How to instruct effectively using Hāpara Teacher Dashboard

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Educators have so many tasks to take care of at once. It’s challenging to find enough time to give each learner the instructional attention they need. Luckily there’s a platform that simplifies how to instruct students digitally and streamline teaching workflows. Hāpara Teacher Dashboard provides educators with visibility and access to learners’ Google Workspace for Education activities. From one simple platform, educators can stay organized, check in on learning progress, easily provide feedback and differentiate instruction. 

This guide will give you tips and strategies for how to make classroom instruction more effective with Hāpara Teacher Dashboard.

Streamlining classroom instruction with Hāpara Teacher Dashboard

Organizing recent student assignments and assessments

If you’re not sure how to instruct in the classroom while juggling all those student files, we have you covered! All on one screen, Hāpara Teacher Dashboard shows learners’ recent Google files across the class. Each learner has a Student Tile, where educators will see Google Docs, Sheets, Forms or Drawings that the learner has recently opened or edited. Instead of needing to track down individual files, they are all viewable and accessible from one place.

EXAMPLE: In sixth grade science, Mr. Lamar has dozens of Google files including graphic organizers, leveled reading materials, warm-ups, exit tickets, project instructions, group activities and unit assessments. With a quick glance at the Student Tiles in Teacher Dashboard, he gains instant visibility into what learners are working on. He doesn’t need to search through his Google Drive to stay on top of progress.

Sharing Google files

When learning is happening on devices or remotely, it can be cumbersome to share Google files with students. Another way that Teacher Dashboard makes classroom instruction more effective is by streamlining the sharing process. 

Clint Novak is a history teacher at Maya High School in Arizona. Before using Hāpara Teacher Dashboard, he would have to share Google files with each learner by typing in their email addresses. Then each learner in his class would have to make their own copy. “There were all these extra steps,” Clink said.

Instead, with Teacher Dashboard, educators can share Google files with a learner, a group or the class with just a couple of clicks. Educators don’t need to enter email addresses, and learners don’t need to make their own copies. The Google assignment, assessment or resource is automatically added to learners’ Google Drives.

EXAMPLE: In ninth grade algebra, during third period, Ms. Azarian realizes that three of her learners need to review two-step equations. She quickly uses the “Share files” feature in Teacher Dashboard to send them a copy of a review assignment.  

Creating Google file assignments and assessments

Educators can also streamline classroom instruction by creating Google files directly from Teacher Dashboard. Simply use the “Share files” feature to create a new Doc, Sheet, Form or Drawing. From there, educators can select the file permission and whether they’d like to share the new file with a learner, a group or the class. For example, an educator may want to send a file with project instructions to a group of learners. In this case, they may not want them to be able to edit the file, so they can select the viewer or commenter file permission.

EXAMPLE: After school, Ms. Harris thought of a fun idea for a social studies role-playing activity for her fifth grade class. She uses Teacher Dashboard to create a new Google Slides presentation with instructions and shares it with the class to view. Learners see it in their Hāpara Student Dashboard when they log in the next day.

Try these additional ideas for creating K-12 Google file activities:

• Use (and reuse) personalized Google Forms for peer feedback
• Level up your Google Forms for K-12 without needing add-ons!
• 10 ways educators can implement Google Docs for learners in their classrooms
• Best Google Sheets activities for students to enhance digital learning

Monitoring learning progress 

Teacher Dashboard allows educators to monitor learning progress from one spot. In a Student Tile, an educator can hover over the name of a Google file to see a preview. From there, they can quickly see how a learner is progressing with an assignment or assessment. If the document is shared by a group, an educator can also scan their screen to see whether or not the document appears in each group member’s Student Tile. This indicates whether or not group members have been recently collaborating together.

EXAMPLE: Mr. Vogel, an eleventh grade English teacher, hovers over the “Hamlet Essay” file in the Student Tiles in Teacher Dashboard. From the file previews, he can see that eight learners are ready to give peer feedback on the introductory paragraphs. Then from Teacher Dashboard, he shares the peer feedback Google Doc with the eight learners.

