Teacher Assist User Manual

Introduction to Teacher Assist #

With Teacher Assist teachers are given the ability to monitor and control students while class is in session. With this tool, teachers can ensure that students stay on track and follow along with the subject being taught. Having the ability to track student engagement in real-time is a big asset for teachers, Google Workspace Super admins, and Principals.

Functionality that teachers have:

Monitor the current screen of all students in their classrooms.
View all of the tabs on students’ Chrome Browser.
Close browser tabs that are irrelevant for students.
View the browser history during the active session.
Distribute a website to automatically open and display on some or all students’ screens.
To block a website from being used while class is in session.

Super Admins, principals, or teachers can create a group of students whose behavior is alarming. The group can be monitored and controlled with the same abilities above.

Who can access the Teacher Assist tool? #

Google Super Admins – By default all Google Workspace Super Admins have access to Teacher Assist.
Teachers of Google Classrooms – By default all users of the Google domain are assigned as Classroom Teachers.

Note: For Teacher Assist to work – the students have to be logged into Chrome browser and GAT Shield has to be enabled. Visit this page for more information

Teachers #

Teachers are Google Workspace users who are assigned as Teachers to a Google Classroom.

Teachers who own or have created a Google Classroom can log in and use Teacher Assist.

How can a teacher start a session? #

Launch Teacher Assist from the Google Apps button then Login

Dashboard #

The dashboard provides us with the following useful information:

Last Sessions – List of the previous classroom or group sessions which can be viewed to see the session summary
Most Blocked Websites – List of the most blocked websites for students
Most Absent Reasons – List of the most used absent reasons
Teachers with Most Sessions – Lists the teachers with the most sessions done

As well as some general statistics:

Sessions – Number of sessions during the date frame given.
Live Sessions – Number of sessions currently live.
Google Classrooms – Current number of Google Classrooms
Teacher Assist Classrooms – Current number of Teacher Assist Classrooms

You can view the session summary by clicking the page icon inside the last session section:

In the Last Session list, when you view the session summary the Admin/Teacher can:

Download report – Download a PDF report for the selected classroom session.
Email report – Send an Email with the PDF attached report to selected users.
Attendances – View an attendance list for the selected classroom session
- You can swap the attendance view between the teacher or students and also download students reports or email the student report to selected users.

Website Control – See the list of websites that have been allowed/blocked by the teacher.

Screenshots – See any screenshots taken by the teacher during the session

Blocked Events – View all events in which students tried to access a blocked website.

Classrooms #

From the menu on the left select Teacher > Classrooms tab.

This will show a new card view of the Google Classrooms and Teacher Assist Groups the Teacher has.

This can be searched by Owner, Teacher, Classroom Name, Student, Type, Status, Created date, Last session, Last activity.

Click on the “Start session” button on any of the Classrooms

The classroom session will be started.

A new window will be shown, the browsing activity will be automatically displayed for all active students.

Important: Make sure that students are signed in to their school Google account on ChromeOS devices and if they’re using Windows or Apple devices that they sign in and sync with their Google Chrome browser. Shield must be deployed on the student accounts.

Individual student control #

Options are available individually for each student such as Pin student and Lock tab, for offline students there’s also an option to add absence notes.

Clicking on the more options icon will display:

Open new tab – opens a new tab for the selected student with the URL entered
Open the current page for others – opens the page the selected student has and distributes it to all other active students
Website Collections – allows you to pull a block/allow list from another available collection
Close All Tabs – reset all student’s tabs
NOTE: Block current page – blocks the current page for ALL Students –
- This will not prevent pages from being opened in the future – it just closes the Currently opened site for All Students
Take a screenshot – this will take a screenshot of the student’s screen.
Browsing history – opens a new window with the browsing history of the user (during the classroom session)
View Google Drive – opens the Google Drive of the students ( Teacher has access only to files they already have access to)
Chat – Send an individual chat message to the chosen student
Set lock tab – lock the current tab. Students will not be able to navigate to other tabs but the current one (locked one)
Pin student – pick the selected student to be on top of the screen always
Absence note – leave an absence not for a student that hasn’t attended the session

Actions on the maximized viewing window #

Clicking on any of the students screens will maximize the view and give some additional options.

