iTELL (Indonesia Technology Enhanced Language Learning)

THE USE OF AS LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Suhandhini [email protected] Language Development Center Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto

Abstract

Learning Management System (LMS) is now commonly used by teachers or educators to have collaborative learning through online learning (or e-learning) courses. This learning is aimed to have a lean, efficient, and organized training experience. One of the systems, Schoology, even called the award-winning learning management system, allows the educators to create their own features to add assignments, quiz, grade papers, and facilitates open discussions with students. It also provides updates on assignments, notifications, and discussions/ resource forum through group. Founded by Jeremy Friedman, Ryan Hwang and Tim Trinidad in 2007, this LMS provides students real time formative assessment feedback upon submission. This study explores the use of Schoology as an LMS and the perceptions of students in using it during the courses. Results showed that students were intrinsically contented with the easiness of its use as the basic functions of an LMS. Beside the engagement between teacher and student, teacher and students, it also provides an access code to students’ parents to check students’ progress. However, the use of Schoology as LMS surely has some weaknesses. One of them is about authenticity; it cannot be guaranteed that students did their assignments by themselves since they did not do it under the teacher’s supervision. Some students were also worried about their privacy; therefore, they were not very open in case of being carelessly revealed or copied by others. Keywords: Learning Management System (LMS), Schoology. 1. INTRODUCTION The concept of e-Learning began developing in the early 20th century, marked by the appearance of audio-video communication systems used for remote teaching. In 1909, E.M. Forster published his story 'The Machine Stops' and explained the benefits of using audio communication to deliver lectures to remote audiences. In 1920, Sidney L. Pressey developed the first teaching machine which offered multiple types of practical exercises and question formats. Nine years later, University of Alberta's Professor M.E. Zerte transformed this machine into a problem cylinder able to compare problems and solutions. The trend then shifted to video communication, as a result of which Houston University decided to hold telecast classes to their students for approximately 13-15 hours a week. The classes took place in 1953, while in 1956, Robin McKinnon Wood and Gordon Pask released the very first adaptive teaching system for corporate environments SAKI. The idea of automating teaching operations also inspired the University of Illinois experts to develop their Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO) which enabled users to exchange content regardless of their location. In the period between 1970 and 1980, educational venues were rapidly considering the idea of computerizing courses, including the Western Behavioral

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Sciences Institute from California that introduced the first accredited online-taught degree. The recent growth of distance language learning has led to a corresponding growth in the literature, in which issues of autonomy are prominent (Hurd, Beaven & Ortega 2001; White & Shelley 2003; Holmberg et al. 2005; Hurd 2005, Murphy 2006; White 2003, 2006a, b; Baumann 2006). Distance learning has also begun to merge with CALL through concepts such as ‘online learn- ing’, ‘cyberschools’, ‘asynchronous learning net- works’ and‘telematics’, in which issues of autonomy are less frequently discussed (White 2003: 27ff.) A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of educational courses or training programs. They help the instructor deliver material to the students, administer tests and other assignments, track student progress, and manage record- keeping. LMSs are focused on online learning delivery but support a range of uses, acting as a platform for fully online courses, as well as several hybrid forms, such as and flipped classrooms. Schoology is a learning management system (LMS) for K-12 schools, higher institutions, and corporations that allow users to create, manage, and share content and resources. Also known as a course management system (CMS) or virtual learning environment (VLE), the cloud-based platform provides tools to manage any or blended learning environment. The Schoology platform was designed by Jeremy Friedman, Ryan Hwang and Tim Trinidad in 2007 while still undergraduates at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Originally designed for sharing notes, additional features and functionality continue to be added. The service includes attendance records, online gradebook, tests and quizzes, and homework dropboxes. The interface facilitates collaboration among a class, a group, or a school. Schoology can be integrated with existing school reporting and information systems and also provides the added security, filters and support that school districts may require. Schoology-based E-learning research has ever been done by Aminoto and Pathoni (2014) in Jambi. The results show that Schoology-based E-learning affects the student’s learning motivation in SMAN Jambi. Schoology enables teachers to deepen learning process with the students outside the class. It also helps teachers in opening broad communication opportunity for students to take their roles/parts in team discussion and work easily. Schoology also has many interesting characteristics and functions to be used by students. It is also supported by some media like video, audio and image which can attract the student’s interest. Schoology directs students to apply technology in their learning for its fast development.Eka (2017) explained that the fast development of Science and Technology including the learning process demanded the teachers to adjust themselves, so the old teaching style would be left behind because the students with technology awareness would be steps ahead their teachers or even lecturers. The technology development has been a growing emphasis on the psychology of learner autonomy. Although Holec frequently discussed the qualities of autonomous learners, his description of what ‘taking charge of one’s own learning’ involves, which emphasized planning, the selection of materials, monitoring learning progress and self-assessment, arguably focused on the mechanics of day-to-day learning management (Holec 1981: 4). In contrast, Little (1991) placed psychology at

