Sign in with Google. Make sure to use your school Gmail credentials and that you are not signed in to your personal Gmail account.
- Click Accept when prompted to link accounts. Select always allow pop-ups, if prompted.
Getting students logged in to Student Dashboard
Hāpara makes digital learning more accessible and streamlined for teachers and empowers students to manage digital learning with Student Dashboard.
Students can log in to their Student Dashboard with these steps:
- Go to http://app.hapara.com/student. Encourage students to bookmark this site to help them access it later.
- Use their school-issued Google credentials to log in.
Quick start guide to Hāpara Teacher Dashboard
Hāpara Teacher Dashboard is where you can view and access students' Google Workspace activity. Teachers love Teacher Dashboard because it lets them see everything students are working on in one simple place. Plus, it allows them to communicate feedback to students and share documents quickly and easily. It even makes differentiation seamless.
Teacher Dashboard quick tips and best practices
View and access student work
Teacher Dashboard will show you all of the most recent work your students are producing in Google Drive.
Links to files are organized in each student’s Student Tile. You can also click to view a preview of the work, view the actual file or open the student’s folder — all from one place.
Provide feedback and communicate with students
Teacher Dashboard also allows you to communicate with students about their work quickly and easily.
- Click on the drop-down menu in a student’s Student Tile to email the student from Teacher Dashboard.
- Or click directly on the file to open up the student’s work and leave a comment there.
Create, share and differentiate resources with Share files
Teacher Dashboard’s Share files feature allows you to share up to five files simultaneously and set the sharing settings from one place.
You can also create Teacher Dashboard groups and use Share files on a group-by-group basis to share differentiated materials.
Quick start guide to Hāpara Highlights
Hāpara Highlights is a tool that allows teachers to create online lessons that are meaningful, purposeful and engaging, while guiding students so they get the most out of their time spent online. Highlights also minimizes the logistical headaches that sometimes happen during online lessons, making the process smoother and easier for you.
Highlights quick tips and best practices
Monitor progress on assignments
When you first open up Highlights, you’ll start on the Browser Tabs page. It shows you the website tabs students have open during an online lesson, giving you visibility into their progress. By seeing this information in near-real time, you can send formative feedback to students or start digital citizenship conversations.
You can also use Browser Tabs to close out a tab a student is looking at that might be distracting. Before closing out a tab, make sure you click on the website title to view it yourself, then have a conversation with the student. The student may be stuck and need some help, so it’s best to check in with them first.
Curate digital learning sessions
The Guide browsing feature in Highlights allows you to schedule online lessons. It also eliminates logistical issues that can come up when technology is involved.
For example, when you click Guide browsing, you can select Set up a Focus session or Set up a Filter session.
A focus session opens up specific sites for students, while a filter session restricts certain websites.
You can create these sessions ahead of time, making for easy substitute teacher planning. Or you can use them in real time when responding to student needs in the moment.
Positively reinforce digital citizenship
Message and Snaps are great communication and formative feedback tools for teachers.
By clicking the blue Message button at the top of your screen, you can choose to send an instant message to a student, group or the class. The message will then pop up on students’ screens, and they can read your formative feedback right away. You can even include an emoji!
Snaps are screenshots with helpful information, capturing student progress at that moment.
You can take Snaps from any of the windows in the Activity Viewer by clicking the camera icon.
You can also take Snaps in the Current Screens tab by clicking on the image showing what the student is viewing. At the bottom, you’ll see the Take a snap button.
You can use Snaps to “catch students being good” and reinforce positive behavior. You can also use them to check in with students or help students reflect on their progress.
Quick start guide to Hāpara Workspace
Hāpara Workspace allows teachers to quickly find, build, modify and share digital lessons and projects. They can also create student groups to serve different academic levels. Then with just a few clicks, teachers can personalize and differentiate a Workspace for a group or individual student to support the unique needs throughout their class.
Workspace brings everything teachers need for instruction into one education management system. Hāpara also plays well with other apps and education software, so teachers can easily embed them into Workspaces. With personalized Workspaces for instruction and edtech apps in one place, teachers can streamline workflows for success.
Teachers also don’t have to start from scratch with online lesson planning. With Workspace, you’ll find high-quality content other districts and schools have already created. You’ll also find lessons and projects aligned to multiple regional curriculums standards. It’s simple to make a copy of any Workspace and modify it to fit students’ needs.
Teacher FAQ
I’m having problems signing in. What should I do?
Sometimes issues come up because you are logged in to your personal Gmail account. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to gain access to Hāpara.
Make sure you sign out of your personal account and sign into the correct school account.
How do students log in?
Students will go to http://app.hapara.com/student in their Chrome browser and sign in using their school-issued Google account.
We suggest that you have students bookmark this page so they can easily find it and visit daily.
Where can I access the different Hāpara tools?
To access Hāpara, log in at app.hapara.com.
Where can I go to find student work in Teacher Dashboard?