This will open the current tab of the selected student in the big window.

On the right-hand side, you will see a Tab list of all tabs that are currently opened on the student Chrome browser.

Active tabs – the current open tab(s)
Other tabs – other tabs that are open but not currently active

Control tabs #

In the active tab section we have 3 icons which do the following:

Focus student on this tab – This will make this tab the active window for the student.
Open this tab for me – Opens the selected tab on the Admin/Teacher window
Close this tab for student – Closes the tab for the student

In the other tabs section, we have an additional icon:

Switch user to this tab – This will make this the active window & tab for the student.

Clicking on the more options icon will show you all of the individual actions you can take.

You will be presented with the following options:

Open new tab – opens a new tab for the selected student with the URL entered
Open the current page for others – opens the page the selected student has and distributes it to all other active students
Website Collections – allows you to pull a block/allow list from another available collection
Close All Tabs – reset all student’s tabs
NOTE: Block current page – blocks the current page for ALL Students –
- This will not prevent pages from being opened in the future – it just closes the Currently opened site for All Students
Take a screenshot – this will take a screenshot of the student’s screen.
Browsing history – opens a new window with the browsing history of the user (during the classroom session)
View Google Drive – opens the Google Drive of the students ( Teacher has access only to files they already have access to)
Chat – Send an individual chat message to the chosen student

Take action for All Students #

Lock tabs – This allows you to lock tabs for all students or unlock tabs for all students
Session settings – This allows additional session settings to be modified on the side bar that appears
- Window lock – This forces the window to be active on the students computer
- Mute tabs – This mutes the tabs for students
- Block split tab view – This blocks the student from the split tab view
- Mute raised hand notifications – Mutes the notification when a student raises their hand
Chat – Allows you to select a student to chat to
Students – Shows a list of present/absent students.
View settings – This allows you to adjust the view settings
- Show – All students or only present students
- Group by – All students or groups
- Sort by – Sort the students by email, first name or last name.
- Sort groups by – Name of groups, total number of students in groups or number of active students in groups.

After clicking on the more options icon you will be presented with the following options:

Select all students – Select all students.
Deselect all students – Clear the selected students.
Unpin all students – Unpin all pinned students.
Open new tab – set a page as allowed and distribute the page to ALL users.
- Additionally you can also lock this page, lock this domain or close all other tabs.
Website collections – Push out any defined website collection.
Close all tabs – Close all open tabs
Website control – Apply rules for all the students in the classroom
- Block all sites by default – block all pages (disable the students from accessing any site)
- Scope – Allows the choice of selecting all students, selected students or student groups
- Allow – Individual pages will be allowed
- Block – Individual pages will be blocked

Send Announcement – Send an announcement to all students that will appear on their screen.
Absence notes – View the absence notes taken for students
Screenshots – Shows any screenshots taken during the session
Reconnect – Refreshes the connection with all students that are in the classroom

The above rules are applied for the Teacher assist session. Pages will be allowed after the Teacher leaves the session.

Important:

Reconnect – Set reestablishment of the connection. Use of Students were not logged in to their accounts at the start of the session. Use reconnect to reconnect with student accounts.

Courses details #

In the Classroom tab, the Admin can filter by Owner, Classroom Name, Type, Status, Teacher, Student, Created, Last Session and Last Activity.

Click on the Play button to start a session
Delete – Delete the classroom
Refresh membership – refresh the membership of the classroom (sync with Google Classroom)
Show absence notes – show absence notes taken if a student was not active in the classroom session
Classroom Insights – gives an overview of the classroom such as students browsing history, blocked events, website control history.

