Schoology Tips of the Week
SCHOOLOGY TIP OF THE WEEK: DISCUSSIONS
I use the discussions option every day!
Instead of creating an Assignment, add a Discussion. Post a question or two and encourage your students to response in writing. You can also include a video in the discussion and have them respond. You can give a grade based on the quality of their response.
VALUE OF THE DISCUSSION
- Allows the students who are less comfortable speaking out in class to have a way to express his/her opinion.
- Students can also view other responses and get a model of possible responses.
- Students can reply to others if they like a response.
- Allows you to quickly see who knows about the topic prior to the lesson.
- Great way to get students started at beginning of class while you take attendance.
- Can be good for homework or extended reflection.
QUICK WARNING
Before you do a discussion, remind students that you will give no credit for inappropriate responses or using profanity or making negative comments to other students. You can always delete responses.
SCHOOLOGY TIP OF THE WEEK: GOOGLE INTEGRATION
One of the best features of Schoology is how it works together with Google Apps like Documents, Sheets, Slides and More. You can create a Google Doc with specific questions or directions. When you create an Assignment in Schoology, there is an option to attach a copy of a Google Document. It will search your currently logged in Google Drive for all files. Find the document you created and fill out the rest of the Assignment details.
HOW IT WORKS:
When a student logs in and clicks on the assignment, it automatically generates a copy of the document with the same information in their Google Drive.
WHY IS THIS SO GREAT?
You and the student can edit the document on an on-going basis. You can add comments, make corrections, add/remove content until complete and then they can submit it. You can do this with Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Slideshows (i.e. PowerPoints), and even Google Drawings.
GRADING: You can easily view each assignment by moving through each submitted document. You can see at a glance who hasn't opened it, the progress of each student and who has completed it. I can also quick glance at the progress and return it back to them if they didn't finish it or follow directions.
SCHOOLOGY TIP OF THE WEEK: RESURRECTING CLASS FROM THE DEAD
All of your courses are archived at the end of every semester. You can view them by clicking on Courses->See All (bottom right)->Click tab that says Archived.
Now how can you bring them into your current courses?
Click on any course listed below that you want to save and choose the option at the top: Options->Save Course to Resources.
Now how do I import it into my current course?
Go to the course you want to import last year's course into and click at the top. Add Materials-->Import from Resources (at the bottom of list) and check the course you saved previously. It will ask you to choose which assignments and items you want to import. All are selected by default.
When done, you will now have a new folder with all those items in it. I'd recommend you Unpublish it and you can now edit any item and move it to the top level for this year.
Of course, if you need assistance I can stop by and help you through this life-saving process. Be sure to share the news!