Setting up your Virtual Classroom on Schoology

Step 1: Create your Virtual Classroom.

Note The following tutorials are instructions for those using a laptop or desktop computer.

The first step is to register for an account at www.schoology.com. Make sure you register as a TEACHER. Here’s how to do it:

Then, create your course. Here’s how:

Step 2: Get Your Students to Join Your Virtual Classroom.

Once you have set up your class, you will need to find the COURSE ACCESS CODE. You can find it on the lefthand corner of your course page (Clue: It has a green background).

If you have an existing Messenger group (or any way to contact your students), send your students the following instructions so they can successfully join your course. (Don’t forget to enter your course code in the (___) of the template)

  1. Register for an account at www.schoology.com (Register as a student!)
  2. When asked for a code, enter the code: (___).
  3. Once you have logged in, click on courses, and find our course. 
  4. When you enter our course, take note of the two main sections that we will use:
    (a) The MATERIALS section is where I will put all the learning materials and links to activities for our class. This is also where you will submit your assignments.
    (b) The UPDATES section is where I will post any announcements – so here’s where you watch out for any important information.
  5. Please check for updates for new materials every  ________ (Set a specific time where you will be regularly updating the course with materials. If you have shifting from a regular face-to-face schedule, it may be best to use one of the days of your class–e.g., every Monday at 1 pm.)

Step 3: Set up Your Activities.

In Schoology, you post your learning materials and activities under “MATERIALS.” There are several types of materials that you can consider for your online class.

Here are a Few Activities You Can Have Students Do:

Read/Watch/Listen and Reflect

Instead of the usual lecture or reading assignment, here are some alternative learning experiences you can design for your students. Their goal is the acquisition of knowledge (some of us call this “input”) – but we’ve added “reflect” to make sure that it’s not just about getting information, but processing it as well.

In Schoology, you can upload a file or have students go to a link by adding this type of material: (click on add materials, then the icon below)

Adding a Link

  1. Link/URL: Paste the link to the site or video that you would like your students to view
  2. Title: Use this part to put instructions
    (For example: Read this article on ___, or Watch this video about ____)

Sample:

Adding a File

  1. Upload the file by clicking on Attach Files.
  2. Once your file has been uploaded, click on Edit Details.

In the box that says “ADD TITLE”, type in your instructions.
(For example: Read this article on ___, or Watch this video about ____)

Sample:

Take note of the green circle below – If you can see it, it means that as soon as you add the material, students will be able to see it immediately. If you want to upload a material without students seeing it yet, just click on the circle. If it becomes hollow, that means that it has been unpublished. 

You can publish it anytime after you add your material.

To publish an unpublished material, just click on the gear icon, then click on PUBLISH.

Discuss a Question, Prompt, or Image

These activities can replace a typical class discussion–and more. If you ask every single student to post a response, then you get to “hear” from every student. You may even want to suggest that they read one another’s comments and respond to them. The goal is to provide more opportunities for your students to reflect, as well as to interact among themselves.

In Schoology, you can set-up an online discussion by adding this type of material: (click on add MATERIALS, then the icon below)

Here are some tips on setting up your discussion forum:

  1. In the title, describe the task. (For example: Discuss about ____)
  2. In the description, post a question or a prompt for students to respond to. Students can reply as a comment to your post in the form of text or image/video.
  3. Ask students to respond to at least one other classmate – This cues them to read one another’s posts. 
  4. You may Include an interesting image to accompany your question (or the image itself can be the prompt!)
  5. Due date: Set a deadline – since they will be given a period of time to do it, you have to help set the pace and expectations. 

Sample:

Extra Tip: To limit the length of your students’ answers, you may want to give a word count, or a set number of sentences. For example: In no more than five carefully constructed sentences, answer…

Answer a Test or Quiz

Giving students opportunities to retrieve and use what they have learned is important in the learning process! Automated quizzes are a great way to do that – most especially if you are designing the quiz to give students immediate feedback. The timeliness of the feedback you offer can help them self-check. At the same time, this is a great time-saving tool for teachers!

In Schoology, you can set-up a quiz by adding this type of material: (click on ADD MATERIALS, then the icon below)

  1. In the Name, describe the task (ex. Answer this quiz on __)
  2. Due date: Give a deadline – since they will be given a period of time to do it, you have to help set the pace and expectations.  
  3. Pts: set-up the number of total points
  4. Category: You can leave it as ungraded if you will not use Schoology to tabulate grades – but it will still keep documentation of grades from this quiz.
  5. After clicking CREATE, you can now begin to add your questions – you can choose among the available question types (e.g., Multiple Choice, True or False, etc.).
  6. The last step is to click on SETTINGS. Check your settings under SUBMISSIONS. This is where you will specify the availability of the quiz to your students.

Submit an Assignment

This task is often given at the end of a unit/lesson and replaces your typical assessment. Assignments can be submitted as documents, images, videos, etc. These allow for a variety of things you can ask students to do and document.

In Schoology, you can set-up an assignment by adding this type of material: An assignment is any task wherein you want student to submit a file to you without the other student seeing it. (click on add materials, then the icon below)

  1. Name: Describe the task
    (For example: Submit your _____)
  2. Description: Provide details for your assignment. You may want to clarify the format or indicate how the assignment will be graded.
  3. Due date: Set a reasonable deadline depending on the workload required.

Sample:

PRO TIP: When you’ve already set up several materials, the page may look a little messy. We suggest you organize your materials using FOLDERS. Label the folders either by session or topic, so that students will know which activities to do for a specific topic or period of time.

These suggestions should give you some initial ideas about what your online teaching can look like. One key idea is to make sure that when we talk about online learning, we are thinking primarily about the learning experiences of our students, and not just the resources we want to assign to them.

One more thing you might need to remember is: Make sure to communicate constantly with your students (to clarify instructions, remind them of deadlines, etc.). The sudden lack of a regular face-to-face class can be a jolting experience for them, too!

Do you have any question or other tips for online teachers? Send them to us at salt@ateneo.edu, and we’ll help you share them with a wider audience.

Happy online teaching! And keep healthy!

+AMDG

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