Getting Started with Schoology

In this lesson plan, I will introduce a group of individuals working in a small private school to the Schoology Learning Management System (LMS). Learners will gain an understanding of the basic functionality of the LMS including how to set up a class, post an assignment, set up an assessment, for the assignment, join & participate in a group, and share an online resource under the resources tab.

Subjects

Other

Keywords

collaborative learning, e-learning, professional development, schoology

Grades

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 >12

Objectives:

• Sign up for an account at www.schoology.com

• Fill out basic profile information
• Create a course

• Post an assignment within the course they created

• Add a student to their class

• Join an existing group and post a comment to the group

• Share at least one online resource publicly in the resources tab and in the group

• Post their reflection on this experience to the group news-feed

Materials:

The required equipment materials for this lesson consist of a computer, iOS, or Android device and a printed copy of the procedure handout (to be distributed after introducing Schoology).

Lesson Files

Schoology_Implemmentation_Procedure.docxDownload

Ramayan Saries

About the author

Greetings & Salutations! My name is Ramayan Saries and I am a Christian, lifelong artist, inventor, creative problem solver, multi-sensory learner, innovator, instructor, social butterfly who deeply enjoys alone time when it presents itself. I currently work as a photographer, graphic designer, instructor, and design consultant with a focus on photography and instruction in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have completed freelance work for many corporate, non-profit, and individual clients. My teaching experience includes over ten years of instruction in the arts at the middle/high school level, 5+ years of private tutoring, and two years of workshop instruction. My higher education thus far includes an Associates in General Studies from Washtenaw Community College (primarily photography), Photography and Design courses at The Art Institute of Pittsburg Online, and most recently an undergraduate Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management that I earned online through University of Phoenix Online. I am looking forward to my continued studies in the Full Sail Online in the Education Media and Design Technology program as well as forging professional relationships with new colleagues here on Educator Studio.

Procedure:

Learners will visit www.schoology.com, click on the Sign Up button, and follow the prompts for account creation. Afterward, learners will have a few minutes to explore the user interface. Once learners have gotten acquainted with the user interface, they will navigate to and click on their name in the upper right area of the screen to make basic updates to their profile by clicking the “Edit” button in the upper right area of the profile screen.
Schoology Sign Up

Next, learners will navigate over to the courses tab, click on the drop-down menu, and select “See All”. This will take them to the “Courses” section where they can view existing courses and create a new course. Learners will click on the “Create Course” button to the upper right of the screen. A popup window will appear. Learners should make sure the “Advanced” check-box is checked, fill out the relevant course information, and select the blue “Create” button at the bottom of the popup window. This will result in the creation of the class.

After creating a course, learners will need to create an assignment within the course. Learners accomplish this by clicking on the “Assignments” in the main course area. This will launch a popup window where learners can fill out the details of the assignment. Once they have filled out the appropriate information, learners should select the blue “Create” button at the bottom of the popup window.

Once learners have added a course and an assignment, it’s time for them to add a student to their course (in this case, it could be one of their fellow learners). To do this, learners will navigate to the course and click on the “Members” menu item on the left side of the user interface. Next, they will click on the “Add Member” button to the right above the access code. This will cause another popup window to appear where learners can select from a list of individuals in their school. Learners should select the desired individual and click the blue “Add Member” button at the bottom of the popup window. If the individual they are looking for does not appear in the list, they can send the student an email with the access code by typing the student’s email(s) into the field just below the words “Send Access Code Via Email”and the student can then join the class once they receive the email.

The next step is for learners to join a group and post a comment within the group news-feed. To do this, learners need to click on the “Groups” tab at the top of the user interface and select “See All”. Learners should see at least one group (created by the instructor) that they can click on and then select “Join Group” under the group name. Once learners have joined the group, they should write a comment in the field marked “write an update” and post their comment to the group feed.

After posting in the group, learners should navigate to the “Resources” tab at the top of the user interface and select “My Resources”. Here learners should select “Add Resources” and then “Add Link”. Learners should type the web address to an online resource in the “Link/URL” section, title the resource appropriately, and click the add button. Once the resource appears in the list, learners should click the “Make Public” button to the right. In addition to adding the resource to their resources section, learners should click on the “Groups” tab and post the link in the news-feed by clicking the “Link” icon under the text box area, typing the URL, titling the link, writing a short post about what they’re sharing, and clicking the blue “Post” button.

Finally, the learners should discuss the entire experience as a group. When the discussion is over, they can give a personal overview of the experience via video interview or post their personal reflection to the group news-feed. Once learners have completed their reflection, they should log out of their Schoology account.

Assessment:

Successful students will have completed the following by the end of the training:

Create a Schoology account

Create a basic profile

Create a course

Post an assignment to the course

Add a student to their class (in this case, it could be one of their fellow learners)

Join an existing group and post a comment to the group

Share at least one online resource publicly in the resources tab and in the group

Post their reflection on this experience to the group news-feed

Technology:

All that is required is an internet connected computer and a free Schoology account.

Reflection:

During my implementation, I assisted three of my colleagues through the process of Getting Up and Running With Schoology. The group of learners consisted of two professional educators and a school administrator all of whom do not possess excessive backgrounds working with computers and technology. Learners who had just become familiar with Schoology were able to offer assistance to those experiencing difficulty to spite their lack of previous knowledge of the learning management system, which is a testament to how easy it is to get started with Schoology. I found it astounding how easy it was for the educators to immediately feel comfortable with the interface and use the core features even beyond the given instructions.

Learners did run into some difficulty when trying to add their school due to the security settings of the school account. This made it particularly difficult for the Administrator to access the full benefit of using Schoology as an administrative tool. If you run into this, the solution to these difficulties is quick and easy to implement. Simply make sure, when setting up the school, makes sure to “Enable Registration Codes” for the appropriate user levels and provides the individuals with the necessary codes to be able to add the school. Before implementing Schoology in the classroom, I recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself with the admin portal so that you can provide basic support and troubleshooting should users have difficulty setting up or using their accounts.

Audience:

The target audience for this RILLS Framework consists of teachers and instructors who are interested in streamlining course content delivery and feedback into an interactive format, increasing student participation, communicating ideas, and sharing resources with colleagues.

Making Connections:

Learners will be able to connect with the content because Schoology is very similar to social networking sites such as Facebook.