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Schoology Implementation Inteinship

Nelissa Whyman

Laieuo Niuule School

Apiil 2u14

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Buiing the couise of the 2u1S-2u14 school yeai at Laieuo Niuule School, I was
instiumental in the auoption of the Leaining Nanagement System, Schoology. I completeu
my inteinship by leauing colleagues thiough a seiies of tiainingsuppoit sessions on what
Schoology is anu how they coulu use it in theii classiooms. I was able to cieate iesouices
foi theii use as well anu cieate times foi them to exploie this new technology while not
making it feel like anothei ball to juggle. The completion of this inteinship is almost not
complete in the sense that I will be continuing to assist teacheis anu now stuuents next
yeai in the quest to make Schoology whole school integiateu.


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This iepoit uocuments my Instiuctional Leaueiship Technologies Inteinship. I completeu


my inteinship at Laieuo Niuule School in Auioia, C0. This is the school that I have taught at
foi the last 8 yeais. It is also the only school I have evei taught in. Laieuo has, in past yeais,
been a low income qualifying school. We have a population of S1% Caucasian, 18%
Bispanic, 17% Afiican Ameiican, 7% Asian, 2% othei, anu 6% mixeu iace. This is a new
categoiy as of last yeai so some of the iepiesentation might be skeweu. We have a lot of
uiveisity at Laieuo. The socio-economics aie also veiy uiveise. We aie suiiounueu by some
veiy expensive housing anu then also in oui feeuei we have loweieu income housing. This
leaus to SS% of oui stuuents qualifying foi fieeieuuceu lunch. Laieuo is pait of the Cheiiy
Cieek School Bistiict anu because of this oui school has been given an inciease in
technology. As a uistiict, we have auopteu the Schoology Leaining Nanagement System
(LNS). "LNS is useu to uesciibe softwaie to uelivei anu manage euucational content anu
mateiial with focus on ueliveiing couises" (Kaiousos, 2u11). Schoology has ieplaceu
Blackboaiu anu othei teachei baseu websites in oui school. This LNS is linkeu to oui
uistiict's PoweiSchool poital as well. Theiefoie, the uistiict wants all the schools to use
Schoology as a piimaiy means of communication anu collaboiation with both paients anu
stuuents.

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Laieuo has a wiue vaiiety of teacheis. We have teacheis who aie veiy "olu school" anu
bianu new teacheis fiesh out of college. It is was my goal to make oui tiansition into this
unknown of Schoology as easy as it coulu be. I useu my skills with technology anu all the
skills I hau leaineu fiom my couises to piepaie a plan anu implement it. Ny inteinship took
place both at home anu at school. I was also able to get access foi staff to access iesouices
at home.

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Laieuo has 61 staff membeis. Each giaue has S-4 teams of S-4 teacheis each. 0ui Foieign
Language anu Electives uepaitments aie quite laige with S Language anu multiple couises
plus the S Fine Aits Electives. We also have a laige Special Euucation uepaitment as well as
Counseling anu Beans. Each giaue level has theii own Bean of Stuuents anu a School
Counseloi. 0ui giaue level Auministiatois also aie leaus foi the given coie uepaitments:
Language Aits, Science, Bumanities, anu Nath. A majoiity of teacheis, counselois, anu
ueans weie the focus gioup foi my inteinship. I wanteu to assist those gioups the most, foi
they have the gieatest ieach anu impact with oui stuuents.

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I have cieateu a plan that will help with instiuction anu confiuence among staff at Laieuo in
iegaius to implementing Schoology into theii classiooms. I wanteu to be able to suppoit
the staff with theii neeus in using Schoology. We weie not waineu that Schoology was going
to be taking place, noi that we weie going to askeu to implement it in oui classiooms. "It's
ciucial that employees know what's coming uown the line anu how expectations will
change" (Weluei, 2uu8). Schoology was piesenteu to use uuiing oui woik week in August
with only S uays befoie stuuents came. With this came: shock, feai, angei, anu confusion. I
thought this woulu be an excellent use of my inteinship time. I woulu be able to help the
staff ease theii woiiies anu help them to engage in the use of Schoology full time.