Integrating Google Classroom 

If your school or district uses Google Classroom, educators can sync their classes in Hāpara, which has benefits for educators. First, syncing will automatically add a Google Classroom folder to Teacher Dashboard. Educators can access any Google Classroom assignments and see recent assignments in the Student Tiles to monitor progress. If a learner submits a Google Classroom assignment, educators can still view it in Teacher Dashboard. 

From Teacher Dashboard, educators can also share Google files with learners and add them to Google Classroom in Drive.

EXAMPLE: Ms. Quintanilla uses Google Classroom and Hāpara tools. She keeps Hāpara Teacher Dashboard open on her device so she can monitor Google Classroom assignments and share Google file resources with groups of learners.

Instructional techniques with Hāpara Teacher Dashboard

Providing real-time feedback

An important element of how to instruct in the classroom is providing formative assessment feedback. Educators should provide clear, consistent and timely feedback to help students make learning progress. Without feedback, learners don’t know where they’ve made errors or misunderstood concepts. It also gives educators clarity on what they need to modify in their instruction. The issue for educators, though, is finding enough time to give consistent feedback on formative assessments. 

Teacher Dashboard makes this process much easier for educators. Without Teacher Dashboard, educators have to search for shared student files in their Google Drive. With Teacher Dashboard, educators have real-time visibility into progress across the classroom and access to student files from one place. In a Student Tile, educators can hover over a file to see a preview. Then with just a click, they can open the file to leave a comment, a suggestion or make an edit with feedback. 

EXAMPLE: Mr. Saafi wants to give each learner in his high school public speaking class feedback on the counterarguments they wrote. In Teacher Dashboard, he clicks on the Google file in the first Student Tile and inserts a comment next to the counterargument. He continues to do this for the rest of the class. Because he can quickly access the files and leave comments, it only takes him twenty minutes.

Differentiation with Teacher Dashboard

Differentiation is another essential part of classroom instruction because it helps educators meet the needs of each learner. Not every student learns the same, and differentiating instruction helps ensure that educators teach to the needs of students across the class. This could include supporting learning styles, prior knowledge, primary languages spoken, skill sets, 504 plans and IEPs, and personal interests. 

While differentiation is a crucial part of how to instruct students, it adds to an educator’s already packed workload. Teacher Dashboard makes differentiation easier for educators. It allows educators to add learners to groups and then filter their view of Student Tiles by group. Educators can then monitor progress and provide differentiated feedback. They can also share files to groups during lesson planning or during class time. 

EXAMPLE: Ms. Kernan teaches fourth grade and has many different learning needs in her class, including varied levels of reading ability. From Teacher Dashboard, she shares Google Docs and Slides with stories that have different reading levels. She selects the file and the student group, sharing the appropriate text with the learners who need it.

Communicating with learners

Prioritizing classroom communication helps educators build positive relationships with learners and gives learners clear direction. Instead of needing to find student email addresses and copy them into an email, Teacher Dashboard allows educators to email a learner directly from their Student Tile. With just a couple of clicks, they can send the student formative feedback, a reminder, a class announcement or resources for extended learning.

EXAMPLE: In Teacher Dashboard, Mr. Jackson sees that one of his eighth grade math learners has not opened two recent assignments. In the Student Tile, he selects the email option and emails the learner with a reminder and video instructions.

Helping learners find misplaced files

Classroom educators have no doubt heard a learner say, “I can’t find that Google file.” Whether the learner moved it to another folder or accidentally deleted it, it can cause frustration, especially when they are trying to keep track of dozens of Google files. 

That’s why Teacher Dashboard includes a Drive button for educators. When an educator clicks on the Drive button, they get instant access to learners’ complete Google Drives. This will show them recent files across classes, organized into Student Tiles. Or they can search for the missing file by name or text in the file. Another option is to select “Deleted documents to filter the view to recently deleted documents.

EXAMPLE: A learner tells their Spanish teacher that they can’t find the instructions for the group project. Señora Vázquez Almas shared the Google Doc instructions three days ago with the class. She uses the Drive button in Teacher Dashboard to do a quick search for the file and sees that it’s in the learner’s “Deleted files” section. She helps the learner retrieve it. Problem solved!

Best practices and tips for using Hāpara Teacher Dashboard

Best practices

Support digital citizenship

Schools are now focusing on how to instruct students in digital citizenship. Learners need help in understanding how to stay safe online and make responsible decisions. Teacher Dashboard Student Tiles and the Drive button help educators check in on the ways learners are using Google files. 

