Empowering Students with Schoology

In my last post, I referenced our goal of empowering students to take ownership of their own learning.  One excellent venue for promoting this sense of autonomy is Schoology, our new LMS (Learning Management System).  Schoology provides a wealth of opportunities for students to access and share content.  Teachers are able to cater their online learning environment to meet the needs of students, while also assisting in their executive functioning skills since this serves as a central, online location to house resources and important information.

Here are some of the most helpful Schoology features:

Sample Course Update

Course Updates: Teachers can post course updates to easily disseminate information to students.  This can be done for daily class agendas, to share an important announcement, or to post a unique resource.  Updates appear as they are posted on the student's home screen when he/she logs into Schoology, kind of like a newsfeed on Facebook.  These are posted in chronological order, with the most recent update at the top of the page.

Calendar: The calendar feature on Schoology allows students to see all of their important assignments and assessment dates for all of their classes in one place.  This is a wonderful tool to use when creating a study plan to manage time wisely.  The calendar has upcoming dates constantly running on the right side of the home screen, and by clicking on the word "Calendar", students can see monthly overviews.

Sample of What May Be Found in a Course's Materials

Course Materials: Think of Course Materials as an online filing cabinet.  Digital materials for future reference are organized and housed here.  These materials can include hyperlinks to websites, PDFs, videos, online discussions, and past assignments submitted digitally.  Teachers can organize these materials into folders, which will help students with their executive functioning.  Gone are the days where students lose a handout and can no longer complete an assignment!  Even better is that many of the digital resources teachers post allow students to problem solve and extend their learning beyond the physical walls of the classroom.

A few other reminders... Some assignments may be submitted and assessed digitally on Schoology, but there will still be other assignments and assessments that will not be submitted digitally.  Therefore, Skyward is still the best place to look for overall grades and student progress.  However, it is more advantageous for teachers to post assignments in Schoology rather than posting assignments in Skyward since teachers can attach resources to the assignments in Schoology, thus allowing students to be more self-sufficient after leaving the classroom.  Finally, keep in mind that Schoology is a new tool for teachers, students, and parents alike.  There will be a learning curve as we explore the many facets of the LMS, so please be patient as we explore how this tool can best be utilized in our schools.

Parents, if you have not yet had the opportunity to sign into your parent account, please follow the step-by-step instructions.  You can also find additional detailed information in the Schoology Parent Guide.  The district emailed parent login credentials in August.  Middle school parents, please do not hesitate to contact me if you need this information sent to you again.  Elementary school parents, please contact the elementary front office if you need your login credentials sent again.