Ny plan was to cieate a seiies of Bow To uocuments that woulu give teacheis an easy way
to get tasks accomplisheu in Schoology. I also wanteu to cieate Bow To viueos to show staff
how to complete ceitain aspects of Schoology. I was also given time uuiing oui Piofessional
Leaining Communities (PLCs) to help with moie specific tiaining. In oiuei to ueteimine
with aieas I neeu to focus on, I hau the staff complete a suivey. "It's impoitant to anticipate
potential issues so that taigeteu communications can be issueu to explain the ieasons foi
change, oveicome objections anu get the woik foice exciteu about the new systems
efficiencies" (Weluei, 2uu8). This helpeu me to gauge wheie I neeueu to meet them anu
what I neeueu to accomplish to biing them up to a highei engagementconfiuence level.

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Time Frame
Septembei
- Assess wheie staff membeis weie confiuenceability wise
- Pie Suivey
- Confiim Aumin iequiiements
0ctobei
- Cieate Resouices
- Bow To uocuments
- 1:1 times of availability
- tiainingsplan of instiuction
- uain infoimationansweis on teachei woiiies
Novembei
- Begin implementation of iesouices anu suppoit
- 1:1
- Bow To step by step
- Bow To images
- Bow To viueo
Becembei
- Begin PLC tiainings
- Nouify tiainings baseu on cuiient neeus
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56 7+01

Ny iole as the "Schoology Belpei", as they uubbeu me, was to cieate iesouices anu
tiainings on how Schoology woikeu anu how to make it be useful anu successful in the
classioom. To ueteimine LNS successes I lookeu at a compiehensive opeiating mouel. In
oiuei to have successes I wanteu to "gain confiuence, appioach people (with) easy access,
anu uevelop matuiity thiough phases" (Weluei, 2uu8). I was able to woik with staff 1:1 anu
in small anu whole giaue gioups. I was able to use my leaueiship skills to help people auopt
this new technology. I also maue suie to use my knowleuge on theoiy anu best piactices to
analyze, instiuct, anu uesign activities foi leaining.

23&*41 /%+'1##

I began my change piocess fiom the moment I founu out we weie going to be expecteu to
use Schoology. "Leaining Nanagement Systems enable institutions to auministei theii
euucational iesouices, anu suppoit theii tiauitional classioom euucation anu uistance
leaining" (Al-Busaiui, 2u11). I coulu see fiom the looks on people's faces that this was not
going to be an easy tiansition. "LNS suivives thiough instiuctois' continuous use, which
may be to gieat extent associateu with theii satisfaction of the LNS" (Al-Busaiui, 2u11) I
knew it was something I coulu tackle anu something that I coulu be piouu of anu useful
with. I uiun't want to put in effoit on this new LNS unless it was 11u% because I wanteu my
effoits to not be in vain. I hau to log 9u houis of seivice so I wanteu to make suie I bioke up
the tasks I neeu to complete into manageable chunks anu manageable time fiames. Fiist, I
hau to figuie out wheie people weie emotionally anu confiuence wise. Then I was able to
meet them wheie they weie anu woik on things that weie ielevant to them. Next, I hau to
}anuaiy
- Continue PLC tiainings anu 1:1 anu small gioup instiuction
- Weekly meetings on Piiue Night anu piesentation
Febiuaiy
- Beteimine what aieas of neeu I hau in completing the
Inteinship iequiiements
- Stait to set up website foi inteinship
Naich
- Follow up with teacheis who aie on the lowei enu of
confiuenceimplementation
- Piiue Night Piesentation
- Cieate post suivey
- Neeting with Aumin ovei futuie goals
Apiil
- Post suivey
- Finalize iepoit anu inteinship website
- Nake suie all loose enus aie tieu up
Time Frame
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cieate the iesouices I was going to be using to help with tiaining. Finally, I neeueu to ie-
evaluate my peifoimance anu staff useconfiuence.

