Utilizing Schoology Groups

Since I don't have a class to use Schoology with, I worked with Kim Reeve to set up a Julius Caesar project.  Kim had emailed me asking if I knew of a way to have students record presentations.  Kim's plan is to assign groups of students to research topics as an introduction to reading Julius Caesar in class.  She didn't want to do a web quest because they've already done a web quest with another unit and she wanted to have the students do something different.

We met after school Monday and I showed her how to create groups on Schoology.  I talked to her about how each member of the group could see what they were doing, but no one else would be able to.  And, since she created the group, she's automatically a member of the group and she could see what they were doing as they went.  At the end of the project, they could simply record their presentation while they are in the group and then she has access to all of them to show to the class, which is easier than having each group connect their computers to the projector.

To create a group, click on Groups (top blue bar) and then click on My Groups (in orange on the right hand side), then click on Create Group (blue box, right hand side):

Once you have created the group, add members - click on Members (on the left) and then click on Add Members.  You can add them without invite (select the small box in the lower left-hand corner) so the students don't have to go to email and click on anything.  They'd be automatically put into the group.

One of the things that I suggested to Kim was to have her students simply type the notes as they researched as an update.  That way, she could comment, there's no link to click on, and she can keep track of what they do each day (since the updates include a date).  Once they were ready to record, they can simply record from the group page:

(I was using my Chromebook - question for Bob for Chromebooks ... can we not have flash player??  If not, then I feel that might be an issue along the line...)

***UPDATE! I figured out a way to enable Flash on Chrome, so we could use Chromebooks with video***

Our thought process was this: it's simple because they just have to be in Schoology on the Group page.  They don't have to upload anything, they don't have to be anywhere else on their computers, and we are utilizing the LMS that our district wants us to utilize.

I feel like this is something I would use next year in my classroom.  I'm excited to learn various ways to use Schoology and other technology in the classroom, as I return after a five-year absence.  A lot of things have changed!! :)