Helping Students Help Themselves

"Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them."  -Nelson Mandela

In one of my previous posts, I gave an overview of some of the most useful features Schoology, our new Learning Management System (LMS), has to offer.  We are thrilled that Schoology will enable our students to be more self-sufficient learners since class resources, announcements, and calendars with important events and assignments are all posted in one place.  This week, I would like to elaborate how the eventas and assignments features on Schoology provide the opportunity for students to become more self-sufficient after leaving the classroom.

Homework directions posted in an event on Schoology

One of the goals of all educators is to support children as they become independent learners.  In order to do this, teachers provide students with the appropriate tools and resources to help themselves problem solve.  At times, students may forget to write homework down in their planners or may forget the instructions for a homework assignment, perhaps even losing a handout that is necessary in order to complete an assignment.  The events and assignment features in Schoology help alleviate these
problems for students.  An event is created for homework assignments that do not involve a digital submission, like studying for a test or reading pages in a book.  An assignment is created for homework assignments that do necessitate a digital submission, like a paper or project.

A student's calendar view from Schoology website (top),
iPad (bottom), and upcoming assignment display
students see on their Recent Activities homepage (right)

When a teacher posts either an event or an assignment in Schoology, the homework will automatically show up on the student's calendar of events.  This is a helpful feature for both parents and students alike; when looking at the student's calendar, all due dates for all classes will be shown on the same calendar.  This is a very helpful tool for time management, particularly when there are long-term assignments that may require multiple days of work.

In addition, teachers are able to attach helpful resources to both events and assignments.  Hyperlinks, PDFs, and other documents can be attached in order to provide the student with additional information and resources to help with completion.  Teachers can also type specific instructions into the body of an event or an assignment, which students can refer to as many times as necessary.  Since this information is posted digitally on Schoology, students can access this information from their mobile device or from any device connected to the internet.

An assignment with a corresponding resource attached;
student submissions appear on the right side.

Finally, a Schoology assignment allows students to submit work digitally to their teacher.  The submission feature for digital assignments makes it easy for students, teachers, and parents to see a record of student work submission.  The digital assignment submission is time-stamped, and it is easy to see different versions of submitted assignments if more than one version is submitted by the student.  Please keep in mind that not all assignments are digital, so there will still be non-digital assignments accounted for in class.  Furthermore, while feedback on assignments may be given to students in Schoology with their assignment, overall grading records are still maintained in Skyward, our Student Information System (SIS).

Another reminder for 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.

As Nelson Mandela says, "once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them."  We hope that by using events and assignments in Schoology to post homework, we can support students as they become more independent learners.