JEFFCO ED TECH

Why Use a Learning Management system...

9/7/2021

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A Learning Management System (LMS) is a structure to provide consistent access to instruction and resources. It provides a pathway for students, families and teachers to access the learning and feedback at all times.  Many teachers and families had their first experiences with an LMS in response to Covid-19.  However, a Learning Management System, whether it be Schoology, Google Classroom, or Seesaw has a purpose and a place far beyond a pandemic.

In a world where all educators are working to guide students to become Global Collaborators, Creative Communicators, Knowledge Constructors,  Empowered Learners, and engaged Digital Citizens we need to provide the structures and spaces that authentically deliver these opportunities on a daily basis. A well organized and thoughtfully implemented LMS is the foundation to this work. 

For students

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Access to a Learning Management System provides students:
  • Continuity in accessing the learning, especially if the LMS is used daily to access resources and tools for learning.
  • Ability to easily review and revisit supports and scaffolds (videos, teacher feedback, digital resources, & more).​
  • A clear path of communication with their instructors.
  • Continuity in learning structures from elementary through high school and on into future career pathways.
  • ​Authentic and relevant technology integration when the LMS is utilized to its full potential.
  • When schools and teachers coordinate to use the same LMS, students can focus the cognitive load on their learning, instead of working to understand how to access the learning.

For Our Families

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Use of a consistent LMS means that caretakers will have peace of mind knowing their students have access to all the resources listed above. It also means that families will:
  • Be able to support their student's access of learning resources in a timely manner.
  • ​Potentially have consistent structures to support all the students in their family, K-12, lessening confusion and increasing access to the learning.  
  • Have a clear and direct communication pathway to their student's teachers.

for teachers

For Teachers, embracing and utilizing a LMS on a consistent basis means that they will have a structure built for student success.  A Learning Management System:

  • Makes it possible for students that are out ill to access the learning, including students that might be quarantined.
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  • Provides a format to support differentiation and build in resources and scaffolds for students to access the learning in a mode that works best for them. (videos, ebooks, articles, teacher/student feedback, and more!).
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  • Contains and organizes the learning resources in a format that provides a form of portfolio for students and families. This offers an opportunity for clearer communication keeping the focus on student learning and  builds stronger feedback loops for all involved.
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  • ​Allows teachers to build in rubrics and formative assessments into their structures.​
 
  • Creates an opportunity for collaboration for students as well as teachers.​​​
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Learning Management Systems in jeffco

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In Jeffco we currently utilize three different Learning Management Systems:   Schoology,  Google Classroom, & Seesaw.
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You can learn more about each of these tools by visiting our Ed Tech YouTube Channel: LMS Playlist, and exploring the collection of asynchronous eBooks from the Jeffco Ed Tech team.
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(Click on the slideshow at the left to explore just a few of the eBooks available)
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Additional Articles:
  • Edutopia: How to Align Your LMS with the Science of Learning
  • ​Edutopia: Four Tips for Managing Blended Learning
  • Schoology: What is a Learning Management System? Why does my School Need One?
  • Pearson: Advantages of Implementing a Learning Management Platform​​


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The Schoology Source

9/8/2020

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Welcome to the Schoology Source - your source for everything Schoology related. Over the course of time that Schoology has been used as a learning management system (LMS) in Jeffco, it has changed quite a bit and has become an even bigger powerhouse tool that can greatly support students and teachers during the 2020-2021 school year! The aim of this recurring blog segment is to help you understand those changes, so that you can leverage the power of Schoology to support both hybrid and remote learning environments!

new to teaching with Schoology? We've got you covered!

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In order to meet the needs of teachers, our Ed Tech team is beginning to offer our face-to-face professional learning sessions in an asynchronous format as well! If you missed attending the Getting Started with Schoology session on August 14th, you can check out this Getting Started with Schoology multimedia text set with loads of bite-sized videos to get you going. You can find videos on our new Schoology model classroom, linking course sections to save you time, embedding Google straight into Schoology, the new Schoology assessments and much more! Also, be sure to check out all of our other Jeffco-specific digital tool YouTube playlists, as well! ​

Curated Content to Support Online Learning

Back in 2018, Jeffco partnered with the iLearn Collaborative to have Jeffco content turned into online courses. These courses are primarily for grades 7-12. These courses can be found within the Jeffco Course Masters Group (Group join code: QSMFR-3KCKQ ).
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This course content is designed to be an educational resource to support Jeffco curriculum and should not be considered plug-and-play content.
 As with any curriculum resource, teachers should first review their Jeffco Curriculum in the Bridge to Curriculum tool, focus on the Jeffco proficiency scales that are aligned to their grade level and content area, use best planning, teaching, assessment and reflective practices from the Jeffco Deeper Learning Model, and then select the components of the courses that meet their students needs. All content in the courses can be copied over into your course and then can be modified to meet those needs!

