Supporting Blended Learning - Schoology

Admittedly, it feels a little like cheating to be sharing Schoology as my resource that supports blended learning since this is a tool we’ve been using in our district for a number of years and have shared specifically its support of a blended learning environment. But I think it goes without saying that you need some type of learning management system to have an effective blended learning experience.

Any LMS is meant to house your content for students, be a place for teachers and students to discuss, share resources, for teacher to administer assessments, etc. This is critical for a blended learning environment. You can cripple by with a blog, but a dynamic application such as Schoology, Canvas, Blackboard and others helps to put the tool behind the content.

In our district, we have offered year-long cohorts for teachers to explore Schoology and blended learning both for high school teachers, with a grant from DODEA, and for elementary school teachers, with Title 1 funds. These cohorts are comprised of a few teachers from each relevant campus that have expressed a interest in taking their teaching to the next level and embracing new teaching models. We are in our third year of this cohort for high school teachers and finishing our first for elementary school teachers.

In our PD, we make a point to model blended learning by providing content in a blended format. Teachers are expected to read chapters in a physical paper (gasp!) book, review resources within a Schoology course, and comment via discussion board and third party integrations. They also have many face-to-face sessions where the concept of blended learning (and the various blended learning models) are shared and discussed along with various resources that teachers can use to enhance the learning and engage students. Teachers are able to see as students how they can use these tools as a teacher. My students are teachers, but we do investigate these tools together.

We have also supported the high school teachers with technology they can use in their classrooms to help bridge the gap of access. Each teacher has a cart of 28 iPads with keyboard cases and support through my department and their campus techs on getting useful apps on the devices to support teaching and learning. While students are not allowed to take the iPads home, we do have a lending library of laptops at each of our high schools to help support access for students. We don’t want lack of access to be an excuse for teachers not to support new approaches and teaching models.

So as not to reinvent the wheel, here is Schoology’s ISTE Standards Roadmap:


I’m very impressed with their desire to embrace the standards and I believe they do a good job of connecting their platform to the Educator standards. But it’s also easy to connect to Student standards assuming the teacher is using the tool in a meaningful way, and not just a place to post PDF resources.

Empowered Learner - An LMS provides the platform for students to set and share their learning goals, build a network, receive feedback and demonstrate their learning.
Digital Citizen - An LMS can provide that “walled-garden” for teachers to continually promote digital citizenship with students by establishing a safe environment for posting comments and sharing resources in an area that the teacher can guide and encourage without an inappropriate comment or post going too far out in the web. Students can practice their skills with a more limited audience and a mature moderator.

Knowledge Constructor, Innovative Designer and Computational Thinker - Must of the standards can be addressed in incorporating third-party tools that allow students to venture out of the LMS for research and application of their critical thinking skills for curating resources. They can use discussion boards and surveys to generated ideas and test theories, to collect data and analyze that data. The LMS becomes the housing of their research and a place to launch or participate in discussions and surveys.

Creative Communicator - The sharing nature of an LMS makes it easy for students to have a place to communicate ideas and publish and present their content. Again, they would use third-party tools for any “real” creation, but the LMS is the platform for sharing.

Global Collaborator - Again, the sharing nature allows students to have a platform where they can learn from, and collaborate with other students and experts in their fields across the globe. The tool allows students to team up with peers and experts that aren’t even on their continent. A global perspective is critical to lifelong learning and success in the future.

Do as I say... not as I do...

Image by carlos pereyra from Pixabay 

I'm pretty good at teaching students to always search for media licensed for reuse. I'm pretty good about teaching them about Creative Commons and intellectual property and copyright and citing sources. Whenever they've worked on a project, I've made sure they included references to any websites and images they used. I've never been great at exactly how they should cite their sources, I'll admit. I've usually been okay with just a link below the image, or a page listing all of the links. I've generally only worked with elementary students on these types of projects so my excuse is that I'm having them do age appropriate citing. When I'm demonstrating to students, I do make a point to cite my sources and tell them they must do the same. I'm a good model... when I'm demonstrating to students.

If I'm going to be honest, though, I generally teach teachers, not students, and when I model for them, I grab whatever image I find. It's usually a quick lesson to show them, for example, how to use ChatterPix and make an image talk, or mark up an image in another app. Or maybe for a background for green screen. And I'm only use that image right then and there and not sharing it out and not keeping it and I can make a great case for Fair Use, BUT, if I'm going to be honest here, I don't do a good job remind them to cite their sources, to use OER.

So while I'm mostly good, I'm not good enough. So here's my pledge to be better. Every image, every time.

Terms of Service and Privacy Policies! Oh My!

I’ve taken on an exhausting task. It’s interesting and enlightening both in positive and negative ways. I’ve been reviewing terms of service and privacy policies of different social media apps that I know our students are using. The exhausting part is because of just how long these documents are. I mean, I knew they were long, but when you force yourself to read them, well, your eyes start to unfocus and your brain starts to wander and holy heck! I get why they’re there. Companies have to cover their butts. They have to explain every.little.thing they will and will not share, they will and will not do, they do and do not expect. If not, assumptions are made and harm is done and lawsuits happen. These documents are a necessary evil. But there’s so long and so complicated and so many have such legal speak that the regular person is just not going to read them. And kids? No, they’re not going to read them. So the majority of people click “agree” and move on with their lives and have no idea what they just agreed to.

