Productivity Software (District funded)

Greetings fellow bloggers,

This week, I am going to talk about the Productivity software that my district have been using called Schoology. This program is like a crossroads between a blog, google classroom, and Facebook. I settled on this software after reading about a resource sharing program that is offered by Follett. Looking at the other program, I thought, what a great idea, however, the cost is not something that I want to take on. Then it hit me... I work for a district that already spends a lot of money on productivity tools and resources for my use. Why not take a closer look into what is already there. That brought me to the Schoology program. I will admit that I need to learn more about the software, and how I can post/share more library content. This site, if used to it potential may be just what I am looking for to share more information and resources with students and staff, while using what the district has supplied us with. Mind you that I work for Buffalo Public Schools.

Let's talk about the perks of the program:

• Teachers can create their own class and add students to it
• All teachers and students have accounts as per the district license/agreement
• Teachers can post content, PDF's, and other class materials, as well as assignments to their page for students to access.
• This site is close to UBlearns/Blackboard with that feature. 
• Teachers can create their own page with resources for their students. 
• Teachers can add other teachers to a class/course.
• Great for collaboration with Librarians!
• Students can log-in and check materials at any time.
• Students can access the course content from their portal
• Students can submit assignments for their class though the software

Shift gears...:
This software is also being used for professional development and networking within the district.

• When offering PD's the leader of the specific PD can create a page with content, materials, a discussion board, and downloadable materials for the attendees to use. 
• This is a great tool to network with other professionals through the use of groups that can be joined to access materials and content for a profession. 
• This can be a great program for resource sharing with other colleagues .