This week, I learned and read about many different Learning Management Systems. As a teacher who has been using Schoology for two years already, I thought I knew all of the features that Schoology had to offer. Over the last two school years, I have used Schoology to organize the content for my students, create folders, assignments, drop-boxes, quizzes, and tests. I truly thought I was a master of my own Learning Management System. Yet, the assignment this week forced me to go out of my comfort zone with my LMS. I discovered that I can create discussion posts for students and have Schoology put my classes into small groups that I can edit. But that wasn't the most important discovery I made. I also learned that Schoology has an entire gradebook system that links with the assignments I create! This could potentially save me tens of hours of work next year if I set this up in the beginning of the year. As I currently do things, I sort through student work in the dropbox, copying the scores down on my grade book by hand. This discovery will eliminate one of the most tedious and taxing parts of my job! I also saw that I can award progress "badges" for students that reach certain milestones. Next year in my class, I will effectively incorporate badges into my curriculum in a way where I can rewards students for their hard work, great attendance, or outstanding leadership. I am thinking of having badges be worth extra credit at the end of the semester, that can be exchanged for points. Most importantly, this assignment forced me to explore further something I thought I already knew. This is another big example of EDP 490 giving me real skills and tools that I can use in my job. This is exactly why I decided to get my Master's Degree in Educational Technology. And now, I am able to share these skills with other teachers at Palos Verdes High School.
Side note: When I am a principal, I will also look heavily into investing in Google Classroom. Watching the capabilities of Google Classroom during peer presentations, especially Katherine Mauler's presentation, I saw that Google Classroom can do some amazing things, most importantly syncing with Aeries to streamline the grading process even more.
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