Introducing Hāpara Highlights Chat

Listen to an audio version of this post:

Hipi hasn’t been this excited since their first bite of a marshmallow! We’ve been working hard behind the scenes and are ready to give you a sneak peek of our newest feature: Hāpara Highlights Chat. 

Chat is our two-way messaging feature that allows teachers and learners to have conversations during instructional time. This builds upon our commitment to help teachers manage their digital classroom. This feature will be optional for schools and districts to turn on.

Ready to dive in? Let’s take a look at Hipi’s favorite new feature!

What is Hāpara Highlights Chat?

Hāpara Highlights Chat allows teachers to start a digital conversation with a learner during class time. If the teacher has the Chat feature set to “on” in Highlights, a learner can also start a conversation with their teacher. Please note that learners cannot message other learners.

Teachers have been able to send learners messages with the Highlights Announce feature, but educators and learners gave us feedback that they wanted to be able to have two-way digital conversations during class time. 

These digital conversations:

• Help learners stay on track
• Build positive relationships in the classroom
• Give learners the opportunity to ask questions

How does Chat work?

By default, Hāpara Highlights Chat will be turned off, but your school or district will have the option to turn it on for your domain.

When turned on, Chat will only work within your domain during school hours.

If enabled for your school or district, teachers can find Chat at the bottom left corner of their Highlights screen. Once they click on the icon, a window will open. From there, they need to turn on Chat for the class.

Turning on Chat allows teachers to directly message a learner and vice-versa, when they are both online during instructional time.

Any learner that is online for class can receive a message, and their teacher’s Chat message will pop up on their screen.

Learners can respond directly to their teacher and initiate a conversation, too. For a learner to start a conversation, they will click on the Hāpara Highlights extension in their Chrome browser. If the teacher has turned on Chat for the class, they will show as available to message.

When a learner sends their teacher a message, a notification will appear on the teacher’s Chat icon in Highlights.

Learn more about the steps in our support article about Chat.

Benefits for teachers and learners

Hāpara Highlights Chat has several benefits for teachers to help them better manage their digital classroom. It also creates a more successful learning experience for students on devices.

Redirect a learner 

Hāpara Highlights gives teachers visibility into learners’ online progress. A teacher can see learners’ current screens or view a list of their recently opened browser tabs. If the teacher notices that a learner needs to be redirected back to the classroom activity, a great place to start is by sending them a message in Chat. 

While teachers can also use Highlights to close a learner’s tab, sending a message in Chat first is a great way to build positive relationships and respect. It also gives the learner a clear reminder about making responsible digital citizenship choices.

Send a learner timely formative feedback

A teacher can also use Chat to send a learner formative feedback about their digital citizenship choices or their progress on a class activity. Research shows that timely formative feedback builds trust between teachers and learners and increases academic achievement. 

Check in with a learner

Chat allows teachers to easily check in with learners, too. They can ask questions about the class activity and their understanding of a concept. Or they can send a social and emotional learning check-in. A quick SEL check-in as simple as “How’s your day going?” can make a difference to a learner and build better relationships in the classroom.

Clarify directions or an activity

Chat is also helpful for clarifying instructions or steps of a class activity. With the visibility that Highlights gives teachers into learning, they can see whether or not a student is progressing. There may be times when a learner needs additional support, and Chat is a great way to help a learner without interrupting the class or calling a child out in front of everyone.

Ask a question and get personalized help

Additionally, some learners don’t want to ask questions in front of the class and will let an entire class period go by without asking for help. Chat solves this problem by allowing those quiet learners to directly message their teacher. The teacher can then provide personalized and discreet support.

For more ideas on engaging quiet learners, check out these tips from Hāpara educators around the world.

Best practices for using Chat in the classroom

Turn Chat on or off based on learning needs

We wanted to make sure we gave teachers flexibility when using this new feature. Turn on Chat when it’s helpful for instruction and learning, and leave it turned off when it’s not needed. For example, some learners need more structure if they struggle with self-control.

Teach a mini-lesson about appropriate use of Chat

It’s always a best practice in the classroom to explicitly teach learners how to use a new tool. Further, because learners are still developing their executive functioning skills, they need to be taught how to appropriately use Chat. Here are some examples to incorporate clear instruction around it:

• Explain that, while quick and easy to use, Chat is still part of the classroom environment and communication must be appropriate.
• Show examples of appropriate messages. 
• Have partners practice writing example messages to the teacher. 
• Discuss when and how often learners can use Chat. 
• Go over the steps for using Chat in the student Highlights extension.