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Gettin’ Schooled in Schoology

Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios:

Gettin’ Schooled in Schoology

By Jessica Smith

Full Sail University

Education Media Design and Technology

Course Director Rena Hanaway

Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios Planning:

Gettin’ Schooled with Schoology

Brief Overview: Through this Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario, students will be implementing a Web 2.0 Learning Management System called Schoology into the last component of our Economics Course. This easy to use LMS will be used to introduce ideas, facilitate discussion, produce a product, and promote peer critiques and edits on the topic of Economic Challenges.

Target Audience: My learners are a section of my Government and Economics course who are in twelfth grade at the Gettysburg Area High School. Most of the students in the class are preparing to graduate with a skilled job or attending a technical school rather than going to a four-year university. Technology has not been their strong point, but implementing Schoology as a Personal Learning Environment may motivate them since it provides an authentic experience, specific outcomes on posted assignments, and a familiar interface (similar to that of Facebook).

For the next couple weeks, students will be asked to log on to the Schoology website at least once daily to become familiar with its layout and check for any new assignments or discussions. I had posted an additional discussion board for any questions that may be directed to me on the operation of the Learning Management System. By the end of the unit of study, students will critique each other’s work and complete an evaluation on Schoology’s effectiveness.

Schoology will provide deeper learning for my students because it is a platform that can take away from a teacher-centered classroom. It will hold the kids responsible for their assignments and promoting thoughtful discussion with intermediate facilitation.

Materials:

  • A computer with internet connection (our school uses PC’s)
  • A teacher account set up through Schoology.com (
  • A code for students to sign up for their course on Schoology.com
  • Article on the Underground Economy (to be published as assignment on Schoology)
  • Project Directions and Options (to be published under the assignment on Schoology)
  • If students choose to create a Prezi on their assignment, they will also need a Prezi.com website. (
  • If students choose to create a PhotoStory or Movie on their topic, they will need the appropriate software provided by the school. (There are also many online websites that offer free videos up to 30 seconds).
  • Online search engines
  • LibGuides available through Gettysburg Area High School

Objectives: at the end of the scenario, the learner will be able to:

  • Recall and identify key components of the Schoology website to access key assignments and discussions. (Knowledge)
  • Understand the meaning and importance of the learning management system as it pertains to their assignments. May assist or provide new ideas to help others to demonstrate comprehension. (Understanding)
  • Examine course material to facilitate online class discussion and assignments posted on Schoology. (Applying)
  • Compare, analyze and differentiate different contributions that our economy faces through investigative research within the Schoology groups. (Analyzing)
  • Critique and defend other ideas on the underground economy using Schoology to facilitate discussion. (Evaluating)
  • Synthesize, organize and create a presentation (Prezi or Photostory) informing others about a particular aspect of the Underground Economy and embed within the Schoology website. (Creating)

Procedure:

Setting Up

  • Prior to introducing the students to Schoology.com, the teacher should have an account set up in order to demonstrate navigation of the learning management system.
  • The teacher should play the Schoology.com video on their homepage to introduce the emerging technology to students while showing students various aspects of the website, drawing correlation to other social media technologies.
  • Then the teacher should distribute the step-by-step tutorial (available as a Word Document) for students to follow in order to set up their account and post their first discussion.
  • Students will be asked to post to the teacher generated discussion board, navigate the learning management system, and create their profiles during the introductory class period (40 minutes).

The Assignment

The following activity should be previously posted under the “Assignment” section by the teacher on Schoology:

A.Introduction

“The Underground Economy, by definition, is “a large amount of production and income that is never recorded or reported to the government”. When the income of illegal goods is not reported, this is referred to as the Black Market. Even though goods and services were produced and income was earned, they are not counted in the country’s GDP. So how much money is the United States really losing out on when not taxing this income? What is included in the Underground – or Shadow – Market?

  • Read the assigned article on the “Shadow Economy” and post ideas in response to the above questions on the Schoology discussion board.
  • Respond to at least one other student. Teacher will grade and facilitate.

B. Student Assignment Breakdown

1. Choose a topic within the underground industry.

2. Research the topic. Include, at minimum:

-The history or background of the topic (10 points)

- The street value of what is not included in GDP (5 points)

-The demographics: Where, who is involved, who is affected (5 points)

-How do people in this market get away with it? (5 points)

-What would happen if this was government regulated or taxed? Or if illegal, what could happen if it were to be government controlled? (10 points)

3. Gather pictures, and keep them appropriate.

4. With a Partner: Using Photo Story or Windows Movie Maker, generate a mini-documentary on your topic. Your alternative option will be to create a presentation using Prezi.com.

5. Upon completion, embed your video or presentation on the course discussion page titled “Underground Economy”.

C. Resources

  • Teacher should create a page guiding students to appropriate resources for their investigative research.

This activity will generally take about one week to complete (five school hours).

Evaluating/Creating

  • Upon completion of the assignment, the teacher should have directed students to upload their projects to the “Underground Economy” discussion board on Schoology.
  • Have students view each others work, then
  • Have students respond to the following questions:
  • What did you learn about the Underground Economy?
  • Which of the presentations shocked you the most?
  • Do you personally believe this problem could ever be resolved or better enforced? Share possible solutions to the problem to weaken its impact on the economy.

Follow Up

  • Teacher should facilitate discussion at all times.
  • Teacher will grade students based on research and discussion posts.
  • Students will also be required to complete a follow up survey under the “Assignments” section of Schoology.com with their input on the learning management system.

