This course was very challenging from a time perspective but extremely worthwhile. I have now added more skills so I can use Hāpara to it's full potential.
Here are some tips and thoughts from me and the team at Hāpara.
Task 1
Course Objectives
1) Learn how to access the Hāpara Suite and navigate the HCE Course Units.
2) Join the Hāpara Champion Educator course in the Hapara community, introduce yourself to your cohort, and actively engage in the community.
3) Experience Hāpara Workspace from the standpoint of a learner.
I made my required 3 posts on Hāpara. It was quite daunting sharing a Google Sheet I use for students being accountable for their blogging as there a lot of whizzy computer people on there with far better skills than me.
Task 2
OBJECTIVES: Hāpara Highlights
1) Learn how to navigate and use the toolbars and menus of Highlights.
2) Master sending links and messages to students.
3) Get comfortable with the features of the Activity Viewer.
4) Learn how to take "snaps," interpret them, and use them to give feedback.
Highlights can be used foster a productive digital classroom and build positive, respectful relationships with your students. I can click on the 3 dots on their tile, scroll down the drop down box and send them a positive and encouraging message on how they are working today. I can pause their screens to gain attention whilst giving instructions or reminders to my learners. I can make sure the lessons are focused by checking what tabs they have open on their screens and removing the ones that are distracting them.
The Activity Viewer gives you a whole-class record of all the tabs currently and previously open during a Highlights session. It starts “recording” when you click on the Highlights tab and will ends when you close Highlights or refresh your browser. The Activity Viewer can record class browsing for a period of time and gather evidence of browsing behavior. From here, you can see who has (or had) a tab open and take a Snap of that activity to review later. You can also close tabs in the Unique Activity section.
The Activity Viewer allows the teacher to passively monitor, which frees them up to focus on instruction and building relationships while students are working in a digital environment.
The Guide Browsing feature in Highlights, provides a couple of options to limit what students can view. Focused Browsing limits what students can see for a period of time. You can limit their browsing to just one page or give them larger parameters in which to work. Filtered Browsing is another option to consider when there is a need to limit what students can view. Filtered Browsing allows you to prevent students from visiting certain sites during a set time.
Both Focused and Filtered Browsing can be lifesavers, but they can also be abused. It’s important to strike a balance between safety and trust; and important to use student devices as more than expensive pieces of paper.
Scheduled browsing can be used to:
1. Organise my learners so they are where they need to be and we are not wasting time with them trying to find the correct website.
2. Duplicate the session if I do the same thing every week e.g. a weekly online quiz. I can copy it and make minor edits if needed.
3. I can schedule different share links or focus sessions when I know in advance I am going to be away for the day or at a meeting during class time. It’s really great for planning ahead.
Scheduled Browsing can be such a helpful way to build routine into your classroom, save time that otherwise might be lost during digital transitions, and assist substitute teachers during planned absences. Every minute of instruction counts!
Task 3
OBJECTIVES: Hāpara Dashboard
1) Learn how to navigate and use the toolbars and menus of Teacher Dashboard.
2) Master SmartShare--to send files to individuals, groups, or classes.
3) Get comfortable sorting and searching student cards.
4) Understand the differences between Dashboard and Sharing tabs.
5) Develop a philosophy on using "the power of Dashboard."
6) Create a Best Practices Implementation Plan for using Dashboard in your classroom, school, or district.
By using the Teacher Dashboard tab I can organise the students into easily identifiable groups I have made by creating a group and colour coding it.This means I can share files directly to their group. I can easily edit these groups and switch students from group to group when required.
I can promote positive interactions with my students by opening up the doc they are working on and using the ‘comments’ button to make positive, helpful and thoughtful comments on their work.
I can create an overall better learning environment by providing timely feedback on current assignments to focus students on immediate tasks.
This is timely as with Lockdown (due to COVID-19) I am now teaching remotely and teaching students how to thrive in a digital environment is more important than ever!
Task 4
OBJECTIVES: Hāpara Workspace
1) Experience and explore Workspace as a teacher.
2) Explore exemplary Workspaces to source ideas for your lessons.
3) Create a Workspace to use with your students.
4) Share that Workspace with your HCE peers, and review others' shared Workspaces.
This task was a lot of fun. Hāpara is very user friendly and it's simialr to Google Sites in that students learning is ubiquitous, visible and accessible from anywhere the students and teachers are able to login to their school account.
I was able to rename the columns into Learning Intention, Learn, Create, Share to show the students workflow and align with our schools Manaiakalani kaupapa. All websites, YouTube clips and necessary information can be loaded for students to access directly from their groups or class task. Assignments can be given due dates, are submitted and returned by the teacher with timely feedback.
It's a one-stop shop!
