Welcome Back to Your Mac

Written By: Alli Pryor, Digital Learning Coach


It's exciting times here in Texas! Our Technology Department has been working hard to refresh our devices by providing educators with new Macbooks. We are beyond lucky to be in a district where digital learning is not just valued, but also supported. Having reliable educator devices allows us to design and implement deeper learning experiences. We can learn alongside our children and be more mobile throughout the classroom.

Anytime there is change, even if it is a good change, there is a learning curve. I am such a creature of habit that I spent several days trying to get my new Mac to be set up the way my old one was. (#dontjudge)

That is why I am so glad to share some curated resources my teammates (Sam Neal, Trent Pickrell, Brad Cook) and I gathered to help guide you as you get acquainted with your new MacBook. Many of these are from the Technology ZenDesk, but all can help you become a Jedi Master of your Mac!

Click here to visit the drawing above and access the links!

Each blue box contains a resource to help you learn. The gold box leads you to a Google Form Scavenger Hunt to help you show what you know!

Our Technology Department has said that should you have any issues or questions, a ZenDesk ticket is the way to go, but hopefully these resources will get you started!

Which feature of your new Mac is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Digital Assessments on Our Campus

In the fall, educators completed the Clarity survey, providing insight into how our district uses technology for teaching and learning. One data point we are looking closely at this year as a campus is assessment. Below are the results on some of the data points that relate to the use of digital assessments on our campus.

Quick Tip

Low-stakes formative assessments are the most useful learner data. Routinely assessing understanding is one way to help learners before they fall behind or fail a major assessment. Use the quick Schoology Polls feature, Google Forms or other top tech tools for digital assessment for quick exit tickets or brief quizzes to get instant feedback to meet learners' needs. Know when a topic needs additional instruction or when to move on.

Opportunity to Learn

• Scroll to the bottom of this resource to learn about Schoology’s Poll Feature.
• Learn about Schoology Discussion Boards as a way to collect feedback from learners.
• Visit this resource to learn about Bulb’s Feedback Features and using portfolios as a method for assessing student learning.
• Log into this Schoology Course to learn how Schooloogy AMP can help you create common assessments with shared data.
• Check out this blog post to read about the new Schoology assessment features.

In order to celebrate our progress, calibrate our understanding of where we are as a campus, set goals, and refine our practice leave your takeaways in the comments.



Citations

Bhagat, K., & Spector, J. (2017). Formative assessment in complex problem-solving domains: The emerging role of assessment technologies. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(4), 312-317. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26229226.

Datnow, A., & Park, V. (2015). Data use—for equity. Educational Leadership, 75(5), 48-54. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1051704.

Takahashi, A., & McDougal, T. (2016). Collaborative lesson research: Maximizing the impact of lesson study. ZDM Mathematics Education, 48(4), 513–526. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0752-x.

Schoology Game Changers

Schoology has made some GAME CHANGING updates that we are super excited to pass along!

Text to Speech Option for All Assessments

Educators now have the ability to enable 'text to speech' for assessments built within a course OR a managed assessment in AMP. Check out this short video created by Sam Neal to see how your learners can have assessments read to them.

Pro Tip: This functionality will also work with Respondus Lockdown Browser!

Convert Assessments to AMP

As of Friday, March 1, you can convert not only Test Quizzes, but also Schoology Assessments from your Resources into AMP question banks! These will import as new question banks, not merged into existing question banks.

Ability to Individually Assign New Materials

Schoology has expanded its individually assign feature. In addition to graded materials, educators can Individually Assign discussions, pages, files, links, external tools, and media albums to individual students and/or to grading groups. Be on the look out for this feature to also be added to folders in the future.

New Schoology Guide Center

This new, personalized by role, guide center helps users find the most relevant up to date schoology information. It contains a help center, quick start checklist and “what’s new” Schoology updates.

Spring Into PL

Soak up some Springtime PL with our March offerings. Click on each event to learn more.

Schoology Completion Rules Complete Me

Differentiation of learning can be a struggle for educators. One area that is particularly challenging is pacing. Learning does not happen at the same speed for everyone. Schoology offers a way for educators to structure learning materials to be self guided, so students can learn at their own rate while learning the same content.


Schoology completion rules is a setting that allows you to place requirements on the course materials, including the order assignments are completed and a minimum score required to progress. Watch the video below to learn how.

Need a thought partner or want to learn more about Schoology Completion Rules? Contact Kelly and Monica or leave a comment below. 

Learner Access to Technology Resources

Learners, parents, and educators have grown to love the unified one stop shop Schoology provides for course content, but did you know that all of our learners have access to even more school resources beyond their coursework? All learners are enrolled in a course titled Coppell High School: All Students. Here they have access to the valuable technology and library resources we use campus-wide.

Take a sneak peek into the technology folder

Learner Bulb Resources

This month, as our educators and learners are diving deeper into exploring our district digital portfolio platform, we are finding that some of our learners may need a little more scaffolding to get started. Should you find your learners in this situation, direct them to the Bulb folder in the Coppell High School: All Students Schoology course. Inside the folder, learners will find a resource to help them get started building content and adding artifacts. This tutorial walks learners through the basics of Bulb and includes video guides. Access the resource for yourself here.

The main topics include:

• Text and Formatting
• Uploading, Inserting and Editing Images
• Attach a File
• Embed a Website Via URL

Another resource worth noting is the "Understanding Publication Settings in Bulb". You can view the video here for yourself.