 I started with TikTok (formerly musical.ly) because I hear about that a lot. This is a video creation and sharing app. My assumption was that their terms of service would make clear that no users under the age of 13 were allowed. The Age of Internet Enlightenment, it seems. Well, that’s the first thing I got wrong. Turns out, the first age mentioned was 18. Yeah, apparently you’re not supposed to have an account without the permission of a parent or legal guardian. But there’s no check box for that. There’s no, “email this to your parents and make sure they respond before we create your account.” So, while there’s a requirement, there’s no follow through. There’s just the assumption that my 15 year old and my 17 year old both asked me for permission. They didn’t, by the way. 

The next surprising age related mention was that there is a privacy policy for “Younger Users.” That’s younger than 13. Wait, what? Oh sure, they can have accounts, too. But, in addition to requiring parent permission (with no follow through), these younger users do get extra privacy. Mainly, while pretty much anything and everything is collected on older than 13 users, only username, password and birthday care collected for Younger Users. Well, that and all of their device information which includes their usage time, device type and IP address. The best part of TikTok is the sharing, right? Well, Younger Users can not publicly share any personal information - including videos. Guess who is NOT going to say they’re 10? 

So I agreed to the terms of service and was immediately taken into a video that told me all about the testicles, ovaries, the sack, the uterus, the shaft and learned why “some men act like bitches.” I was not logged in. I had created no account. I double checked. So… Younger Users get to see it all. I’m pretty sure I don’t want my 10 year old to hear that content. 

Even though I was breaking the TOS by doing so (because you are not allowed to falsify any information), I decided to create an account with my birth year as 2009. I was told I would be given a more appropriate experience of TikTok but… well, I’d already learned about men being bitches so…. My experience as a Younger User didn’t seem to limit the videos but that first one didn’t come up again. Not that I looked for it. When I created a video, I could only save it to my drafts. I couldn’t publish it, I couldn’t save it to my camera roll. My Younger User self got bored pretty quick. 

I logged out as my Younger User self and decided to try to be 15. This time I had to enter an email address or phone number. This time, when I created a video, I was allowed to hashtag it, set it’s privacy (default to public) and comments (default to off). I could also download it and share via Twitter or Instagram. I didn’t do any of that because frankly it was a terrible video.

So, age requirements are in place to keep kids safe, right? But there’s no check before you start watching videos, and no protection FROM the videos and WHO READS THE TERMS OF SERVICE?

And the privacy policy? Basically, TikTok says the User owns everything but TikTok can use it however and whenever they want. And also, they can change it, so better save a local copy if you want it intact. No really, they say that. And even though you own the content, you’re not allowed to make any money on the content. Even if you publish it on another site. Only TikTok is allowed to make the money. Hmmm…

Instagram had the same content agreement. They don’t claim ownership, but by using the service you give them free reign on the use of your content. Instagrams terms of service seemed a lot kinder, if that’s possible. It was as if they wanted to make sure you, the user, felt appreciated and loved why they laid out all of the terms of protecting their butts. But pretty much, the agreements were the same with content restrictions with the exception of Instagram addressing Younger Users. 

I feel like Twitter had the most plain and easy to understand privacy policy and terms of service. It was clear exactly what users could potential see of your profile and they even mentioned being tagged in photos. They mentioned direct messages and non public communication and even reminded users with highlighted text the recipients of direct messages have their own copy of the communication which you are not able to delete nor have control over.

While, like TikTok, a user does not have to be logged in to see content on Twitter, unlike TikTok, establishing an account with an email did require a verification code. It felt like one more step that would help prevent or discourage younger kids from creating accounts. 

Reading terms of service and privacy policies are certainly tedious - much like reading this verbose blog post - but as a parent and an educator, it’s clear that reading them is necessary. I’m reminded of the messages on FaceBook that seem to happen in waves where a user will post a message TO FaceBook claiming their content is private to them and FaceBook isn’t allowed to use it. Suddenly everyone is worried about their content and posts the same thing on their timeline. As adults, users don’t all seem to realize that by using a service, you agree to their terms and nothing you post or say can change that. And when allowing our children to use these services, it’s important to discuss the policies and exactly what they mean. 

What concerns me is how easy it is for children to create accounts and, because they don’t read the terms of service, not even realize they aren’t authorized to use the site. It’s clear that many sites don’t seem to really care how easy that is and only do the bare minimum at protecting our students. So the rest of us need to step it up.

About this...

I'm not sure it's the best idea for me to start yet another blog, but I realized I don't have one specifically for education technology and school related topics. SO... here goes. I'm beginning to think I collect blogs.

The title of the blog is a play on my name. But if you're saying my name as Anna, it doesn't make sense. You have to say it like Anna (you know, the right way) and then it's like, "OH! I get it! On A Tech Kick!" Isn't that clever? Let's move on.

I have a lot of opinions. I own them all. They tend to change as I learn and grow so I encourage you to help me learn and grow, particularly when you disagree with me. Just be nice when you do.

Now let's do this thing!