Courses & Sections: What's the difference? 

In Schoology, you will find courses and possibly sections of those courses. The course is the overall topic that you will teach. For example a course name might be Algebra 1. t is possible you might teach 2 or more sections of that same course. For example, you might teach Algebra 1 during period 2 and period 5.
Each of these sections will have their own unique group of rostered students. These course sections can be linked together to make it easier to distribute content and assignments. 
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We ask that teachers not attempt to rename courses or add sections to courses that have been created by the district. This causes confusion with other teachers at your school site and with our systems that complete the automatic rostering. Please leave all district-created courses as-is. You may, however, choose to link sections of a course.

Important: Course Deletion Concerns

Jeffco Schoology is set up to automatically create courses for every teacher coinciding with their class rosters in Infinite Campus. Teachers will see their classes auto-populating the Course Section of their Schoology account. It is asked that teachers DO NOT DELETE these auto-created courses in Schoology. 
​When a teacher deletes an auto-created course, it creates a backlog of Schoology sync issues and also causes students issues with seeing current or future courses for which they are auto-enrolled. 
​​It is asked that if teachers aren't using those courses, or they don't want them interfering with current courses, they move them to the bottom of their course list. This can easily be done in the My Course section of Schoology by dragging courses in the order of desired preference. Teachers can delete any courses they have created at any time without issue, this only applies to the auto-created courses within Schoology. If you have questions or would like further support, please reach out to Amie Adams (amie.adams@jeffco.k12.co.us) in the Jeffco Educational Technology Department.
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Schoology Updates - February 2020

2/18/2020

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It's been a while since we've had information about Schoology shared out so here are a few quick items to help you stay up-to-date. 
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In case you haven't heard, back in late 2019 PowerSchool purchased Schoology. What does this mean for current Schoology users? Nothing is changing, and we will see enhanced features and options in the future according to our Schoology connections. We will keep you updated as new features become available. If you want to read more about the acquisition, click here. 
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​Digital Assessments
​in Schoology

Assessment season is right around the corner and many teachers and students are working on preparing to share their amazing learning and knowledge. Did you know Schoology can serve as a robust platform for digital assessments providing practice opportunities for students of all ages? Schoology Tests/Quizzes have a wide variety of options for teachers to create customized assessments in a variety of ways. 
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A few of the customization features for teachers include: 
  1. Grading for a Test/Quiz - Any Test/Quiz in Schoology provides a variety of options for teachers to setup grading by category for a dynamic grade book, and grade by points or letter grade. Additionally teachers can assign an assessment to their whole class or just specific students. When grading, any multiple choice can be automatically graded for quick access to data saving time on teacher workloads. Teachers can also control the number of attempts thus allowing students to work on demonstrating mastery over longer periods of time. Last, Grading Statistics can be enabled so students can see how they compare to the rest of the class. No names are shown to student, just the grades/scores of their peers.
  2. Question Type - Schoology has a wide range of question types available to create dynamic assessments. A few of the options include true/false, ordering, drag and drop, labeling images, short answer/essay, and much more. With a wide variety of options, teachers can challenge students to demonstrate their knowledge and learning in a variety of ways, as well as, practice using digital assessment tools and strategies. Schoology also has a large question bank which teachers can draw from to easily create and modify their assessment questions. 
  3. Results of Tests/Quizzes - Keeping up with student growth is no easy task for teachers but Schoology has made it much simpler. Teachers can get instant results for an easy to understand overview of how students are performing. In addition to an overall view, teachers can dig into each question to determine if there are gaps in understanding for specific topics/content. Teachers can also get a breakdown by student to provide differentiated supports without spending large amounts of time grading and transferring data before making instructional decisions. 

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For more information on how to use Schoology assessment features, you can visit the Schoology Help Center. Check out the Course Materials resources or more specifically resources for Tests/Quizzes to get started.
Schoology Kiosk
​for Jeffco Chromebooks
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Schoology has a Kiosk available for students on any Jeffco owned Chromebook. The Schoology Kiosk allows students to enter Schoology and work only in Schoology on their Chromebook without having access to any external content such as a web browser. The Schoology Kiosk can be a useful tool for teachers to provide students learning and assessment experiences in a more controlled environment. To learn more about using the Schoology Kiosk on district-owned Chromebooks, take a look at the Schoology Kiosk Google Doc. There is also a link included on the document for access to a quick video demonstration. 

Course Deletion Issue
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Jeffco Schoology is set up to automatically create courses for every teacher coinciding with their class rosters in Infinite Campus. Teachers will see their classes auto-populating the Course Section of their Schoology account. It is asked that teachers DO NOT DELETE these auto-created courses in Schoology. When a teacher deletes an auto-created course, it creates a backlog of Schoology sync issues and also causes students issues with seeing current or future courses they are auto-enrolled in. Once an auto-created course is deleted by a teacher, it cannot be reinstated. It is asked that if teachers aren't using those courses, or they don't want them interfering with current courses, they move them to the bottom of their course list. This can easily be done in the My Course section of Schoology by dragging courses in the order of desired preference. Teachers can delete any courses they have created at anytime without issue, this only applies to the auto-created courses within Schoology. If you have questions or would like further support, please reach out to either Nick Steinmetz or Lisa Summit in the Jeffco Educational Technology Department. 

