Basics: Using and Navigating Schoology

Getting Started with Schoology

At U Prep, we use Schoology in myriad ways to facilitate a dynamic and extended learning environment. Each class has a corresponding Schoology course site which is created for you at the beginning of the year (if your courses do not match what you expect to see, contact June). Schoology has a variety of powerful communication, organization and learning tools, and each course at UPrep uses these tools in different ways which match our faculty's overall course design and goals. School-wide, though, there are a few universal expectations and some common practices that we've developed. Please consider this an overview of the Schoology essentials, and explore the resources below to learn more about Schoology.

U Prep Community Expectations for Schoology

Upload a Syllabus

Please upload your course syllabus to Schoology and place it in an easily accessible location. You can create it in Schoology as a Page, or create it on your computer or iPad in a word processor such as Word or Pages and upload as a PDF or DOC.

Post and Date all Assignments

Students rely on Schoology as their primary resource for their upcoming due dates and homework obligations. In order to support their responsibility and organization, please create an entry in Schoology for any due-date student expectations, even if you plan on collecting the work physically or off-line. You can create the following types of materials for classwork and give them a due date which will be visible to students:

• Assignments - The most flexible and commonly used type of Schoology material at U Prep. You can attach files, a written description, or a link. By default, students will be able to submit a file back to you through an assignment. A suggestion: If you don't want students to submit this electronically (for example, there's a handout or worksheet), turn off "Enable Submissions" (see 4: Advanced Settings). This helps students avoid confusion about how to submit the assignment.

• Discussions - Discussions allow students to see each others' submissions. Students can type responses directly into a discussion, or attach any kind of file. This is commonly used for peer-review assignments, where you want students to be able to see and comment upon each others' work. Discussions can be graded or ungraded, and can be given a due date.

• Events - Events are dated entries on the course calendar. These are commonly used for guest speakers or field trips, project benchmarks where nothing is submitted, or marking a test date. Events can have a written description or file attachments.

• Quiz/Test - You can give quizzes or tests directly in Schoology. These are often used as formative checks since they can be assigned to a specific date/time, or left open with a due date, and you can control how many opportunities students have. You can also control options such as how students are graded, whether questions are randomized, and what kind of feedback students get on their performance.

A suggestion: Since students consult Schoology as a way to plan their homework for the evening, consider when you post new homework into Schoology. Students tell us, for example, that it's most useful when the homework is posted during class or immediately after school, even if it's been discussed in class. Posting homework late at night for the next day may miss students if they've already completed their home study time for the day.

Some Common Practices and Suggestions

The following are some general suggested practices based on our experience using Schoology.

• Organize the Course by Unit, Project or Topic. Using folders to organize the course by unit or topic can help students find both the currently active resources and past activities or resources that they may wish to revisit.

• Running Conversations in the Updates Thread. The Updates section is a running chronological conversation, similar to Facebook. Students can post in here as well. It's a common resource for students to ask questions of each other, or to share files or resources, as well as for you to ask questions or share information separate from an assignment or specific class activity.

• Schoology Gradebook. While you can use whatever grade-keeping system you prefer in your courses, many students have shared that they get great benefit from teachers using the Gradebook feature of Schoology. Whenever you create an assignment or other graded activity (quiz, discussion), it is automatically entered into your course gradebook. Again, you are not required to give your feedback or scores in Schoology, but use of this resource has grown each term as a feedback and communication tool.