Schoology Best Practices

Assignment Submissions

Paper Assignments

When you have an assignment that is turned in on paper, the best practice is to:

📝 write in the description that it will be turned in on paper
🗳️AND disable assignment submissions. (See GIF below)

This way, the assignment will have a due date in Schoology's calendar, appear in your grade book, AND students and parents won’t receive an overdue assignment notice.

Materials Organization

3 Folder System

There are two things to keep in mind

Keep work above the scroll (so, at the top of Schoology)
Help students get to it in 3 or fewer clicks

The 3 visible folder system works the best (Marie Kondo would approve).

📁 Syllabus or other important information - important links, teacher contact info, handouts students need repeatedly
📁 Current week or unit - good to color this green
- In this folder organize by week or day depending on set up - remember you want kids to get to the work in 3 clicks
📁 Old work (do not unpublished this work! It will remove things from your grade book) - it’s good to color this one red

Course Updates

Make your uPdates Useful

Best practice is to post Course Updates with learning targets and agenda items daily. This serves as a focal point for students (and parents) to know what’s happening and what is possibly missed. It also creates an “archive” that a student can scroll back through on your Updates page to get important information.

The Course Update can go a long way in communicating Feedback to students in the style of Marzano’s New Art and Science of Teaching.

You can also use an update to:

🎯 Clearly articulate learning goals in Student Friendly Language (Element 1)
🎉 Celebrate Success of Students or the Class (Element 3)
📋 Post polls for informal assessment (Element 4)

But students don't always see them.

Solutions

Change Settings to Land on Course Updates

Click on Course Options
Scroll down to Course View Settings
Change Default Landing Page to Updates

Post Update as an Announcement

After you type your update, click the speech bubble and check mark the bell.

This places the update at the top of the Materials section.

The Daily Agenda Slides as a Course Update Announcement

This video will show you how to turn your Daily Agenda slides in your Course Updates so you can set it and forget it.

COnsider Workload

Using the Calendar

✅ Color Code Courses: Encourage students to assign each course a different color so due dates stand out.

🗓️ Adjust the View: If the month view feels cluttered, switch to week or day view for clarity.

Review Workload Planning

📊 Check Workload Planning: Review this section in your course to spot assignment overloads or heavy due-date days.

💡 Plan Smart: Stagger major assignments on lighter days to reduce student stress and improve completion rates.

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