Emerging Technology:

Schoology.com is a learning management tool that creates a teacher facilitated personalized learning environment for students through online social networking.

Social Participation/Social Learning:

From the beginning of this assignment, students are collaborating with each other through discussions and group work:

  • Students generalize ideas that consist of the underground economy and how it effects GDP through discussion posts on Schoology.com,
  • Students work together to investigate and analyze one aspect of the underground economy through the assigned project, and
  • Students critique projects and share reflections to draw conclusions through an additional discussion board post.

Making Connections:

  1. Prior Knowledge: Prior to this lesson, students will be familiar with what is included in Gross Domestic Product and why it is important to understand within how our economy functions. The underground economy, however, will teach them the exact opposite: what is not included in Gross Domestic Product, and why it is harmful to the economy.
  1. Relevance: GDP measures the state of the economy in the Untied States. By understanding the underground economy, students can understand the impact that the market has on our country. Students can then apply what they know about the state of the economy to larger concepts, especially in determining economic challenges we face through time.
  1. Connections with Local/Global Audiences: Students will be communicating what they learn through investigative research to each other. They will become “experts” on one topic within the shadow economy (counterfeiting, under the table pay, illegal goods, etc.) and present how much the topic impacts our economy. In addition to presenting it locally to each other, they could also share their documentaries or presentations with other economics or personal finance classes to open up further discussion, and even student action.

Create/Produce:

The learner will be creating a final product of a documentary using software provided by the school. An alternative option would be for the student to use in order to create an online presentation on their topic. The end result, regardless of the product, must include the information provided in the assignment breakdown (above).

Assessment(Screenshot from actual rubric):

Reflection:

Student Reflection

Learner reflection will be two-fold:

  1. Students will post responses to the follow-up question on the discussion board on Schoology.com. They will also participate in responding to and critiquing others. In the response question, it asks them to elaborate on what they have learned or found surprising which will allow me to see if they have reached my original goals and objectives.
  2. In addition, students will be taking a quiz via Schoology.com’s “Online Tests/Quizzes” feature at the end of our “Economic Challenges” unit.
  3. Students will reflect upon the use of the learning management system, Schoology.com, by taking a survey posted to the “Assignments”. The survey was create by utilizing the Google Doc’s form feature, and will be sent directly to me upon completion.

Teacher Reflection

  • The main form of reflection for the teacher through this RILS activity is through evaluating student’s final products and performance.
  • Educators will be able to see engagement and motivation of students during class, while reviewing assignments to generalize the lesson’s effectiveness.
  • The survey students complete on the Schoology.com program will also provide communication between the student and teacher on the effectiveness and impact on the students and classroom atmosphere.

Post-Implementation Reflection:

The results of using Schoology.com for my Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario were outstanding. For feedback, data was collected by the students and myself. Here is what I found:

Student Feedback:

Initially students appeared very motivated when I told them about how we were switching gears in the classroom. This has been a tough group to gather motivation from, as many of these students are not continuing their education. In a post-unit survey they gave me this feedback:

  • On a scale from one to ten, then being the best, students rated Schoology.com a 9.3 out of 10 for enjoyment.
  • On a scale from one to ten, then being the best, students rated Schoology.com as 8.7 out of 10 in ease of use.
  • All students wished we would have used it all year.
  • All students would recommend this to a teacher.
  • All students would continue to use it if there was more time in the school year.
  • There were only two statements which I would classify as negative:
  • “It takes a little to figure out.” (Antonich)
  • “The fact that our grades don’t go right into the system our school uses.” (Lyons)
  • Note: There is a district license available which does provide this option.

Teacher Reflection:

Schoology.com was much more of a classroom management tool than I had realized, and I loved that! This class appeared to be working very well over the week they had used this resource. Here is what I personally found:

  • When using Schooogy.com there was 100% student participation on discussion board topics.
  • There were 100% complete assignments, and all were on time. Students who were absent even logged in from home to either check their calendars or message me for what they missed- this was very nice!
  • Not one student failed an assignment that was through Schoology.com’s website. Posts were written beautifully.
  • This resembled and supports what Clay Shirky had stated about students better preparing answers. The teacher now is not the only audience; so are their peers and as a result answers have more thought or content put into them. (Shirky, 2011).
  • On the last day of this unit I switched my lesson back to a lecture and worksheet approach.
  • Four students did not focus on completing that assignment and two assignments were incomplete.

In conclusion, I hope to take my students advice and use Schoology.com for my classes next year. My drawbacks were minimal, and nothing that I would not be able to change. There should be some sort of user friendly guide to having the students get started with Schoology.com, rather than just one for the teachers. Now knowing that I will be implementing this next year, I can create a video (rather than my handout) on my own. I love that everything is organized and in one place. Even when I was confused on the differences in “courses” and “group”, I had just emailed the customer support and they got back to me by the end of that day. I am very impressed with this emerging technology tool and am motivated to incorporate this into my curriculum.

Resources:

Clark, D. (n.d.). Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Retrieved May 7, 2012, from

Episcopo, P. (n.d.). Teacher/Student Collaboration with Schoology. Educator Studio. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from

Guidelines for Writing Learning Objectives. (n.d.). Guidelines for Writing Learning Objectives. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from

Shirky, Clay. Keynote Speaker:

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