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I wanteu people to be able to be anonymous with the pie-suivey. I wanteu theii honest
opinions. I also wanteu to figuie out who was in what categoiy of implementation. With this
knowleuge I was able to ueteimine who neeueu moie suppoit, who neeueu moie positive
influence, who uiun't' neeu anything, anu eveiyone else in between. Fiist, I cieateu a list of
questions.
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I cieateu a foim in uoogle uiive that was able to tiack my uata so that I coulu easily iefei to
it, as well as easily oiganize staff baseu on theii neeus. I was able to soit the iesponses by
confusion levels anu levels of use. This was an excellent way to ueteimine next steps anu
neeus.

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0nce I was able to ueteimine the staffs' essential conceins anu neeus, I was able to being
cieating the Bow To uocuments anu foimulate a plan foi PLC tiainings. I thought that staff
woulu like to have moie viueo on Bow To uo things, but the laigest iequest was just foi a
simple Bow To Bocument, eithei with oi without images. Theie weie 1S aieas of iesouices
that I became awaie of neeuing. The suivey alloweu me to see what avenues woulu be most
beneficial to go uown. It lookeu like most people weie fine with tiying out the skills on theii
own. This maue me iealize that they uiun't necessaiily want a sepaiate tiaining session
auueu to theii uays.

I scheuuleu a meeting with my piincipal anu we uiscusseu the use of PLCs foi instiuction
with Schoology. "Teacheis.expeiience limitations if they uo not paiticipate in continuing
piofessional uevelopment to keep abieast with moie auvanceu skills an knowleuge" (Teo,
2uu9). PLCs aie a weekly meeting that is helu with all the coieelective teacheis. It is a
scheuuleu time in the teacheis' plan peiious that allow them to uiscuss as giaue levels anu
then even in coie couises small gioups. I thought this woulu be a peifect way to meet
teacheis. I woulu be able to help them without invauing theii time anu they woulu be able
to use the time as they saw fit.

I fiist staiteu off PLCs with just a geneial: Bow to get to the iesouices anu What Schoology
has to offei. We house oui staff shaieu iesouices on oui uistiict seivei. I was able to show
staff how to access the mateiials at home using oui new my.cheiiycieekschools.oig
website. Aftei the staff hau a geneial unueistanuing of how to access mateiials, I talkeu
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about the iequiiements that oui piincipal hau wanteu us to implement. Finally, I woulu
woik with teacheis 1:1 oi 1:4 baseu on theii iequests foi guiuance.

Aftei the initial phase of, "What is Schoology anu how uo I use it." woie off, I focusseu my
attention on helping teacheis implement Schoology into theii classiooms. At fiist I staiteu
with the Language Aits teacheis I woik closest with each uay. We meet once a week to plan
oui units. It was at this venue that I was able to help collaboiate anu tiy anu eiioi uiffeient
iueas anu lessons on Schoology. We woulu cieate a uocument oi assignment anu then woik
to see how we coulu incoipoiate that into Schoology. Aftei I got my feet wet in this aiea, I
expanueu my leaueiship back into PLCs. I woikeu with Science, Bumanities, anu Nath.
Nath being the tiickiest to incoipoiate Schoology. Because we all aie so still new at
Schoology, I woulu mess aiounu with things befoie meetings anu then once a question
aiose at the meeting I woulu uo my best to finu the answei. I was even able to talk to the
uistiict technology team anu they set up S tiaining settings at Laieuo to also help guiue the
staff.

The initial instiuction came fiom the iesouices, but then the meat of the inteinship woulu
have to be classifieu as on the spot tiaining. 0nce the teacheis knew what to uo anu how to
uo it, mostly, they then neeueu help on the integiation to theii classes. This was wheie I
was able to help use my leaueiship skills to fostei new leaining.

