Schoology in Higher Ed
Schoology Stories
Schoology: The Right Choice for a LMS
Overview
Schoology is a web-based learning management system geared towards K-12 education, but can also be applied in higher education and the corporate world. Schoology allows its users to organize their courses, post content, and track student progress all in one place rather than using a number of different platforms. This OER highlights some of the key uses of Schoology and provides insight on its application.
Overview
Schoology is a web-based learning management system geared towards K-12 education, but can also be applied in higher education and the corporate world. Schoology allows its users to organize their courses, post content, and track student progress all in one place rather than using a number of different platforms.
Key Features and Educational Purposes of Schoology
Assignments and Events - Schoology allows the teacher to create a variety of different assignments that include content from a hard-drive or the web.
Online Homework Submissions - Schoology offers a grading system that allows the teacher to comment, annotate, and grade an assignment without having to download and then upload the graded version.
Tests and Quizzes - It also allows instructors to create a variety of different types of questions for quizzes and tests. These tests and quizzes can include a wide variety of media as well, making it easy to personalize and differentiate tests.
Online Gradebook and Attendance - Further, it allows the teacher to keep grades easily accessible for students and parents. With the in-program grading features, graded assignments and tests are automatically input into the gradebook. This saves teachers a ton of time, by not having to transfer grades into a separate student information system.
Badges - Schoology allows the teacher to create customized badges for incentives and motivation. Badges are similar to trophies they might earn on video games or other social media games.
Discussions - It also allows the teachers to set up threaded discussion which promotes well thought out responses and collaboration. Posts can include a variety of files as well.
Standards and Outcomes Alignments - It allows teachers to easily align content, assessments, and rubrics to Common Core, State Standards, or custom learning outcomes.
User Connections to Professional Networks - Schoology allows a teacher to expand their professional networks and engage in professional development. Which leads to new, improved, or different materials they can bring back and apply to their classrooms immediately.
Check out this introductory video on Schoology and its features!
Sources:
Schoology. (2012). Schoology introduction . YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqc1xE2H9Wg
How does Schoology work
At the top of the screen, you will see three main areas — Courses, Groups, and Resources—and some icons and your name on the upper right. This top navigation is always available, no matter where you are on the site.
Your Home Page is where you will start every time you log into Schoology. There are two main tabs on your Home Page: Recent Activity and Course Dashboard.
The Course Dashboard is where you will navigate to your active courses (Another useful factor of Schoology, once courses are completed, they can be archived for as long as you wish).
Your courses are your “online classrooms”. This is where you will put learning content, grade materials, and communicate with your students. Your courses contain all your instructional items, such as files, assignments, and assessments. Further, you can access communication and organizational tools strictly associated with the course.
You can set up and organize your courses in many different ways. Your course materials can be set up by week, section, topic, whatever. (Example shown, folders created for different topics and organized into weeks, based on folder color, and specific days/dates).
Sources:
Jaffer, S. (2020, March 31). A Beginner's Guide to Using Schoology. Schoology. https://www.schoology.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-using-schoology
Who is using Schoology
There are hundreds of schools and companies that are using Schoology. Although it is mostly used in K-12 Education, several other fields have begun implementing Schoology, including health care and government administration. See the following chart for more detailed statistics.
A real life example of the use of Schoology is Mr. Robert Sarneckis of Midlakes Middle/High School. Mr. Sarneckis uses Schoology to supplement his high school social studies courses, such as World History and U.S. History. Mr. Sarneckis uploads all the learning material to his online classroom to help students stay organized, especially in case of an unexpected absence. Schoology is also useful for Mr. Sarneckis as a communication tool. He is able to send out reminders, upcoming due dates, and answer any questions even outside of school hours.
Sources:
Companies using Schoology. (n.d.). Enlyft https://enlyft.com/tech/products/schoology
Why Schoology
I chose Schoology as it has been the Learning Management System I have gotten to be comfortable with over the past few years. I enjoy the flexibility of organizing my classes the way I seem fit and being able to post content in just a few clicks. I think, especially in the past two years, Schoology has helped me advance educational activities in the classroom and remote learning situations. It has allowed me to increase student engagement by incorporating more technology into my daily lessons. Being able to access all their materials/content has led to my students taking more ownership of their learning. Further, anyone that is looking to participate in collaborative learning, can benefit from Schoology, students and teachers included. It has helped me collaborate with other teachers and administration during summer for curriculum development and different training. As for my students, they have been able to create groups and share documents that can be collaboratively worked on outside of the classroom.
Challenges of Schoology
Challenges:
First time users may become overwhelmed.
Some integrated tools do not work properly or as advertised.
Assignments with upcoming due dates will still show up in the student’s ‘Upcoming’ column even if they had already submitted it.
Solutions:
If students are going to be new to Schoology at the start of your course. Make sure you provide ample time for them to become more acquainted. Further, you may create a tutorial video or presentation for students to watch as a warm up or homework assignment.
Test and trial the integrated tools you want to use. You may choose to prompt your students to access the app or tool separately rather than through Schoology.
Have students double check their submission or display the instructor view of the ‘Submission Box” at the beginning or end of class so that students can be reassured or reminded of the completion of the assignment.
Future uses of Schoology
In an ever growing field, Schoology has been slowly but steadily increasing as a LMS provider. Schoology markets their products to higher education and corporations. However, their main clients are K-12 districts. They have partnered with 1,600 of them in the U.S.
Check out the following blogs to learn more about Schoology success stories and future uses!
Views on OER
Open educational resources (OERs) are materials for teaching and learning that are allowed to be reused, changed, or freely shared with others. OERs can include anything from a case study to a step by step lesson plan.
In my opinion OERs are a tremendous tool for anyone that is trying to learn. I think OERs break down barriers of accessibility to certain sources and allow individuals to build on each other's ideas in a creative and collaborative way. Further, I feel that OERs could be used as a great supplement to textbooks and/or lectures. This is beneficial, as individuals can filter the information to their liking for clear and concise understanding. Lastl, a great factor of OERs is that they are continually revised, improved, and/or updated.