Hapara

On Thursday I attended a training session about Hapara. Hapara is essential for any school that is heavily using Google, especially chromebooks. It is an app that can be added to your Google Chrome web browser. In addition, there is also a Hapara extension that is added to Chrome to allow it to work better with the app. Hapara runs in the background on every student's chrome account (they don't even know its there). Then, Hapara's teacher dashboard allows any teacher to have access to any student's Google Drive. When assignments are completed as a Google Doc, but not shared with the teacher, the teacher doesn't have to email the student and wait for them to share it. They can just go into their Drive and grab the assignment, or see if its complete. The teacher can also make comments in the assignment that can serve as valuable feedback for the student.

Hapara also gives teachers the ability to view whatever the students are viewing. If the students are using their Chromebook to check Facebook, the teacher can send them an anonymous message that pops up on their screen, such as "Get back to work!" Furthermore, the teacher can go ahead and close the Facebook tab in the student's browser and open a new tab for the website they're supposed to be using.

There are a few catches, though. If the students learn about the extension and app, they could disable it or remove it. One teacher said she had been using it for several years, and the students never figured that out. The students also have to be signed into their school Google account for it to work. It can't monitor their personal Google account.

The lesson: technology brings new challenges, but it also brings new opportunities. Never before could students access the class' resources or their own assignments from anywhere. There is no more "I left my homework at home." The dog can't eat the Cloud. Hapara helps us use all the benefits of technology in the classroom while minimizing the downsides.