January 16th: Designing Your Class with Schoology

Designing Your Class with Schoology

@Joe_EdTech / @Lisa Berghoff

It is finals week and you are busy. This blog is really about templates for setting up Schoology courses. The Free Tool is actually a blog post with 7 templates in it. Click here if you'd like to skip my inspiring prose, grab the tool, and get back to grading.

One of the very frequently asked questions I've had over the last few years is about organizing posts on Google Communities or Google Classroom. Not a few of my colleagues have been frustrated by my answer that, with a few minor exceptions, you can't. Posts (at least within topics) are listed by date. Classroom and Communities can still be very good tools for teachers, but I'll have to admit that I don't like the limited organization. I especially don't like the Stream in Communities. I've always thought that was hard for many students to navigate.

One of the strengths of Schoology is that you have the power to reimagine what your class looks like online. It could be a sign of a lack of imagination, but I have to admit that I'm a minimalist. My courses usually look like this:

Topics or themes are arranged in folders, and those are almost always arranged in chronological order. I tend to "hide" future topics or assignments for students, but I leave old topics up for review. I like the organization and simplicity. 

However, for those of you with more imagination than I have, Schoology offers several different design options. The other day I saw Ryan Leist's Schoology page for Freshman English Survey. It is MUCH prettier than my page:

In this case, he has folders for his syllabus and weekly agendas always available for his students. However, he only displays one unit at a time. Everything the students need for class during the unit is in that one folder. The unit has a full description and is linked to an Essential Question for learning. Important for this week, you can see that Ryan has also included a couple of links to help students get ready for finals.

The basic question is this, "When your students log in to see your class, what do you want them to see?" With Schoology, you really will be able to design your online presence to match your educational style and classroom goals.

A great place to start when designing your course is with Schoology's online Pro Tip blog. One of the most important pieces for getting started is a piece called, "7 Simple Ways to Set Up Your Courses with an LMS," by Dylan Rodgers. The blog post gives you an example of 7 different course structures and explains why you might want to use them. But more importantly, it'll link you to a free ebook that you can download with more detailed instructions and examples. 

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Already set up your course and want to share your idea? Include a screenshot and a short description in the comment box below!