After logging in to Hāpara, you’ll start on your My Classes homepage. Click on one of your classes, and you’ll be able to see all the recent work students in that class are producing in Google Drive.
You can also hover over work to view a preview, click to view the actual file or open the student’s Google folder from the Student Tile drop-down menu.
What should I do if I don’t see my class on the My Classes page when I log in?
In most cases, teachers do not need to add their own classes to Hāpara. An administrator usually loads all of the classes. If you don’t see your class(es) when you log in to Hāpara, contact your administrator.
However, if your school uses Google Classroom, you may see the Add new class button. When you click that button, a list of your Google Classrooms attached to your school account will appear. From there, choose a class to sync across Hāpara.
How can I use Teacher Dashboard to provide feedback and communicate with students?
Teacher Dashboard allows you to communicate quickly and easily with students about their work.
You can open students’ work by clicking on it from Teacher Dashboard. Then you can add comments or suggestions right in the document.
Or you can select the email option from the drop-down menu in their Student Tile. Providing feedback on digital work has never been easier!
What is Share files?
Share files is a feature in Teacher Dashboard. It allows you to share up to five files at a time with students and set the sharing settings directly from one place.
You can share files to differentiate instruction and distribute resources with the whole class, individual students or groups of students.
How does Highlights allow me to monitor progress during online lessons?
There are several places in Highlights where you can monitor progress.
Browser Tabs shows you the tabs that students have open during an online lesson so you can see exactly what students are doing.
Current Screens shows you a screenshot of what students are looking at on their screens in near real time.
Plus, the Activity Viewer gives you a bird’s eye view of what students are working on.
I heard I can use Browser Tabs in Highlights to close out a tab on a student’s screen. What should I think about before doing so?
You can click the X on a Student Tile to close out any tabs a student is looking at that might be problematic. However, this ability should always be used for good rather than evil!
It’s always best to click on a site a student has open to see it for yourself. Then check in with the student before closing out a tab. Students get off track for many reasons, and you always want to put your relationship with students first.
What is guide browsing in Highlights, and how can I use it to curate digital learning sessions?
The Guide browsing feature in Highlights allows you to curate online lessons. It also gets rid of issues that sometimes arise when technology is involved.
You can create a focus session to open specific sites during a lesson. Or you can set up a filter session to widen browsing while still restricting access to problem sites.
All of this can be done ahead of time, making for easy substitute teacher planning. Or you can use it in real time when responding to student needs in the moment.
What are the different communication tools in Highlights, and how can I use them to positively reinforce responsible digital citizenship?
Message and Snaps are great communication tools in Highlights. Message is an instant message that pops up on students’ screens.
A Snap is a screenshot with additional information that captures what a student was working on when the Snap was taken. Use these tools to “catch students being good” and reinforce the positive behavior, along with checking in with students when they seem off-track or stuck. Then you can redirect them when necessary.
Where can I find examples of good Workspaces?
Here's a list of awesome Workspaces to get started.
You can even copy these Workspaces to modify and use in your own classroom. No need to reinvent the wheel!
I am worried about student privacy with Hāpara. What should I do?
With all the visibility that Hāpara provides into students’ online work comes many privacy concerns, too. We know that the privacy of student data is an important issue for teachers, parents, administrators and students. It is incredibly important for Hāpara as well. Hāpara was founded to help teachers make the best use of cloud tools in a safe, secure and trusted online environment.
A good best practice for using Hāpara is to communicate openly with students about what you have access to and how you’ll be using that access to support learning — not to snoop or look for misbehavior.
We recommend having conversations with students about these issues. Together create boundaries for how students and teachers should use the tools provided to support learning. These conversations can be a great starting place to discuss larger issues around digital citizenship, which is something we all need to be teaching students about in today's world!
You can find out how we protect student privacy by viewing our Privacy page. The page will give you more information about our principles, practices and commitment to protecting student privacy.
We know this is a big issue, and we’re here to help if you have other questions. Feel free to email trust@hapara.com if you need more information.
Where can I get support when I have a question about Hāpara?
We also encourage you to visit the Hāpara Community site to connect with other like-minded Hāpara teachers.
You can additionally check out more teacher FAQ and help with troubleshooting by visiting our Support Center.
How can I learn more about using Hāpara?
Our Learning Bytes courses are a great place to start! These micro-badging courses take about an hour to complete and help you learn how to use Highlights, Teacher Dashboard, Workspace or Student Dashboard.
You can also become a Hāpara Champion! The Hāpara Champion certification program helps you learn how to get the most out of the Hāpara Instructional Suite and support a positive, student-centered, 21st-century classroom. This program is designed for teachers and school leaders.
And (last but not least!) who is Hipi the Sheepicorn?
Hipi is Hāpara’s mascot, the magical sheepicorn of New Zealand. Hipi is here to help you learn all about how Hāpara works and how Hāpara can help support learning in your classroom. When Hipi’s not chasing rainbows and eating marshmallows, you can find them hanging around to offer you help and check in on how you’re doing as you learn all about Hāpara.