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 Teacher Assist.
• Teachers of Google Classrooms – by default all users of Google domain that are assigned as Classroom Teachers.

Login to Chrome #

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

Alternatively can be launched from this URL:  https://gs.generalaudittool.com/apps/teachers

Dashboard #

Dashboard shows details of the previous classroom sessions

• Last sessions list – list of the previous classroom or group sessions
• Last session details – the last session details

In the Last session list – the Admin/Teacher can

• Download report – Download a PDF report for the selected classroom session
• Send report by Email – Send an Email with the PDF attached report to the Teacher email
• Show attendance list  – Show an attendance list for the selected classroom session
  • The details of the classroom with Emails of each students who were present or not (active or not) during the classroom session

Google Classrooms control #

From the menu on the left select a Classroom and click on Start session (play button)

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 availiabe individually for each studnet.

Clicking o the “green button” list of options will be dispalyed.

• Open new tab – opens a new tab for the selcted student with the URL entered
• Distribute current page – opens the page the selected student has and it distrubites it to all other active studenets
• Block current page – blockes the current page for the chose user
• Browsing history – opens new window with the browsing history of the user (during the classroom session)
• Chat – send an individual chat message to the chose student
• Screenshot – take a screenshot of the current opened screen the student has
• Maximize viewing window – maximize the viewing window of the picked student (can also be done via double click on the selected student tab)
• View Google drive – opens the Google Drive of the students ( Teacher has access only to file they already have access to)
• 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

Actions on maximized viewing window #

Double click or click on Maximize Viewing window 

This will open the current tab of the selected student into 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.

• Current – the current open tab
• Previous – other currently opened tabs (not currently opened)

Control tabs #

The three buttons on the side allow the Admin/ Teacher to contrl the tabs.

• Green button – swith the tab to the selected one
• Open tab – opens the selected tab on the Admin/Teacher window
• Red button – closing the tab for the student

Take action on a single student  #

Hover over the action button to see all of the individual actions you can take.

• Take screenshot (1)
• Menu (2)

Hover over the action button to see all of the individual actions you can take.

You will be presented with the following options: 

1. • Open New Tab – this will open a new tab on the student’s device. 
   • Distribute Current Page – will distribute the current tab to all other students. 
   • Block Current Page – This will prevent the student from accessing the webpage. 
   • Browsing History – will show all of the webpage accessed by the student from the point of the session starting.
   • Chat – It will launch a chat window with the student.
   • Screenshot – take a screenshot of the current page the user has opened
   •  Set Lock Tab – This will lock the student in the current tab.
     • If enabled – release lock tab
   •  Pin Student – Pin this student to the top of the virtual class granular display.
     • If enabled – inpin student

Take action for All students #

When hovering over the classroom action bar, you will be presented with the following options:

• Select All – select all students.
• Clear selection – clear the selected students.
• Open New tab – set a page as allowed and distribute the page to ALL users.
• Push Site Collection – push out any defined Google Sites.
• Classroom Announcement – send an announcement to all students that will appear on their screen.
• Site control – apply rules for all students in the classroom
  • Block all sites by default – block all pages (disable the students to access any site)
  • Allow – individual pages – allowed pages will only be allowed
  • Block – individual pages

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

• Reconnect – if the class is having any connectivity issues.
• Absence Notes – view the absence notes taken for students

Important: 

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

Classroom details #

In the Classroom tab, the Admin can filter by Teacher, Owner and by Classrooms

• Click on the Play button to start a session
• Refresh membership – refresh the membership of the classroom (sync with Google Classroom)
• Show absence notes – show absence notes taken if student was not active in the classroom session

Settings for the Classrooms

• Click on the Pen icon to view details for the classroom.
  • Students – list of all the students in the classroom
    • From the right side – the Admin or Teacher can deactivate the student from the classroom
  • Prepare class session – apply rules for the classroom sessions
    • Apply rules
      • 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 block list)
      • Block pages – set up a site to be blocked

• Info – view details of the classroom
• Timers – set up a time for how long the classroom session should last
• Site collections – set up and save Sites (Webpages) into a collection – this site collection then can be sent to students
• YouTube Control – Control YouTube by allowing or blocking specific Categories, Channels, Video and Keywords
  • IMPORTANT: Availiable only for Shield – Site Access Control (BETA) version users

Groups in Teacher Assist #

Within Teacher Assist we have an option for classroom Groups.

Classroom groups are artificial classrooms, where the Super Admin of the domain can create Classroom Groups and give permissions to Users or Teachers to create Groups.

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

Teacher Assist Groups and Classrooms work in the sample principle. The Teachers can control the Students in Classes and Groups

From the menu on the left navigate to Groups

From the top right side click on Create group

Pop up window will be displayed to Enter a name for the group

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 Add button
• Prepare Group session – pre-apply browsing rules for the group
  • 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 Groups 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.

People list all students and teachers in the classroom.

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.

The browsing activity will use data from Shield to display the browsing done by the students for any given day (3 months back)

Attendance spreadsheet #

This shows the attencance during the last classroom or group sessions

Teacher settings #

The Teacher settings allow the Admin and Teacher to set up Session and Report settings.

• Session settings – set up setting for the session
  • Play sound on chat messges recieved – play a sound when the Chat function is used
  • Show student left message – show message when Students leave session or is disconnected
• Report settings – set up setting for the after classroom reports.
  • Send me report by email after the session – enable to send the Admin/Teacher itself to recieve emails
  • Send a report by emaul after the session to others – enter aditional email for an email to be sent after classroom session has nended

Admin settings #

The Admin has addtional settings they can setup for Teacher Assist

• General – set up the default timer for Teacher Assist – classroom sesions
• Sessions – the Admin can audit the Teacher Assist sessions that occured in the domain
• Time limits – set up Classroom sessions time limits. The Admin can select when Classroom sessions can be started
• Access rights – Create edit or delete Acess rights for Classrooms
• Action logs – The Admin can view the Logs for the classroom session

YouTube control – Site Access Control (BETA) #

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

This feature works ONLY for domains who have Site Access Control (BETA) version enabled.

• Base settings – Set up and enable different YouTube settings
  • The Admin can set up Age restriction 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 YouTube video ID or URL for 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-establish.

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, invalid link or 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 – 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