Hapara is a program created to allow teachers to manage and regulate google drive, docs, slides, etc. on students’ devices. According to Hapara.com, Hapara Highlights is “Hapara Highlights helps you see what learners are doing in the Google Chrome Browser in near-real-time. Feedback mechanisms allow you to reinforce pro-learning behaviour and re-direct unfocused behaviour. You can remotely open or close a browser tab on learner devices to re-focus them to the task at hand. You can share files, sites or URLs with your students easily.”

Essentially, this program will allow teachers to see their students’ activity on Google Chrome at all times, even at home, and take screenshots of their tabs (what they’re doing), whenever they want. SPA turned on this program for much of Jan. 30. Immediately students began complaining and eventually it was turned off.  

SPA’s Director of Technology Gary Clum wrote in an e-mail to 9th graders that, “This software extension was turned on yesterday for us to test its functionality and to plan for its potential. Unfortunately, it also went out to all students and faculty. We turned off the extension but it may take up to 24 hours for it to disappear for everyone.”

Presumably, Clum never meant for the program to be used for all students and faculty, at least on this specific occasion, and that is why the program was turned off. This was meant to see what the program could/would do and if it would work well in the environment of SPA, because apparently this program will probably be in use in the future. This is a serious invasion of privacy, and can not be allowed to be turned on in the future. If SPA does decide to turn this program on again, students need to voice their concerns to SPA faculty.