Lana Neuman is a seventh grade science teacher at Middle School 74 in Queens, New York. She says that one of the main distractions for middle school learners is having conversations in Google Docs. With Teacher Dashboard, educators can hover over Google Docs to check if learners are focused on class activities. If not, educators can have a digital citizenship conversation with the learners.

Another way educators can provide digital citizenship support with Teacher Dashboard is by checking in on learners’ Google files through the Drive button. After clicking on the Drive button, a menu will appear with folder options. The educator can check whether or not learners have files that have been made “Public.” In most cases, educators would not want learners’ files to be available to the public on the internet. If learners have files with this permission setting, educators can intervene and discuss with learners why this is not safe. Educators can also check for “External” files, which are files that have been shared with people outside of the school network.

EXAMPLE: Ms. Abraham selects the External files option from the Drive menu in Teacher Dashboard. She sees that one learner has been recently editing a Google file that has been shared externally outside of the school network. By hovering over the file, she sees that the learner has been having a conversation with a friend from another school. She takes the learner to the side to have a chat about digital citizenship, use of her school account and staying focused in class. 

Create groups for differentiation

Another best practice for how to instruct learners with Teacher Dashboard is creating groups. As mentioned, this makes it easier to provide differentiated support through feedback and sharing of Google files. At any time, an educator can change their view of Student Tiles by filtering by group.

EXAMPLE: Mr. Gupta teaches learners with different math abilities in his fourth grade class. Using formative assessment data, he created student groups in Teacher Dashboard. This makes it simple for him to share different versions of assignments with the groups. He also periodically filters his view of Student Tiles to bring a group to the top so he can quickly give them formative feedback on an assignment.

Tips

Sort, drag and drop, change the size, refresh

A tip for using Teacher Dashboard is taking advantage of the sort, drag and drop, size and refresh features. The sort feature allows an educator to view Student Tiles in alphabetical order by first name or by last name, which is helpful for aligning them to a class roster. Educators can also drag and drop Student Tiles to arrange them however they’d like. 

Educators can also change the size of Student Tiles for accessibility or to fit more across a row. Additionally, the refresh feature will update the Student Tiles instantly so educators can stay on top of learners’ progress.

EXAMPLE: Ms. Chen sorts the Student Tiles by last name alphabetically when she’s entering grades from a Google Sheets assessment into her gradebook. Otherwise, she prefers to drag and drop the tiles into the order of her seating chart.

Set file permissions 

Another Teacher Dashboard tip is to set file permissions when sharing Google files with learners. Educators can share a file and set the permission so that learners can edit the shared file, only comment or only view it. Another option is to select “Copy: student-owned,” giving each learner their own copy. This is another way Teacher Dashboard streamlines instructional workflows. Without Teacher Dashboard, an educator has to create an individual file for each learner, taking up a lot of the educator’s time!

EXAMPLE: Ms. LaGuardia uses Teacher Dashboard to share portfolio instructions with her class. She sets the Google Doc to “view only,” so learners can’t make edits by accident. She then shares a portfolio reflection document and selects to give each learner their own copy to edit.

View subject folders

Educators can also filter Teacher Dashboard by class Google Drive folders. Elementary and primary educators may teach multiple subjects, for example, so they will see folders for each subject. Clicking on a math folder, for example, will show only recent Google files from that class folder across Student Tiles.

EXAMPLE: Mr. Adebayo teaches third grade, so he often filters his Teacher Dashboard by subject folder to focus on math, ELA, social studies or science. 

Educators and district leaders love Teacher Dashboard for instruction

Hāpara Teacher Dashboard helps educators with instruction by saving them time and simplifying tasks. Educators and district leaders agree that it streamlines teaching workflows.

Laura Williams is a special education teacher in Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia. She explains, “In the past, I would open up each document on my computer, after my students had shared with me, and try to follow along with their progress and add comments. By using Hāpara, I don’t have to have the items shared. I can go and look at each one, comment and help locate missing items.” 

Joel Handler, the Director of Technology at Hillsborough Board of Education in New Jersey, agrees. He describes Teacher Dashboard as a “tool that actually saves teachers time and makes life easier.”