BP4_Schoology.com

The latest exploration of the Exploratorium is Schoology.com.  I know that some of my fellow students have looked at it already, but the buzz around Wimba was just to great to accept the knowledge of this site as just a simple anecdote.  Glenn Shelton gave us some great insight into this Web 2.0 tool earlier and was kind enough to address one of my questions on his blog.  Thanks for your “ponderings” Glenn, they have helped me and others, I’m sure.

If there is one thing I’ve learned during my 3½ short months at Full Sail University it is that we need to engage students with the technology that they’re used to and using.  Schoology blends a Facebook-esqe interface and social networking features with the controls of a fully functional Learning Management System (LMS).

I expect to use Schoology as I try to keep a connection with my students now that our semester is over.  I have several volunteers who will be assisting me with my RILS project and Schoology seems like a great way to administrate that.

This screen is a simple entry point to name the course and establish the time frame for it.

 

I’ll skip showing the typical sign-up and profile pages because we’ve probably all used Facebook to some extent and the qualities of these pages are remarkably similar.  I chose to feature the course management screens as the LMS features seem to be extremely easy to use.

  

The content page lists all the various types of elements that I might consider incorporating into a class.  Assignments, quizzes, discussion boards, all just a click away.  

 

Finally, I was please to find that some basic privacy settings were available to maintain secure control of content.

I am not an experienced Facebook user so I will be relying on my students to help me discover effective ways to communicate across this platform.  I will look forward to using the LMS features to get meaningful interaction between students on selected topics.  Schoology also appeals to me because in my first step toward my CBR implementation, my students echoed a concern that I had.  I questioned them about communicating with professors on Facebook.  While about half thought that the idea was a good one, the other half expressed concern over their professors seeing all their posts and friends.  As a professor, I agree with the second half of those students.  I don’t want to see all their personal posts and musings.  Schoology can give them and me a similar environment for professional purposes only.