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Using the Realtime App to Monitor Student Work with Live Feed and Focus Mode

Learn how to monitor student work and progression in real time

Written by Mike Javor
Pro feature

Realtime App Overview

The Realtime App on CodeHS is where you can monitor your students in a section in realtime and be able to see if they are present. View what assignment your students are currently working on, the date and time of when they were last active, and see a live feed of the progress your students are making throughout the course.

You can access the Realtime App by navigating to the left navigation bar under the Classroom category:

GIF demonstrating how to navigate to the realtime app which is under the classroom category on the left navigation bar.

The Realtime App offers three different features: Realtime Dashboard, Live Feed, and Focus Mode:

Image showing the features on the realtime app such as focus mode, live feed, and the dashboard.

Choosing a Section or Group to View

On the Realtime App, you'll automatically see the settings for whichever section you most recently viewed on CodeHS. To switch between sections, click on the Section dropdown in the top left corner and choose another section:

GIF demonstrating how to switch sections in the realtime app.

To view realtime activity for a specific group of students, use the Group dropdown:

Gif showing how to view Student Groups in the Realtime App and put groups of student in Focus Mode

Learn more about using Student Groups here.

Monitoring Student Activity

Realtime Dashboard

On the Realtime Dashboard, you are able to see all students in your section by their first and last name, along with if they were present or active on the site within the past six minutes, see the most recent assignment they were working on, and see the time and date of when they were last active:

GIF demonstrating the dashboard when students are or aren't active on the site.

Live Feed

The Live Feed presents to you in realtime what your students are currently doing. This feed displays what assignment your students are on, whether they just opened an assignment or if the assignment has been submitted. It also shows the time and date of when a student has opened or submitted the assignment:

GIF demonstrating how the live feed looks when students are active on the site.

Using Focus Mode

Focus Mode allows you to force students to navigate to the designated assignment. You can put an entire section, one or more student groups, or specific students in Focus Mode. When Focus Mode is on, students can’t navigate to other CodeHS pages. (Note: students will still be able to use the browser to navigate to websites outside of CodeHS)

This is a way to ensure that when you’re giving a quiz or assessment, students are forced to view only that page and not have access to past assignments or sandbox programs. It also works for a make-up quiz, when only one or two students need to be in Focus Mode:

GIF demonstrating how to use focus mode on a section.

Focus Mode is a part of the CodeHS Academic Integrity tools. To learn more about Focus Mode and other Academic Integrity tools, see Academic Integrity App Overview.

Putting Specific Students in Focus Mode

To put only certain students in Focus Mode:

  1. Open the Realtime App and select the section from the Section dropdown.

  2. Navigate to the Focus Mode control and click the green Play (Start Focus Mode) button.

  3. In the modal, select Specific Students.

  4. Check the box next to each student you want in Focus Mode, then click the Activity or Lesson.

GIF showing how to put specific students in Focus Mode in Realtime Dashboard

Putting Specific Groups in Focus Mode

You can put a single group or multiple groups of students in Focus Mode. Select the group from the Group dropdown, then start Focus Mode.

To put only certain group(s) in Focus Mode:

  1. Open the Realtime App and select the section from the Section dropdown.

  2. Navigate to the Focus Mode control for the specific group and click the green Play (Start Focus Mode) button next to the group.

  3. Then click the Activity or Lesson you'd like to focus them to.

GIF showing how to put student groups into Focus Mode in Realtime Dashboard

⚠️ Focus Mode cannot be activated simultaneously for multiple groups if the groups share any students (Even if Focus Mode is activated on the same exercise for both groups)

Learn more about using Student Groups here.

Starting Focus Mode from the Assignments App

You can also start Focus Mode directly from your Assignments app, without opening the Realtime App. This is helpful when you're already viewing your course content and want to quickly focus students on a specific Lesson or Activity.

To start Focus Mode from the Assignments page:

  1. Navigate to the Assignments app in the left navigation bar.

  2. Click the three dots next to the Lesson or Activity you want students to focus on.

  3. Select Focus Mode.

  4. In the section picker, click ▶️ Start to choose the section(s) to put in Focus Mode. Each section shows its current Focus Mode status, so you can see whether a section is already focused on another assignment.

Image showing focus mode in the Assignments App in the assignment

To monitor student activity while Focus Mode is on, or to put specific student groups in Focus Mode, use the Realtime App.

The Realtime App is available on CodeHS Pro. To get Pro for your school, contact our team at sales@codehs.com.

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