Settings for the Classrooms

Click on the Pen icon to view details for the classroom:

General – Configure the classroom name & description, owner of the class and the session time length.
Teachers – List all teachers in the classroom and add teachers if needed.
Students – List of all the students in the classroom
- From the right side – the Admin or Teacher can remove the student from the classroom or add them to a group/remove from a group.
Website Control – Apply rules for the classroom sessions
- Block all sites by default – enable if you want to block every page the user visits (block internet)
- Allow pages – Set up a site to be allowed (will take precedence over the block list)
- Block pages – Set up a site to be blocked
Site collections – Set up and save Sites (Web pages) into a collection – This site collection then can be sent to students
YouTube Control – Control YouTube by allowing or blocking specific Categories, Channels, Videos and Keywords
- IMPORTANT: Available only for Shield – Site Access Control users

Teacher Assist Classrooms #

Within Teacher Assist we have an option for Teacher Assist Classrooms.

Teacher assist classrooms are artificial classrooms, where the Super Admin of the domain can create Teacher Assist Classrooms and give permission to Users or Teachers to create Teacher Assist Classrooms.

The users can be assigned as Students and Teachers to the Teacher Assist Classrooms. Please check this how-to for more details.

Teacher Assist Classrooms and Google Classrooms work in the sample principle. The Teachers can control the Students in Google classrooms and the Teacher Assist Classrooms.

In the Classrooms menu – click on + New Classroom

A pop-up window will be displayed to enter the Classroom name

Fill in all the details required

Description – Enter a description and edit the group name
Teachers – enter the Teacher email and click on the Add button
Students – enter the Student email and click on the Add button
Website Control – Pre-apply browsing rules for the classroom
- Block all sites by default – you can block all pages by default (block internet)
- + Create site access rule – enter a webpage and set it up to be Blocked or Allowed

When ready with settings, click on the Exit button(x)

The group will be created and saved under the Classrooms tab

Classroom Insights #

Classroom Insights (eye icon) will display additional information regarding the classrooms.

This will allow the teachers to view everything about the classrooms.

Details such as the classroom name, owner, number of teacher and number of students.
People list all students and teachers in the classroom.
The browsing activity will use data from GAT Shield to display the browsing done by the students for any given day (3 months back)
In Classworks see all the classwork for the classroom, the Due date, the Average grade for the classwork, and the description.
The Grades will show all the submitted grades by the teachers for each student and the average for each classwork.

Site Access Control History allows to view the history logs of the Site Access Control.
When the teacher adds or removes a URL rule in the Site Control section of Teacher Assist during the session (allow or block rule), those actions are logged and displayed in the history list under the Site Access Control History section.

NOTE: After 30 days the history log will be deleted.

Attendance spreadsheet #

This shows the attendance during the last classroom or group sessions.

Filter by Classroom names or Time range.

Export into a PDF report

Teacher settings #

The Teacher Settings (1) allow the Admin and Teacher to set up Session and Report settings.

Courses settings (2)- Display courses as cards (default view) or list view. Card view displays Classrooms and TA Groups together
Session settings (3) – Set settings for the session
- Play sound on chat messages received – play a sound when the Chat function is used
- Show student left message – show message when Students leave the session or are disconnected
Report settings (4) – Set up settings for the after-classroom reports.
- Send me a report by email after the session – enable the Admin/Teacher itself to receive emails
- Send a report by email after the session to others – enter an additional email for an email to be sent after the classroom session has ended
- Automatically upload screenshots to Drive – This saves the screenshot taken to the Teachers MyDrive.

