Schoology: Grading and Assessment
Regardless of what capacity in which you use Schoology, one common element is that it makes learning experiences simpler for teachers, students and parents to engage in as a community. Schoology adopts elements of social media, and combines it with all the features one would expect of a course manager, such as grading, assessment, calendars, and reminders. It also includes a direct (individual) or group messenger. This session in The Fish Bowl focuses primarily on the basics of Schoology, but then focusing on Grading and Assessment in a little more detail.
To familiarize yourself with Schoology, log in and take a look at the following:
- Settings - Click on the triangle to the right of your name. Pay close attention to Notifications and Account Settings.
- Home - Click Home and notice you receive all Schoology updates in one place.
- Upcoming - All assignments and events will appear in the far right column.
- Course - An official class created in PowerSchool. Members can only be modified by PowerSchool administrators.
- Group - A group can be created by any user and for any activity (club, team, common interest). Membership to the group can be decided on by the group's creator.
- Post - Similar to a Facebook status update. In the home screen you may post to multiple courses & groups with one post. Within a course or group you post will only be seen by that course or group.
- Course Options - This popup menu is available in every course and allows you to customize the settings of the course. In the Privacy tab please change the Default landing page to Updates.
Below is the guide EdTech created in 2013-14 that helps to explain some of the basic landscape of Schoology. We will demonstrate this is our session with live examples of course. This guide is for your reference and convenience.
http://fishbowlkis.wikispaces.com/file/view/Schoology%20Guide.pdf/512150132/Schoology%20Guide.pdf
1. Grading
- You can grade student work either by inputting your assessment scores directly into the Gradebook, or by using a Rubric, which auto-calculates and records for you. This Gradebook can be exported as a spreadsheet too.
- Grade Scales are available to use (currently), which mirror the grade scales in PowerSchool (both the default A-F; and AP Scale)
- Grading can take the form of Badges to 'gamify' learning and recognise achievement. This is being used in particular in the ES, and once created, can be shared.
2. Assessment
- Assignment setup and distribution to a single class or multiple classes (in 1 click)
- Pre-load assignment with a scheduled 'go-live' date and time
- Create 'Grading Groups' for differentiated assessment or learning experiences (such as Discussions).
- Parents will be able to view activity for all courses and groups their child is a member of.
- Make sure parents have adjusted their settings to receive email or SMS.
- You can easily send home notices, newsletters and post items as calendar events to keep parents informed of what is going on in your class.
