For anyone that knows me, it's no surprise that I am obsessed with Schoology. I bombarded my district's in-house professional development program with courses about how to use Schoology and courses taught online completely in Schoology. I recently tweeted about an easy way to have students evaluate each other's work through a Schoology discussion, so I decided to elaborate on that in today's post!
Here's what my eighth graders did in Technology Applications:
As their first coding project, students create a "guess the number" game in Scratch. It's pretty simple - the player is supposed to guess a number within a given range, and the player will receive hints like "too low" or "too high" each time they guess incorrectly. The player has five chances to get it right before the game ends. Because Scratch is such a visual program, I also use this game to teach students the elements of game design. Students incorporate these elements in their game; for example, a game might be along the lines of "Help me figure out my locker combo so I can get to class on time" game. Students (or should I say, game designers) develop a scenario and a space where their guessing game takes place. They incorporate components that enhance the game play experience.
And here's where Schoology comes in:
Playing the games in the end is one of the best parts of the project! So often, I've seen students create amazing projects using some technology application, but then the only person who ever sees the project is the teacher. I get it, there isn't time for students to present every project they create. This is where Schoology discussions shine. They allow students the ability to link or attach any product to their post. As the teacher, I can also grade the projects using a rubric attached to the discussion.
Once everyone's work is posted, students can view each other's projects easily and quickly. For this particular project, I assign three questions that students must answer in their reply to a peer's posted guessing game. To make sure everyone receives a comment, I require that students reply to whoever posted just before them (or just above them if you're thinking about the discussion thread visually). How easy is that?! I project the questions for replies on my SMART Board and then students get to work. Once students reply to their required "partner," they are free to play and comment on anyone else's game.
Requiring that students evaluate and think critically about their classmate's work is essential to learning. We can not expect student growth if students are not required to evaluate their own work and the work of others. Receiving deliberate, constructive feedback on their work from a peer may be received more positively than the feedback of a teacher. Crafting feedback for peers requires a deep level of critical thinking. Schoology discussions provide my students the medium for sharing and reflecting on their own work and the work of the peer's. There are so many positives to Schoology discussions, but this is definitely one of the strongest in my opinion.
