FAQs
Classroom Manager 

Reasons you may see "waiting for student activity":

• You haven’t started your class.

• You’ve just started the class and Classroom Manager is still connecting to your student’s device.

• The only tab open on the student device is Google. Once the student opens a site, you will see connection.

• The student:

  • Is unavailable, offline, or having issues connecting to the school network or internet

  • Has left their computer on idle for at least 90 seconds (if you send an announcement to the student, it will re-connect)

  • Is using a browser that blocks third-party cookies

  • Is on MacOS and hasn’t allowed Classroom Manager to monitor their screen

  • Is using a device that doesn’t have the Connect app.

  • Is attempting to circumvent the school’s filtering by logging into their personal Google account, using Guest or Incognito mode, or hotspotting on a mobile network.

For troubleshooting tips, click here.

1. Clear the cache on your web browser.

   • Chrome

   • Edge

2. Try opening Classroom Manager in another browser.

3. If you are still having the problem, contact your school's IT team for help.

Yes, there are some options. 

• One option is for the student to agree to and install the Classroom Manager extension on their personal device. 

• Alternatively, Classroom Manager should work on a personal Chromebook device if the student first logs in with their school credentials; not their personal account. 

• Students with personal Windows or Mac devices can sign into the Chrome Browser with their school credentials, and the Connect Extension should push to their browser. This will only provide visibility to the Chrome Browser, not the entire desktop. 

Yes, if enabled by your district, permitted staff can create a Monitor Only Mode class to observe student activity. This feature provides access to view the students' screens and the Student Journey and Screenshot History reports, but it does not allow access to other Classroom Manager features that interact with students. This is a useful feature for school counselors, social workers and principals.

• One Monitoring class can be run at a time with a maximum of 50 students. The students can be selected across multiple classrooms. 

If your district has categories in the filter that are Allowed and Locked, students can access those sites even when you have the students in a Focus session. If you notice a student on a site that is not in your Focus session, let your internal technology department know so they can check their Allow/Block rules in the filter.

When creating a focus, if one of the resources selected is in conflict with a locked district policy, you will receive a message at the time you try applying or presetting the focus. The message will highlight the conflicting resource and provide additional details regarding the locked rule. 

When applying or presetting a focus, students are restricted to only the resources associated within that focus and anything Allowed and Locked by district policy. Students will be blocked if they try accessing anything outside of those sites; therefore, rules are not needed. A focus will override any classroom rules (e.g., A specific YouTube video URL could be put into a focus and override a classroom rule blocking YouTube), but it cannot override any district's Locked policies. During a focus, the rules button will be grayed out. Once students are removed from a focus, classroom rules will apply.

Focus plans will remain in your Focus Library year to year, unless your district purges users (teachers) from the system.

When creating a rule, if it is in conflict with a Locked district policy or rule, you will receive a detailed message at the time you try to apply the rule. 

This can happen when you’ve made a rule allowing a specific domain, subdomain or page and it needs to get data from other sites that are blocked. Try to create the rule at the signature level instead. Creating a Rule with the signature will make sure the site and all other sites it needs to work will be unblocked. 

What is a signature?

For example, if you allow the domain powerschool.com while videos from vimeo.com are blocked, the site will not show the embedded videos. However, if you allow the “Powerschools Learning” signature instead, the videos from Vimeo would appear because the signature includes everything Powerschools Learning needs to work, including embedded videos. Allowed sites or pages can still load on students’ browsers, but embedded content such as videos from blocked sites will appear as blocked frames within allowed sites.

Make sure the students' devices are allowing pop-ups in their browser settings.

• Chrome

• Edge

No, Screenshot History reports are only gathered when Classroom Manager is running. Once a class is started, Classroom Manager takes screenshots every 10 seconds and every time the student opens a new tab, window or link.

There are two main things that can block your students from accessing content on their devices: District Filter Policies and Content Aware Module (CAM).

District Filter Policies are set by your IT team to block or allow students to access specific content.  When a student tries to access content the District doesn't want them to access, they will see a screen that states "Content Blocked".

Content Aware Module (CAM) will blur videos and images that fall under the categories of Gore, Intimate Apparel, and Pornography. Additionally, if a student tries to access a website containing games, pornography, or information on proxies or VPN's, CAM will automatically block those websites, even if they are uncategorized.

If your student is blocked by a District Block Policy, you can use the Rules function or Focus feature in Classroom Manager to temporarily allow a website during your class period. If your rule or focus session isn't working to unblock a website, it may mean your District has "Locked" that rule, meaning Classroom Manager can't make changes to that specific policy.

If your student is seeing blurred videos or images, then the Content Aware Module (CAM) is in place. Click here for more information on how to troubleshoot blurred content using Classroom Manager. 

If your students are being blocked from a resource, the Screenshare tool in Classroom Manager is a great way to let them view content until your IT team can exclude the resource you need from CAM.