Schoology BOY Setup

Change the Course Image

Customizing the course image will make it easier for students to locate their courses.

1. Open a course

2. Mouse over the course image

3. Choose Edit Picture

TIP: For added fun, change your course image to a .GIF animated file.  Free GIFs - https://giphy.com/    (Right click > Save Image As)

Set Moderation

By enabling moderation, posts and comments can be reviewed by the teacher before going to the rest of the class.

1. Under the Course Image, click Course Options

2. Click Moderate Posts

3. Choose Enable Moderation

Visibility Settings

Teachers will need to adjust the visibility settings for each course. This hides the overall grade in Schoology forcing students to go to Skyward, the official gradebook, to see grades. 

This also prevents confusion for students when assignments have been graded in Schoology but have not been entered Skyward yet. 

1. Open a course

2. Click Grade Setup in left column

3. Under Visibility Settings check Hide overall grade in student grade report and Hide grading period grades in student grade report.

Set up Categories

Categories will need to be setup in Schoology and should mimic the categories and weight setup in Skyward according to district guidelines. Once categories are set, teachers may choose to Copy the Settings to other courses.

1. Open a Course

2. Click Grade Setup in left column

3. In the Categories section, click Add

4. Check Weight Categories box and adjust weights as needed.

5. Click Copy Settings button in top right corner to copy to appropriate courses.

Add Co-Teachers

Teachers may add additional teachers and administrators to a course if, according to The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), they have a legitimate educational interest in the student, such as a teacher who provides a special service students.

1. Open a Course

2. Click Members in left column

3. Click Add Member and search for the person

4. Once added, click the wheel beside their name

5. Choose Make Admin

Admin teachers have the same rights to the course as the teacher.

Add Grading Groups - Optional

Teacher have the option to create grading groups which enable the teacher to individually assign work to specific groups of students. Students will not know they are in a group and will only see assignments that have been given to them. Teachers will see all assignments, however the assignment will be grayed out if it has not been assigned to specific students. 

1. Open a Course

2. Click Members in the left column

3. Mouse over Organize Members into Grading Groups in right column

4. Click Add Grading Group

5. Name the group and add appropriate students

6. Click Create Grading Group button at the bottom

Create an Introduction Folder

Create a folder to house beginning of year information such as a course syllabus, an video introducing yourself to students, course expectations, and fun get-to-know you activities.

1.  Open a Course

2. Click Materials in left column

3. Click the Add Materials button

4. Choose Add Folder

TIPS: 

• Description: List what can be found in this folder. Students will see this information before opening the folder. (This folder contains the following: Syllabus, ... )

• Color Coding: Use color coding of folders to help guide students.  Example: Red folders are old content, Green folders are work you should be working on now.

• Availability: DO NOT USE Publish During Date Range. When material is not published, it does not post in the gradebook.

Add an Image to a Folder

Adding images to folders can help students locate folders at a glance and can be beneficial to young readers.

1. When creating a new folder, click the Insert Content button

2. Choose Image

3. Adjust the size by dragging the handles  (little dots) around the image

TIP: 

• Use the image to guide students to the folder containing work for the current week. Each week delete the image for the previous week's folder and add it to the current week's folder. Students learn to work within the folder with the image.