Can I speak to the manager?

Hey! Welcome back! 

How goes quarantine? Here in the great state of Kansas things are slowly starting to open up. Just in time for summer break. Thank you summer break gods for bestowing this blessing upon us. 

Honestly, I've already looked into buy all the blow-up pools and how I can make my backyard into an island oasis. I digress...

This week's blog is all about learning management systems. How appropriate! 

As school was winding down for me our department started to think ahead for next year and how we can be more prepared in case we are asked to stay home. There are, what seems like, a million learning management systems out there. What is a learning management system? Well its a website that allows teachers to put their classroom content in one nice, neat place. Students can then keep track of assignments due, turn in assignments, take quizzes, you name it. Each learning management system has its own perks so finding the right one can be time consuming but well worth your time. If you work in a school district that tells you which one to use, in my opinion, they've done that hard work for you. 

The two learning management systems I want to focus on are, Edmodo and Schoology. 

Edmodo is lovingly called the Facebook of learning management systems. This is because is literally looks and works like Facebook. There is a feed that keeps students and yourself informed of what'g going on. 

Edmodo allows you to take grades and keeps the data in a grade book for you. How nice!

Check out this image of my Edmodo I set-up 

Here is a little video explaining why teachers love Edmodo

Schoology is very similar to Edmodo but has a few more bells and whistles. Like the use of apps and overall is a bit more sophisticated. As a high school teacher I think Schoology would be a better fit for my classroom and what I would want students doing. 

I went ahead a set-up a Schoology management system so I could play and explore check out a the image below and compare the two systems. 

Heres a video about Schoology

I liked Edmodo when getting my feet wet but I going forward I think I might explore Schoology a bit more. Schoology has way more things you can do with it which I think could really help keep rigor up and students engaged. Which is a huge question going forward with the possibility of staying home some next school year. 

I think the best part of these systems is that its not limited to just teacher to student communication. You can create groups that involve a range of people. You can communicate with other teachers and administration. You can even create groups for parents to help communication on the side of things. With the current situation that is our world at the moment learning management systems are definitely getting their time in limelight. As they should! They are great resources and can help enhance even a classroom that isn't learning from a distance. 

Check out Edmodo here and Schoology here. They are both free for you to set-up accounts and play around, which I highly recommend. Have fun with it!