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the heart of learner autonomy. In one interesting recent definition, Little (2000a: 69) combined Holec’s definition with his own: Autonomy in language learning depends on the development and exercise of a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision making and independent action

2. THE USE OF SCHOOLOGY AS THE LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Schoology is a learning management system. The definition of a learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, reporting and delivery of e-learning education courses or training programs Jupiter, Haiku, , Canvas, and Blackboard are the examples of Learning Management System. However, Schoology was found to be the most user friendly, feature packed, and inexpensive. Course can only be joined with a special code Potential for home Schoolers and other schools to create joint courses. . Schoology is a safe and secure central hub where all course materials can be found grades and assignments can be accessed, and communication between students, parents, and teachers flourishes. Schoology is consistently improving it's interface and has historically provided several improvements to their platform every 6 months or so. They are planning better annotation tools with which to edit and grade written assignments as well as the ability to edit 's directly within the program without third part support. Schoology can be accessed on all Android and IOS devices. Schoology is also Safe and Secure, all posts are monitored and need approval before they can be posted. It is easy central access to all course materials. Courses can be accessed via a drop down men, Customizable Profiles, Courses, and 5 different ways to organize classes. It is very good for students’ autonomy learning. Autonomous learners assume responsibility for determining the purpose, content, rhythm and method of their learning, monitoring its progress and evaluating its outcomes. (Holec 1981: 3) Therefore, all teachers are supposed to have access and accounts. It will help them to create courses for each of all classes, add students to courses and assist students to join new courses, add content to courses, including files, links, resources, discussions, etc. In addition, Schoology is used to (1) communicate with colleagues, parents, and students (2) share resources: files, pictures, links, etc and (3) collaborate, for discussions: exit slips, formative assessments, summary of learning, survey, PLC, personalized learning, teach 21st century skills.

3. FEATURES OF SCHOOLOGY

Home Page

Instructor’s Home Page is where instructorwill start every time instructorlog in to Schoology. Why? Because it's the best way, as you're having instructor’s morning coffee, to catch up on all the important happenings that relate to you, instructor’s courses, and instructor’s groups. Instructor’s Home Page is perfect for sending mass messages, posting updates, making calendar events, and simply preparing instructor’sself for instructor’s day.

There are four main components to instructor’s Home Profile:

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Nearly everything on this page is clickable for quick and efficient navigation, so click away.

1. Left Side Navigation—Allows instructorto access instructor’s personal calendar, messages, apps, and the like. 2. Central Column—This column shows the page instructorare viewing based on the left side navigation. You'll always start on the Recent Activity Feed, a condensed feed of posts that relate to you, instructor’s courses, and instructor’s groups. It enables instructorto post updates, announcements, and polls with files and links attached. 3. Reminders—This area can help keep instructorquickly informed of student homework submissions, ungraded items, etc. 4. Upcoming Feed—All instructor’s assignments, due dates, and calendar events are organized in chronological order.

