Schoology and Academy District 20
Where Learning Happens │ August 17, 2018
Where Are We Now? - The Weekly Update
We have over 200 pilot members at some stage of the Getting Started with Schoology course! There has been over 300 discussion posts and over 6400 page views. It’s great to see so many people interacting with Schoology!
Your classes for first semester are located in your 20Learn (Schoology) Courses section. Students have been loaded by means of our IC integration. DO NOT GIVE OUT ACCESS CODES. Your students are already there.
What you can do:
- Link sections
- Import your materials from Resources to your active course
- Add due dates to assignments
- Use the Google and Microsoft Assignment apps
- Connect with other educators
- Create units and lessons
- Curate resources
- Start your professional learning experience.
- Don’t forget about the Recent Activity feed - ask questions and provide feedback as necessary. It's great to see people helping each other!
Worth noting:
Grade passback and parent account access won’t be available during the fall semester. As we make progress with those features we’ll communicate updates.
Keep in mind that we’re at the beginning of a journey. We have a lot of ground to cover and we’re just learning the terrain. Partner with us by participating, asking questions, and providing feedback so that we can continue to grow. That participation is helping us work to meet your needs.
How do I get my students logged in?
You’re logged in, but how do your students login? It’s easy to assume kids can login to 20Learn and get going, but it’s good to communicate to them exactly where and how to login. Simply googling Schoology won’t get them to the right place.
Here’s what to know:
- Our Schoology url is: https://asd20.schoology.com
- Students should not use a previously used account.
- Students need to use their ID#@msa.asd20.org email address and not their student.asd20.org address. Their password is their IC password.
- If a student is logging in with the app, they need to choose Academy District 20 as their school and not their individual school name.
- Please DO NOT give students Access Codes to join courses. They are already enrolled.
Do you have a student having difficulty logging in? You have DLCs and DTTs to help. You can also check the following:
- Can they successfully login to IC? If no, then there’s a problem with their password and they should see their DTT.
- Did they use a saved email and password to login (they may be incorrect).
- Are they at the correct website? Googling Schoology will not get them to the correct ASD20 Schoology site.
- Students need to use the complete email address, ID#@msa.asd20.org, in order to login.
- If they’re using the app, did they choose Academy District 20 as their school?
Have a great beginning to your school year!
Let's Get Started!
Over the week, we’ve brought IC and Schoology together. You should now see all of your courses for the entire school year. What’s next? Last week's newsletter had some great ideas for getting started. The images here link to very helpful resources to guide you through of the more integral features.
You’ll need to do your Grade Setup. There’s a link below to specific directions. This is important because any assignment you create in an active course needs to be attached to a Category. That Category (or those Categories) will need to be exactly the same as you would setup in IC. The Grading Periods are linked to IC, so you don’t need to create one. The Grading Scales provided are those most often used in IC, but you are still able to create one of your own.
In addition to the links here, the Resources section of this newsletter has some handy Reference Cards to download and print.
Test/Quiz or Assessments? What's the difference?
- This is Schoology's legacy assessment creation tool. If you imported a Question Bank from ALEC, you'll use this assessment feature.
- This choice allows for feedback on question types.
- Yes, you can send your Test/Quiz assessments to the Assessments assessment tool.
- This is Schoology's new assessment creation tool.
- Assessments created here can be imported into Schoology's Asssessment Management Platform (AMP). AMP is a platform within Schoology that will be used at the District level for common assessment reporting and other high stakes tests.
- Assessments contains a broader choice of question types. Assessments is only available in the Enterprise version. This is new to previous Basic (free) users.
Not all question types from Test/Quiz are importing into Assessments the way Schoology would like at the moment. That is why both assessment creation options are available right now. Anticipate the Tests/Quiz option to sunset within the next year.
What about Groups?
At the moment you’re unable to create groups on your own. There are some steps that have to happen before each building will be able to create their own. Don’t worry, submit a Help Desk ticket (help@asd20.org) with your name, your school name, and your grade level or department or team name. We’ll get that created for you.
Migrating Your ALEC Resources to Schoology
You are able to import your ALEC files into Schoology. To assist in this process, we are creating backups for you! Use the attached PDF to assist you with downloading your ALEC files and uploading them to a Collection in your Resources.
Having problems migrating courses to Schoology? Here are some tips:
- Try downloading a backup without the question bank.
- Try choosing the Schoology option to import into a “New Collection” (see instructions).
- Submit a Help Desk ticket if problems persist. We're here to support you!
Please keep in mind that these are two different platforms. Things in Schoology may not look exactly the same as they did in ALEC. Join us in a support session if you have concerns.
Professional Learning
Learning Services and Digital Integration Services are partnering with Schoology to develop our training program. You will be receiving online and face-to-face learning and support opportunities.
There are two (2) courses for you to join:
- In Schoology - Getting Started with Schoology = this is growing and developing course to walk you through the process of getting to know Schoology. Join code = 5XK69-CHSJH.
- In the SPOT - Schoology Support for Pilot Participants: Foundations and Best Practices = this is where you register in order to receive credit for your work. Course ID=1819-017-20.
Your support will include online instruction and resources in the Schoology platform, face-to-face drop in sessions throughout the summer and school year, webinars, plus additional workshops and formal training opportunities. Do you need instant support? Schoology has an extensive resource collection to help, too!
Keep logging your hours!
Susan Murray-Carrico
Email: susan.murray@asd20.org
Website: www.digitalteachingandlearning.com
Location: 1110 Chapel Hills Drive, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone: 719.234.1471
Twitter: @FrauSusi