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0nce a yeai we holu a paientstuuent Piiue Night Celebiation at Laieuo. In yeais past it has
been moie of a fun uplifting event. This yeai howevei, we wanteu to change it up anu so we
ueciueu to incluue moie oi an acauemic suppoit aspect. This was a gieat change foi me to
use my skills in leaueiship to help paients. I cieateu a powei point piesentation anu a take
home hanu out. The piesentation was planneu foi S sessions of 2u-Su minutes. We use
PoweiSchool in oui uistiict foi oui giaue book anu this was also incluueu in my
piesentation. Schoology is linkeu to PoweiSchool so each stuuent's classes aie accuiate
baseu on the giaue book. It also is linkeu foi the ability to input giaues. This featuie is only
one siueu howevei. We can auu giaues in Schoology anu link them to PoweiSchool but
giaues that aie in PoweiSchool aien't shown in Schoology.

Buiing the piesentation, I hau a paitnei who was taking uown paient questions anu
conceins so that we coulu auuiess them with the poweis that be at a latei time. The
paients weie not ieally awaie that Schoology even existeu. It was a veiy infoimative night
once we iealizeu that. }ust as the staff was shockeu to finu out about this new LNS, so weie
the paients. I was able to at least give them the basics of what Schoology was anu how they
coulu use it. Because giaues aie hookeu to Schoology assignments, this ieally helpeu get the
woiu out to paients to help theii chiluien assess the site fiom home anu make suie they
completeu online assignments. This was a veiy powei anu infoimative night foi both the
paients anu myself. It planteu seeus foi the futuie neeus we have at Laieuo.

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<""91(+=

Towaius the enu of Naich, I began wiapping up my inteinship. I wanteu to see if my effoits
hau been woithwhile foi the staff so I cieateu a post suivey. This suivey askeu similai
questions to the pie suivey.
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Again, I useu a uoogle Foim so that people woulu have an easy way to access it as well as
the anonymous factoi. I have founu in the past that moie people will paiticipate when they
know they can't at all get in tiouble foi being honest. I uiun't get neai as many iesponses to
the post suivey as I uiu in the pie. About half the numbei iesponueu to the post. Theie was
a wiue iange of confiuence levels as well as Schoology use levels. Bowevei, I woulu say the
inteinship was a success baseu on the numbei of times people use Schoology now as
opposeu to in the beginning of the yeai. Staff aie still tentative in the theii confiuence but
they uiu use the iesouices I piesenteu them with. The aies of concein aie mostly issues,
that I can't contiol. They aie moie uistiictauministiation issues.

8-$'+91#

0veiall, I feel like this inteinship was a gieat success. I was able to leau my peeis into the
unknown woilu of Schoology anu they came out with a bettei unueistanuing anu powei to
use it. As with any new unueitaking, theie weie challenges. It is the challenges that teach us
anu make us stiongei though. I alieauy am woiking with auministiation on plans foi a
tiaining woik week of next yeai. This to me shows success in my abilities anu those aiounu
me when given the piopei tiaining foi implementation of a new technology.

!5++"//"/

Nany of the successes I expeiienceu weie because of the staff I am piivilegeu to woik with.
They woulu ask foi my help, I woulu give it, anu then I coulu see them use it in theii
classiooms. That was my biightest moment. Being a teachei is about helping pupils leain
how to uo tasks on theii own with the guiuance you have given them. I was able to see this
when I was in PLCs anu we staiteu to get into implementation of Schoology in coie classes.
I was able to see it when I lookeu at the confiuence levels fiom the post suivey. The
successes weie seen by auministiation when they coulu log in anu see all the teacheis anu
stuuents engaging with Schoology.

Piiue Night was, in a way, a success as well. It was a success in the way I was able to piesent
the infoimation about Schoology to unknown auults. They weie not suie what they weie
getting into but once they left they hau a bettei unueistanuing of the new technology at
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Laieuo. It was veiy infoimative. I leaineu a lot on what we neeu to uo with paients anu
stuuents now that the staff have a bettei hanule on skills.