More Schoology updates, new features, and opportunities for learning will be coming in the next few months. If you have questions about Schoology you can contact the above supports at anytime or reach out to your Jeffco Ed Tech Specialist. 
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schoology resources: prepare the way for 2017-2018

4/11/2017

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Don't start from scratch next school year! Leverage the Resources section in Schoology to save, reuse, and share resources you have created. The following step-by-step directions will walk you through these processes so that you can take what you have developed this year and save for use next year, making modifications where necessary.

In your Personal resources, you have a Home collection of resources, folders and files that you may want to use in your account. A collection is a master area that helps organize all of your saved work. This Home collection exists by default, and it’s only available to you. To share collections of resources with other faculty and connected users, you can create additional collections. To share a newly created Collection with others:

  1. Click on Resources/Personal
  2. Click on the title of the collection you have created
  3. You will see a "Share" button option to select.
  4. Once you select the "Share" button, type in the name of the person with whom you want to share the collection of resources.
You can create a collection for every year, for each grading period, or for each course.


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plc's and Schoology: a winning combination

2/17/2017

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Are you a PLC school looking for ways to track your student data to better inform instructional decisions? Are you making the shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning? PLCs entail whole-staff involvement in a process of intensive reflection upon instructional practices and desired student benchmarks, as well as monitoring of outcomes to ensure success. PLCs enable teachers to continually learn from one another via shared visioning and planning, as well as in-depth critical examination of what does and doesn’t work to enhance student achievement. Schoology provides many features which can help support these efforts.


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Use Schoology for Individual Reflective Online Journaling

12/13/2016

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Reflection is a crucial element of modern pedagogical systems. Today’s educational practices place a high importance on the ability for students to self-assess and build meta-cognition through reflection. Using Schoology for this task makes this work easy for both the students and teacher. Using digital journals, students can journal on their own device, on a classroom device or from home. 

Building individual discussion threads only one time for each student using Schoology discussions is an easy way to support this practice. The following presentation identifies 4 easy steps to set this up.

some benefits

  • This method provides privacy between you and the student.
  • Able to start conversation and follow-ups with students.
  • Doesn’t have to be graded/assessed.
  • Posts are ongoing, chronological and archived.

Are you ready to start your students in digital journaling? Ask your school Digital Teacher Librarian or Educational Technology Specialist for support in getting started.
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connect colorado with schoology

10/25/2016

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Earlier in October, Jeffco hosted the Connect Colorado with Schoology conference at the Ed Center. There were participants from all over Colorado and over 17 school districts, including some travelers from Nebraska and Wyoming. Jeremy Friedman, founder and CEO of Schoology, was the keynote speaker and provided a great overview of the many new features Schoology has added, as well as features that are in various plans of development that will make using Schoology even more robust and efficient.


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google Classroom and Schoology: a Comparison Chart

10/18/2016

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Teachers are increasingly turning to tools to help support digital workflow in their classrooms. Student online work, discussions, assignment tracking, and instant feedback are some features that digital workflow tools can provide.

Two common tools available for teachers within Jeffco which can support these needs are Schoology and Google Classroom. Jeffco Ed Tech has created a comparison chart to help support the discussions which many schools are having regarding these two tools.

Choosing the best tool for the job always begins with the instructional purpose in mind. Teachers may find they need one or both of these tools at various times throughout the year to help meet their needs.
Digital Teacher Librarians and the Jeffco Ed Tech team are great resources as your school enters into these conversations.

Looking for more information about digital workflow? Read our related blog.
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What is an LMs?

9/20/2016

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​Make your Work Life a little easier with Jeffco's Learning Management System, Schoology!

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You've conquered the copy machine, those formative assessment tools have no secrets from you, and you've mastered surfing on the web. Now it's time to take your instruction to a new level.

It's time to use Jeffco's Learning Management System, Schoology. Whether you implement one feature or many, you can enhance your instruction and your students' 21st Century learning style through the use of this versatile system, already on all Jeffco computers!


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Schoology kiosk - a lockdown tool for schoology

9/20/2016

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Have you ever needed to prevent students from searching the internet, the computer or another computer application for information during a Schoology test/quiz? If your school has Chromebooks, you can enable a new feature called a kiosk.

What this feature does is it locks down a testing environment. It prevents digital cheating during online tests/quizzes. Students cannot print, copy or go to another website. Additionally, it prevents anyone from accessing other applications when using this feature.


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