Schoology and Learning Management Systems |
Schoology and LMSA Learning Management System (or LMS) are system applications that keep track of assignments, projects, grades, attendance, and so on of a courses, usually in a school setting. LMS are both for the usage of teachers and students. Teachers are usually the ones to create these courses and set everything up, while the students are usually the ones who enter into the course and go through the material for their learning. Schoology is a Learning Management System because it does everything from having quizzes to managing grades to having assignments posted here to having online lectures. Schoology is a place where teachers can create courses and the options are pretty much limitless to what they can do. Schoology is a very helpful learning tool for students and a very easy tool to use for teachers to help build the student’s learning. This is a picture of my first schoology web course where I was teaching American Sign Language and Culture to 6th graders. I made this so students could do their assignments online, take quizzes, watch videos to help future their learning, and read articles about it to further their learning.
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LMS in TeachingWhen I become a teacher, I would love to have a management system like Schoology because there are so many things I could do with it. My ideal age group would be about second grade. So I would use the gradebook feature to keep all of the students grades in because the gradebook in LMS’ like Schoology are very efficient and easy to maintain. I also would use an LMS like this to keep connected with the parents so that the parents are able to keep up with what the students are doing and the parents know the information being learned. If children have some type of technology in the classroom, such as iPads, I will have them do little assignments online. What they can do is do problems like drawing on the iPad and putting it online to “turn in”. I would do little assignments like this so the children get used to working with technology and to account for their work. It also will allow the parents to see what they are doing. I will also have videos/visual lectures on there so students can watch those videos if they need more explaination of information and want to understand it better. It would not be like a full class online, there would just be a few fun activities here and there to help them to get used to using technology in the classroom and also to assess some of their learning.
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Example of My Math Schoology CourseHere is a sample of what I would do if I was teaching second grade math. Under the section “Extra Help: Division” is a link from YouTube that is a very helpful video explaining more about division and going through some sample problems. This is to make sure that the student really understands the information and they can look at it whenever they want to because it is up on my website for them. Next section is “Division: Working with the number 5”. This section is an assignment where students will read the assignment, do the work for the assignment, and re-upload their answers. It is a very short assignment, only about 5 problems, just to check their understanding of dividing by the number 5. Next is the section labeled “Drawing of Shapes”. Here is a section where students will read the assignment, which is where the students will draw shapes on the app on the ipad, labeled the sides and shapes, then upload the pictures. This will show me that they are able to use the technology to show me their learning and also, the technology is a fun and easy way to show their learning. The last material on my page is a “Multiplication Quiz” which is a short 5 question quiz testing them on their knowledge of multiplying small numbers. This is to help me evaluate their learning without it being so serious of an environment. All of my material on my page is short and sweet, not too difficult, and all to engage their learning. It is simple because they are in second grade, they have not had a lot of experience with technology so this is a great introduction to it. It is also great for accountability and a great way to stay connected with the parents.
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Using Learning Management Systems can be hard and complicated to use in classrooms due to many different factors. So the circumstances that using Learning Management Systems would be appropriate is if every student has accessibility to a piece of technology and wifi in the classroom, ideally having internet and technology at home but not required, having students who are responsible and trustworthy, and having parent involvement.Every student needs wifi and a piece of technology in the classroom because that is where the majority of the work will be done. If the students do not have one of these, how will they be able to perform these tasks that are asked of them? The students in the classroom must be relatively responsible and trustworthy because technology can be distracting, so students must focus at the task on hand or it will be difficult for each student to get their work done. Having parent involvement and knowledge of what is happening is very important when it comes to their children’s learning and their form of learning. I believe that LMS’ like Schoology in the classroom can be very beneficial to student’s learning, but only if students are able to handle that type of responsibility and if the school can provide the materials needed to make this possible.