2025 product updates: A year in review

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2025 will be a year to remember at Hāpara! Our focus this year was on listening to educators and delivering the features and enhancements they need to make their digital classrooms run smoothly and improve the learning experience. All of our updates in 2025 were the direct result of customer feedback and ideas. The best ideas for innovative edtech tools come from the educators and school leaders who use them every day, so don’t forget that we’re always listening.

Guide browsing enhancements 

Educators love guided browsing in Hāpara Highlights because it allows them to deliver customized browsing experiences to learners without reinventing the wheel every day. Think, “5-minute session in Dreambox every day at the beginning of class as a bellringer,” or, “10-minute session in Blooket as a review activity at the end of class on Fridays.” 

Guided Browsing allows teachers to get up and move around the room or work one-on-one with a student, rather than being chained to their desks watching student screens. Teachers can schedule these sessions ahead of time and reuse them if they work well, or start a session on the fly. And this year, we introduced the ability to edit or delete individual recurring guided browsing sessions, so teachers can make quick adjustments when needed.

A Hipi-approved glow-up 

Even the best-looking sheepicorns need a glow-up from time to time so they can look even more adorable than they already are. The Hāpara look got one too, and Hipi loves it!

Class View tab

Educators can now toggle between views of what learners see on their screens and a list of the browser tabs they have open. This change made it quicker and easier for educators to move between the two views by reducing the number of clicks required. 

Countdown timer

Countdowns before the start of a session were removed for Guided Browsing Filter Sessions, Pause Screens and Freeze tabs. Guided Browsing Focus Sessions still include a countdown, but it has been changed to five seconds. Now, teachers can get started right away with Filter sessions, or pause screens in the moment.

Close tabs instantly 

For a few years, Hāpara has offered educators the unique ability to close learners’ tabs and provide a reason for doing so to the student. It is an excellent way for teachers to start a conversation with learners about being responsible and on-task when completing digital assignments. But, there are times when a teacher needs to close a tab as quickly as possible because it is unsafe or inappropriate. Now, teachers can quickly close a student’s tab with a single click. It’s up to the educator to use their best professional judgment in these situations, as it should be.

Overview Panel 

You can now get a macro-level view of learners’ online activity in the Overview Panel, located in the Class View tab. Are there five students on the same Google Doc? Is one student mysteriously on a website that no one else is on and you didn’t assign them to it? It’s now easier to answer questions like these and ensure learners are on task. The Overview Panel helps teachers quickly spot trends and address them on the spot.

Chat 📣

One of our most impactful features released this year was two-way chat! It allows for direct communication between teacher and student during instructional time. This feature is perfect for redirection, encouragement, or for our quieter learners who may be a little bit shy in a full classroom. 

Hāpara Engagement Manager, Lisa Warschak says, “My favorite update is our chat feature. It’s perfect for all learners, but especially those who might be afraid to ask for help out loud. The chat allows reluctant learners the ability to get the help and support they need without the embarrassment.” 

Screen sharing

Teacher screen sharing is a great way for teachers to model and provide direct instruction to learners in person or remotely. Show learners how to solve a math problem step by step, or how to conjugate a verb. It’s a great way to engage learners in the details of how to complete an assignment.

Gaggle AI web filter 

2025 also brought a new trusted partner to Hāpara: Gaggle. A leader in student safety and wellbeing for more than 20 years, we are excited to offer Hāpara customers the Gaggle AI web filter. We are proud to partner with a reputable partner that we know will help our customers keep students safe online. 

The Gaggle AI web filter also integrates directly with Hāpara Highlights, our classroom management tool. Students can request sites with instructional value be unblocked, and teachers can manage those requests directly in their Hāpara dashboards. It gives the teachers the autonomy to manage their classrooms efficiently and reduces the high number of unblock requests that school IT administrators often receive. 

OneRoster 

OneRoster is a new free way for schools to avoid third-party data processing and keep student information more secure. “Our new OneRoster integration syncs classes, teachers and students directly from supported SIS platforms into Hāpara. Because it connects straight to the SIS, rosters stay accurate as changes happen. It’s simple to set up, and we can also migrate schools from other syncing platforms to OneRoster if they choose,” says Carrie Whalen, Senior Customer Support Implementation Specialist. 

Microsoft Edge 

Hāpara is now available for Microsoft schools! For schools using the Microsoft Edge browser and Microsoft IDs, Hāpara is now available for their digital classroom management needs. Teachers can view student screens in the Edge browser, open links on their devices, send class announcements for redirection or encouragement, and much much more. Contact us to learn more about how to get started with Hāpara for Microsoft in your school.

Browsing History

Feel free to move about the cabin. Or, classroom that is. Browsing History allows teachers to record classroom sessions in Highlights and review them later. So there’s no need to sit behind your desk and track every move in real time, and there’s more time to interact with students. Teachers can gain real insight into how learners progressed on assignments during class, identify topics for a digital citizenship discussion, and share reports with parents and administrators. 

Hall Pass 

Drum roll please. 🥁🥁🥁Our most exciting update in 2025 is that we’ll be releasing the Hāpara digital hall pass in early 2026! It will allow students to practice exercising their agency by behaving responsibly, teachers to better manage requests for passes, and administrators the ability to gather high level trends and insights into student movement on campus. Sign up to be an early adopter today!