Admin settings #

The Admin has additional settings they can set for Teacher Assist

General – Set up the default timer for Teacher Assist classroom sessions And/Or window size when the tab is locked
- Enable or disable Timer for the sessions:
  - Session timer is enabled – Set a default timer for all classes.
  - Session timer is disabled – deactivate the default timer for all sessions.
- Maximize or keep current size of the window when you lock the student’s tab:
  - Keep a current window size to lock the tab
  - Keep a maximized window to lock the tab
Sessions – The Admin can audit the Teacher Assist sessions that occurred in the domain
Time limits – Set up Classroom sessions with time limits. The Admin can select when Classroom sessions can be started
- Weekdays hours – select days and hours for when Teacher Assist can be used by Teachers.
- Special hours – select time period for which Teacher Assist cannot be used.
  - For example mid-term, a set time period where Teacher Assist cannot be used.
Access rights – Create edit or delete “Access rights for use of Teacher Assist”
- All – enable all additional permissions
- Create & Edit group – allow the Teacher to create and edit the Teacher Assist Group
- Allow co-teachers to edit – enable secondary teacher to edit the classroom settings (to enable co-teacher to edit the TA Groups as well, the Edit group permission must also be granted)
- Access to students Drive – allow the Teacher to access the Students Drive – access to Drive of the user – unless the teacher has direct access to the file they will not be able to see the content of the files.
- Students drive can be viewed – enable the option to view student drive
- Teacher – Add user to act as Teacher, have access to Teacher Assist
- Access to reports – allow the Teacher to view and access the reports
- Principal – enabled the Principal feature for the selected user
Action logs – The Admin can view the Logs for the classroom session

YouTube control – Site Access Control #

Teacher Assist allows YouTube control. This feature allows the Super Admin of the domain to control access to YouTube.

This feature works for domains that have new version 2 of Site Access Control available (all new GAT Shield users), as well as domains that have new version 2 of Site Access Control automatically enabled when migrating to GAT Shield MV3.

Base settings – Set up and enable different YouTube settings
- The Admin can set up Age restrictions for YouTube.
- Enable Restrictive Mode, block all except allowed videos
- Prevent override by Sessions, Teachers can not override global YouTube settings
Categories – Settings to Block or Allow YouTube categories
Channel – Enter the YouTube video ID or URL for the YouTube channel to be allowed or blocked
Video – Enter YouTube video or URL to be allowed or blocked
Keyword – enter keyword to be blocked

Troubleshooting #

Connection State #

Green – WebSocket connection is established and working.
Yellow – WebSocket connection is trying to be re-established.
Red – WebSocket connection is lost.
Grey – The user is not logged in to their account (Shield is not deployed to this user). If a student has logged in after the Teacher assist session has started their account will be “grey”, You can use Reconnect to reset the connection so the new students are visible.

Status messages #

Error: MSG001, ‘Messaging connection error. The problem is caused by a connection error, an invalid link or the server can not create a connection. Please contact us at support@gatlabs.com
Error: MSG002, ‘Messaging connection error. The problem is caused by configuration or the messaging system is not enabled for the domain. Please contact us at support@gatlabs.com
Looking for a student – The application is looking for a student, if the connection process stops at this stage it means the remote peer (student) is not connected or online
The student is online, preparing to stream – the student is connected to the system and is waiting for the streaming [webrtc] connection. If the message is not changing it means that the streaming connection can not be created, because of network/firewall/nat settings.
Connection is failing to complete on the remote side (user enrolled in another session) – the remote peer refused connection because the user is already in another session. A student can’t be in two monitored classrooms at once.
Connection is failing to complete on the remote side disabled by config – the remote peer refused connection because it’s disabled by config. Configuration should be updated in 15 min. If the situation repeats please contact us at support@gatlabs.com
Connection is failing to complete on the remote side (browser has been closed) – the remote peer refused connection because all tabs for the user’s browser are closed. This is the same as ‘there is nothing to see here. The student must open at least one tab in the browser for the teacher to see.

Network and Firewall Requirements #

Make sure the Firewall settings allow those ports:

The Port for messaging is 9871 TCP for WebSocket and HTTP traffic.
WebRTC ICE server port 3478 UDP/TCP