Course Profiles

Next to the Home button is the Courses dropdown menu. Click it and you'll be able to create and join courses, navigate to instructor’s existing courses, and even see all instructor’s active and archived courses. If instructorhave one made already, it might look something like this:

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The courses are instructor’s digital learning environments. This is where the teacher will instruct, grade, and communicate with instructor’s students. The courses contain all of the instructional materials (e.g., files, assignments, and assessments) along with communication and organizational tools strictly associated with the course.

The instructor can set up and organize instructor’s courses in many different ways. The course materials can be set up by week, section, topic, whatever. We can even set up in what order the students must complete each item using the Student Completion feature for a self-paced approach to learning. We should organize everything with folders.

As shown above, there are three main parts:

1. Left Side Navigation—This contains instructor’s Materials page, Updates, Gradebook, and more. 2. Central Column—The instructor can set this column to land on instructor’s instructional materials or course updates, the most important to view first, from the Course Options menu on the left. 3. Reminders and Upcoming—Same function as on Home Page, though they are more closely related due to the fact they are associated only with one course.

The Resource Center

The Resource Center is a centralized place where all of instructional and professional development materials are kept. It is closely tied to courses (the main reason I'm addressing it before Groups in this blog) and is a place where all files, assignments, assessments, learning outcomes, and badges can be managed. It is better to organize everything in the course so they will stay as organized when it is moved to the resources. Otherwise, everything will be loose and much harder to find and repurpose.

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The Resource Center has three main sections:

1. Left Side Navigation—This enables to switch between instructor’s Personal, Public, and Group Resources 2. Collections—These are the teacher’s personal and shared resource collections (one step above folders organizationally) and integrated external resources such as and Khan Academy. 3. Resources—This is where the instructor can create, view, edit, and manage all instructional resources.

Group Profiles Groups dropdown menu at the top of the screen allows instructorto navigate to, create, and join Groups: collaborative spaces to share ideas and resources, organize events, and connect with others. It is a great way to build or expand instructor’s personal learning communities (PLCs) on a global scale. Groups can be used in many different ways from professional development to book clubs, so the best way to learn about their potential is simply by joining some opens ones.

Messages, Requests, and Notifications Any time someone sends instructor a message, wants to connect, or does something that pertains to instructor or instructor’s affiliations, it will be made easily accessible in the top right corner of instructor’s screen. Everything is chronologically ordered and clickable to make managing them simple.

Personal Profile and Account Menu In the top right corner, the instructor’s name and the Account menu are seen— the downward facing arrow. Using these, instructor can modify instructor’s personal and account settings such as profile picture, privacy, notification settings (email, text, and push notifications), and more.

How to create courses within Schoology? 1st, click on courses 2nd, click on "create" to create instructor’s first class *If joining a course that is already created, click here and then enter the access code Messages Requests Notifications Fill out corresponding information as it applies for the class. Click create to make new course How to add students to my course and can assist students to join new course? *Access code for students to use to join a course

CLICK TO ADD NEW MEMBERS Click "add members" start adding students to instructor’s course Type students names here Click on students names as instructor find them (can click on multiple names at one time)

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How to add content to my courses: Including files, links, resources, discussions? Click "add materials" Section used to add supplemental materials Let's practice adding: 1) Files 2) Links 3) Discussions 4) Assignments

Next steps: Reflect on student successes and challenges. Try to implement again Repeat to promote effective technology integration