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As with any piocess, challenges aiise. Ny fiist challenge came when I was just being to
ventuie into my inteinship. I talkeu to my piincipal anu he tolu me, "I uon't know what you
coulu uo." With no guiuance oi plan about technology at my school, I was a bit lost as to
what leaueiship iole I coulu take. I uiun't know we even weie gaining an LNS until S uays
befoie school staiteu this yeai. 0nce I saw the feai in the faces aiounu me, I knew that was
going to be it.
Then came the challenge of what to uo anu how to uo it. It was easy to ueciue on Bow To
uocuments but a challenge to know how to incoipoiate coie stanuaius into Schoology
implementation. I am not too familiai with the exact stanuaius that each giaue levels Nath,
Bumanities anu Science neeu to incluue in instiuction. This maue it a little challenging on
how to help them implement instiuction in those classes using Schoology. It was uefinitely
a leaining moment foi me.

The final challenge I faceu weie simple aspects of the actual LNS that I coulu not change.
Teacheis wanteu the ability to mouify the basics of Schoology. I uon't have this capability
anu neithei uiu the technology specialists I talkeu with in the uistiict. Schoology has it's
own set up anu we can't mouify it. This was haiu foi the teacheis to unueistanu. They knew
what they wanteu anu that was that.

71:1'.+*

I leaineu many lessons in the couise of this yeai. I was openeu up the iuea that I uiu have
the knowleuge base to instiuct my peeis in technology anu be successful. I was able to
leain that some people stiuggle with basic skills anu you must be patient with them. You
have to be unueistanuing anu suppoitive. I leaineu that some people aie veiy confiuent
anu uon't minu clicking just to see what will happen. Also, people come fiom a vaiiety of
uiffeient backgiounus. They taught me about woiking in gioups anu how having a iing
leauei is sometimes a bau thing baseu on what that iing leaueis opinion is. Negative eneigy
suivives longei than positive anu it is much haiuei to contiol. This inteinship maue me
iealize that theie is so much moie to be uone anu we have to woik togethei as a gioup to
achieve oui goals, even if those goals weie alieauy ueciueu foi us.

2+*'0-#;+*

The next steps I have planneu aie foi next school yeai. I will be woiking with the
auministiation to set up a seiies of tiaining sessions foi both teacheis anu stuuents. "To
suppoit teacheis in theii use of technology, school auministiatois neeu to implement
stiategies that ensuie effective successful expeiiences foi teacheis in the use of technology
foi teaching anu leaining" (Teo, 2uu9). I will be the uiiving foice in this continueu
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euucation foi teacheis. Also, now that teacheis aie using moie Schoology in the classiooms,
kius neeu to be tiaineu on how to use it. We also have a high tuin ovei iate anu so uuiing
woik week I will be helping leau the new teacheis in a tiaining couise to get them caught
up to oui Schoology use as a whole school. It appeais as long as Schoology is aiounu I will
be able to help be the point peison on implementation anu instiuction with this new
technology.

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71<1%1*'1#

Al-Busaiui, K. A., & Al-Shihi, B. (2u11). Key factois to instiuctois' satisfaction of leaining
management systems in blenueu leaining. H'<&4,) '. I'*%<2345 34 ?35"#& J-</,23'4
K#1#,&/" L D42#5&,23'4 '. D412&</23'4,) !#/"4')'58, MN(1), 8.
Kaiousos, N., Kostaias, N., Koulocheii, E., Soumplis, A., & Xenos, N. (2u11). Leaining
Nanagement Systems anu Leaining 2.u. D42#&4,23'4,) H'<&4,) '. A#(OP,1#-
+#,&4345 ,4- !#,/"345 !#/"4')'53#1, Q>R, 1-7. Retiieveu Apiil 2S, 2u14, fiom the 0C
Benvei Libiaiies uatabase.
Teo, T. (2uu9). Nouelling technology acceptance in euucation: A stuuy of pie-seivice
teacheis. I'*%<2#&1 L J-</,23'4, ST(2), Su2-S12.
Weluei, B. (2uu8). Why leaining management systems fail. U7 P<134#11 K#C3#0, V(8), 12.
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Pie Suivey
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Post Suivey
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Pie Suivey Responses


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Post Suivey Responses


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Suivey uiaphs
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Schoology Resouices PBF Poitfolio


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Inteinship Time Sheet


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Intio to Schoology Piiue Night Flyei


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Intio to Schoology Powei Point Piiue Night


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Bow To Bocuments
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Inteinship Website

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