Library:

BULB support sessions for educators

Librarians and DLCs will be available to thought partner and offer support all day on Monday, Feb. 25th and Tuesday, Feb. 26th. Feel free to stop by the library conference room before or after school, during your team time, or during your conference time.

Share your exemplars

Are your high school learners creating amazing BULB pages? Share public links to their pages in the comments below along with your favorite sonic drink.

Communicating Your Story Through Bulb

Last night’s Communicating Your Story Through Bulb webinar was a great opportunity for participants to gain a deeper understanding of digital portfolios for our CISD learners. If you missed it, you can still benefit from the resources and conversations shared. Check out the entire presentation or keep reading as we highlight some of our favorite parts.

Inspiration From Educators 

Explore some of the ideas below that were shared by educators during the webinar.

Inspiration from Bulb

Subscribe to Bulb's 10-Minute Tuesdays for weekly inspiration.

Bulb in CISD
Digital Portfolios in CISD
CHS Learner Portfolio Entry Example

If you would like support in implementing Bulb with your learners please do not hesitate to reach out. We would love to partner with you!

February 15th Professional Learning

Our CISD February 15th professional learning day is robust with choice sessions. There are many excellent offerings focusing on data and assessment, but we would like to use this opportunity to highlight some of the sessions being offered that center around Schoology.

If you are looking for secondary Schoology sessions (including turnitin) look for these sessions below on Sched.

How to search for these sessions in Sched: 

Locate the search bar on the right hand side of the page. Type the title of the session and click Search. A list of all the times offered for that session should appear.

Comment below with the session you are most excited about. We look forward to a great day of learning. 

Foster Academic Integrity with turnitin

What does it mean to plagiarize? How are you helping your learners answer this question and avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism? We would get many different excellent answers if we surveyed the educators at our campus, but for this post, we will share a specific tool that our district has recently purchased. Have you heard of turnitin? Turnitin integrates with Schoology and provides tools to prevent plagiarism, to engage students in the writing process, and to provide personalized feedback. A few of the program’s main features include:

• Similarity report - generate a similarity report that cross checks your learners submission across websites, and other turnitin repositories and provides details of the potentially plagiarized sources.

• The Feedback Studio - allows for feedback in the form of quickmarks and voice comments. 

• The E-rater option - scaffold levels of grammar and writing suggestions for your learners’ work. 

• Rubrics - grade submission with the use of customizable rubrics. 

• PeerMark™ - peer review assignment tool that allows learners to read, review, and evaluate one or many papers submitted by their classmates. Educators can choose whether the reviews are anonymous or attributed.

Interested in learning how to use this tool? Let’s get together and explore how turnitin can:

• support redefining success for all learners?

• provide actionable feedback and encourage growth?

• leverage teachable moments and foster academic integrity?

• increase the efficiency of the feedback loop?

View this infographic for step by step instructions on how to set up turnitin, best practices, and examples for your content area. 

Interested in one-on-one or collaborative team support? Contact your campus Digital Learning Coaches, Instructional Coaches, or Librarians for support with Turnitin or lessons on Plagiarism. 

Flex Your Mind While Flexing Your Muscles

I love it when I leave a conference with an idea or strategy that I can barely wait to try. In October, I attended the Region 10 IDCC conference and have been sitting on this idea waiting for the New Year. January always brings resolutions and commitments to healthier habits, making it the perfect time to implement this new choice PL strategy I learned about from Ashley Gilliam, Region 10 Digital Learning Coordinator. No more sit and get PL, welcome to Podcasts and Pedometers!

Details for our Podcast and Pedometers PL

Earn flex while working on your New Year Resolution to move more!

Participants will choose a podcast or two from a provided list of educational podcasts. As a group, we will walk and listen to our individually chosen Podcast for 20 minutes. Then, for the last 10 minutes of the walk, participants will partner up to jigsaw their favorite podcast takeaways.

When are we walking? See DLC's weekly emails for upcoming dates and times.

Where do we meet? Meet early in the ROC to set up your device, choose a podcast, and find your walking partner.  We will walk indoor or out, depending on the weather.

How do I sign up? Just show up. No pre-sign up or commitment required.

What do I bring? Walking shoes, earbuds, and a device to access the podcasts.

How do I earn Flex? After each walk you attend, submit a short form reflecting on your Podcast takeaways. Each walk is worth ½ hour of flex. You can participate in as many sessions as you like, but may only request Flex for up to six hours.

What kind of podcasts will we listen to? Podcasts that share strategies for teaching and learning will be selected. Participants will also have the opportunity to suggest Podcasts. See Podcasts examples below.

Using Podcasts in Your Classroom

Ashley’s session also included resources related to using Podcasts with your learners.

• ListenNotes not only allows you to search by content, but you can also create and share clips! Read more about it here.

• Listenwise contains a searchable database for Social Studies, Science, and ELA Lessons and includes listening comprehension questions and discussion themes. Check out this Cult of Pedagogy podcast by Jennifer Gonzalas to hear more.

• And THIS… a podcast list for AP classes by subject!

Do you have educational podcast suggestions for our walks? Please share in the comments below.

Credit: Inspired by this post from Meredith Akers and Ashley Gilliam’s 2018 IDCC Region 10 presentation, Podcasts for Learning.