Folders In the Create Folder window: 1. Enter a title for the folder. 2. Choose a folder color (optional) – this is useful for adding another level of visual organization to instructor’s course. 3. Enter a description (optional). The description displays on the course profile below the folder name. 4. Use the rich text editor at the top of the description field to:  Apply bold, italic, or underline.  Add a bullet or number list.  Select text color.  Apply strikethrough, superscript, or subscript.  Change the indent and alignment of selected text.  Insert attachments such as images or links.  Spell check the description. 5. Add a start date if you'd like the folder to display in the course calendar.  Add an end date to remove the folder from the course calendar after the end date passes. 6. Set the availability of the folder:  Visible to students.  Hidden from students.  Available after the start date.  Available during the selected date range.  Click Create to complete. 7. Assignments  Attach printable files or print assignment as is  Embed multi-media resources  Easily Align Common Core Standards  Choose a grading category  Crate rubrics based on the Common Core  Individually assign  Great for differentiated instruction

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8. Tests/Quizzes  Create online Tests/Quizzes for students to take on Schoology. Currently, this feature supports the following question types:  True/False  Multiple Choice  Ordering  Short-Answer/Essay Questions  Fill in the Blank  Matching

4. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SCHOOLOGY Based on the interview to the students and the observations done by the instructor, it obtained the strengths and the weaknesses of Schoology as follows:

Advantages Of eLearning (Schoology)

1. It can store the students’ points 2. It is a very efficient and independent way to learn English 3. Due to its convenience and flexibility, the resources are available from anywhere and at any time. 4. It can train learners anytime and from anywhere also for 24x7 of internet access. 5. Learners can train themselves not only on a day to day basis, but also on weekends or whenever instructors have the free time to. There is no hard and fast rule. 6. Through discussion boards and chats, it is very easy to interact with everyone online and also clear instructor’s doubts if any. 7. The video instructions provided for audio and video learning can be rewound and seen and heard again and again if it is hard to understand the topic first time around. 8. Learners can make plans and works based on the due-date of the assignments.

Disadvantages Of e-Learning

1. The authenticity of a particular student's work is also a problem as online just about anyone can do a project rather than the actual student itself. 2. The assessments that are computer marked generally have a tendency of being only knowledge-based and not necessarily practicality-based. 3. It may be a matter for learners who prefer face-to-face learning experience 4. It cannot be guaranteed that students did their assignments by them since they did not do it under the teacher’s supervision. 5. Some students were also worried about their privacy; therefore, they were not very open in case of being carelessly revealed or copied by others.

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5. CONCLUDING REMARKS Learning in a classroom is more personal and interactive, but there are a lot of benefits to enrolling in an online course, and most of it is in terms of convenience and affordability. Learning Management System (LMS) is now commonly used by teachers to have collaborative learning through online learning (or e-learning) courses. One of the systems, Schoology, even called the best LSM, allows the educators to create their own features. Founded by Jeremy Friedman, Ryan Hwang and Tim Trinidad in 2007, this LMS provides students real time formative assessment feedback upon submission. Students can directly comment, suggest, and even criticize the learning process or anything dealing with the teaching. This study explores the use of Schoology as an LMS and the perceptions of students in using it during the courses. Results showed that students were intrinsically contented with the easiness of its use as the basic functions of an LMS. The systems also provide the connections among teacher, students, and even parents. However, the use of Schoology as LMS surely has some weaknesses which is hopefully can be solved. 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY Aminoto,T dan H.Pathoni. 2014. Penerapan Media E-Learning Berbasis Schoology untuk Meningkatkan Aktivitas dan Hasil Belajar Materi Usaha dan Energi di Kelas XI SMA Negeri X Kota Jambi. Jurnal Sainmatika Vol 8 No. 1 2014 Benson, P. (2004). Autonomy and Information Technology in the Educational Discourse of the Information Age. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press Eka,KI, 2017. Pembelajaran Berbasis It Menyongsong Era Digital, Makalah Seminar Nasional UPGRIS, Semarang: 2017 Eka KI.2018. The Development Of Online-Based Evaluation Instrument for Natural Science Subject Using Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) on Material of Environmental Damage Prevention for the Fourth Grade Students in Primary School, Paper, Purwokerto: 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system https://prezi.com/kk90n5chyjdm/what-is-schoology/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoology https://www.schoology.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-using-schoology-the-back-to- school-essentials

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