How to Give Formative Feedback with Teacher Dashboard During Learning

Giving formative feedback to your students is an essential instructional strategy. When students receive feedback throughout their learning process, they’re more likely to succeed and have a deeper understanding of concepts. It’s challenging, though, as a teacher to find the time to give consistent formative feedback that’s personalized for students.

That’s why Hāpara Teacher Dashboard is designed to make formative feedback timely and efficient. It has features that make it easier for you to give specific feedback consistently and help students progress with their learning.

One of the best times to give feedback to students is as they are learning. That way there’s no waiting period between when they finish an assignment and when you share feedback. They can take your feedback, make adjustments and be set up for success as they continue their learning process.

Teacher Dashboard displays all of your students’ recent learning activities. Each student in your class has a Student Tile that shows you their recent files. You can preview the files or click on them to leave the student feedback.

To provide feedback to students during learning:

1. Log into Teacher Dashboard through app.hapara.com.

2. Click on Your Class.

3. Click on Dashboard in the dark blue section at the top of your screen.

4. Hover over a file in the Student Tile to see a preview.

5. Click on the File Name to open it in a new tab.

6. Insert a comment with formative feedback. You can do this in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Drawings.

Note: If you insert a comment in a shared group document, all students in the group will see it.

How to Give Formative Feedback with Teacher Dashboard Using Email

Email an Individual Student

Another way to provide formative feedback is by sending a student an email. In this case, you may want to communicate in more detail about their progress. Or for a group activity, you may want to send an individual student feedback only they can see.

Using Teacher Dashboard, you can quickly send an email to a student. You don’t have to switch over to Gmail, and you don’t have to look for the student’s email address.

To email an individual student:

1. Find the student's Student Tile in Teacher Dashboard.

2. Click the Drop-Down Menu on the top right.

3. Select Email.

4. In a new window, a blank email will open with your school email address. The student's school email adress will also already be populated.

5. Type your email subject and message, and click Send. 

Email a Selection of Students

If you need to send an email to a group of students, you can save a step by using the Class Info tab to quickly copy student email addresses. This is useful when you’re differentiating instruction and want to give a group more detailed feedback or additional support on an assignment. For example, you may want to send a few students feedback with a follow-up video as enrichment.

To email a selection of students:

1. Click the Class Info tab in the dark blue menu at the top of your screen.

2. Select the students' names from the list.

3. Click the Copy button.

4. Then select Emails from the drop-down menu.

5. In a separate tab, open your email account.

6. Click Compose.

7. Paste the selected students' email addresses in the "To:" field.

8. Type your email subject and message, and click Send.

Emailing your Whole Class

There may also be instances when you need to email your entire class. For example, you may want to share a reminder about an upcoming project date or an assignment due the next day. Or you may want to share positive feedback about the class’s progress during a recent activity, such as a science experiment, language arts debate, math assessment or social studies graphic organizer assignment.

In this case, the Class Info tab makes it easy for you to send an email without having to switch to your Gmail account.

To email the entire class:

1. Click the Class Info tab in the dark blue menu at the top of Teacher Dashboard.

2. Then click the blue Email Class button on the top right.

3. A new window with a blank email will open. It will have your school email address, and you'll see a class email address. The class email address will send your message to each student's school email account.

4. Type your email subject and message then click Send.