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20 Schoology tips to save you time

With all of the features that Schoology boasts as a learning management system (LMS), you can be well on your way to
creating some exciting learning opportunities.

You can also be well on your way to something else ...

Overwhelm.

With all the bells and whistles and features, it's easy not to know where to start -- and to doubt whether you're using it
effectively and efficiently.

If you've felt that way before, thankfully, you're not the only one. We've got your back.

Recently, we asked subscribers to the Ditch That Textbook email newsletter for their best Schoology tips and tricks.
They had a lot to say!

Below are 20 tips that can save you time and help you level up your Schoology game in class.

What are your best Schoology tips? Please share them in a comment at the end of the post!

20 Schoology tips to save you time

Use a custom picture! Yes, this might be a *cutesy* thing for some, but I have found
it so helpful when I need to direct my students about where to go. I simply have to
say "go find the rainbow" or "look for the yellow word algebra" when talking to my
students and I have found it actually makes a huge difference!

-Ariel Whittemore

For my advisory students (7th grade) it is often hard to know what assignments they
have outstanding from their other teachers. I use the workload planning in my
advisory (homeroom) course to help my advisory students to keep track of their
workload and also to reach out to teachers if it seems overwhelming.

-LeeAnn Ramirez

Take time to set up assignment folders for each week and review what is in the
folder with students. Don't assume they will look on their own. Also, review the
information with paras that may be assisting you. Paras have very good ideas on
how to modify assignments and projects for our Sped students. And, get feedback
from students. What did they like and what didn't like; and what did they
understand and what was confusing. This will help you develop your Schoology
student work and folders; and may increase participation by using student input.

-Kim Sievert-DiSanto

In the "Course Options" (under your course profile pic), choose "View Course As" to
see what a student sees on your course page. This resolves a lot of "I swear I
submitted it," or "I couldn't find it," or even Completion Rules problems.

-Lindsay McCan

I use Schoology because my district directed us to use it this year over Google
Classroom. While there are some features of Classroom I prefer (I find assignments
easier to grade on Classroom) I do like that I can lay out my folders and subfolders
very clearly for each unit. I color code the units as well. I also like that you can pin
an announcement to the top so that it stays there.

-Dena Goldberg

Color code everything! Especially with long-distance learning, it is so important to

make sure everything is organized and easy to navigate for our students. We assign
a color for everything!

Red Folders: Current Content in the current unit

Purple Folder: Content already covered (as soon as we finish and move
onto the next LEQ, we change it from red to purple)
Yellow: live lesson recordings
Green: study guides and vocabulary

This makes it easier to tell students where to find things (For example, Red unit
folder, red LEQ folder, scroll down to the assignment at the bottom). But it also
makes it easier for staff and parents to find assignments, resources, and tools as
well!

-Amanda Cline

When using assignments created with G Suite, you can see into the students'
documents as they are working! You can also type directly into their documents,
offering help or corrections as needed. I'll even type questions in them for students
to answer about their work if they aren't likely to respond to a verbal question. This
is great for formative checks and to see who might be stuck, struggling or
disengaged, particularly in a distance learning environment.

-Carolyn Stevens

Utilizing the Add Assessment tool gives a lot of options for interactive quiz
questions. It's better than the Add Test/Quiz if you are looking for a variety of
question types, like drag and drop, reordering, or drawing. It will also grade the
assessment for you and you can sync the grades to Power School.

-Marcella Haupt

To add materials to a specific location in your course (rather than at the default
location, which is the very bottom of the page), hover over the gray line between
items where you want your new assignment/resource/whatever to be added.
The gray line will change to a green dotted line with a plus sign. Click the plus sign,
and the full "Add Materials" menu will appear. Your new item will be created where
the green line is, instead of at the bottom of the page. While it is true that you can
drag items to the location you prefer, this tip eliminates that step and is especially
useful if you have a LOOOONG list of materials, since now you won't have to scroll to
the bottom of the list to find your new item in order to drag it to where you want it.

-Grace McKay

Never start over! Reuse your content from a previous time you taught a class! At
the end of a course, save it to your resources. Then the next time you teach that
class, simply import it from your resources.

Please note: Nothing will be hidden when you first import it, so be sure to hide your
exams or anything else you don't want students to see right away! An easy way to
handle this is to create a folder called "Storage" and drop in anything you don't want
available right away. Make sure that folder is unpublished and everything inside will
be too!

-Marty Brandl

Use rubrics to make grading easier and faster. -Debra Moyer

Link your "like" courses to save time. -Kris Campea

Use the power of the "Page" feature to add a playlist for your students. It is a one-
stop for students to get all assignments and links. You can even voice record to help
students understand the playlist.

-Kathy Swanger

FOLDERS! Keep it simple & clean. I use one folder for each week. We are blocked
scheduled so each day gets a subfolder. Students know EXACTLY where to look
each day, especially if they miss our Zoom class. There is no guessing...day of the
week is all they need!

-Ashley Wiedman

!
"
On Schoology, post events as Classwork with your agenda (bulleted list, links, files,
# etc).

$
The other tip is to use Schoology for Flipping for Mastery, a flipped classroom
! model where the unit is built in its entirety and students work at their own pace.
The folders in materials can hold everything needed, you can put a completion
setting so they have to do something in order to see the next step, you can un-
publish future folders so they can't see them yet, and then use badges to show
completion for each lesson!

-Meagan Bubulka

When making blank Google Docs, Slides or Drawings to share with students to work
on and turn in, add the semester to the end of the title so it's easier to find when
you attach it in your assignment. For example, Animal Research Sp 21 so that it is
differentiated from all the Animal Research slides from last semester that show up
when trying to attach it.

-Dawn Dale

In order to make the course more inviting and kid friendly, use Google Slides to
create banners that for each subject hyperlinked with access to necessary
readings and sites.

-Andrea Lugo

Modify the settings in Schoology to students must post before seeing other
student responses. This will ensure an original response. Then students can return
to the post and reply on their first post with new information.

-Felisa Dearman

Teachers can now use Google Assignments within Schoology. This allows them to
save feedback comments to use over and over. Saves a ton of time! (Link:
Assignments by Google for Education)

-Sofia Garcia

I'm not sure I have a best tip yet as I've only been using it 5 months. I really miss
Google Classroom. One thing I like is Schoology's assessment feature. They have
many different ways to build test questions.

-Amy Owen

More Schoology resources

Getting started on Schoology for instructors

Schoology introduction video

How to use Schoology video playlist from Instructional Tech

How to use anything on the web as an LMS assignment

Canvas. Blackboard. Schoology. Google

Classroom. Teams. No matter your LMS, you
have LOTS of power to create great
assignments!

Read Post

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