Franklin Regional looks to unify online learning with Schoology system

Google Classroom and a patchwork of other educational tools helped Franklin Regional staff and students through the final months of a hectic school year. But district administrators are looking to bring all of those tools into the same shed for students who may be learning from home in the coming year.

School board members approved the purchase of the Schoology learning management system at their meeting Thursday night, costing just over $31,000.

“It’s a place where students can go to find the content for their classrooms, a schedule for their activities,” said new Assistant Superintendent Robin Pynos. “There’s going to be a lot of commonality for students.”

Feedback from district surveys noted student and parent frustration with the variety of approaches used in online learning during the last months of the 2019-20 school year, and also indicated a desire for more “live learning” time, as opposed to independent study and work.

Pynos said the Schoology system will support both.

“It’s sort of the piece that will pull all of this together,” she said.

The district’s reopening plan allows for a hybrid education model — if the state’s yellow-phase restrictions were to go back into effect limiting gatherings further — where students would alternate between days in class and learning from home. Under that model, and for families who choose full online education, the Schoology system offers a great deal more resources than Google Classroom, according to Pynos.

“It will give teachers the ability to provide more resources to students,” she said. “They’ll be able to take quizzes through this, they’ll be able to have discussions with other students through this. It’s a way to combine all those tools a teacher uses in the classrooms, and put them on a dashboard so students can find everything they need.”

The purchase of web cameras and external mics, which was also approved at Thursday’s school board meeting, will be integrated into the Schoology system to deliver instruction for students learning at home. Online learners will get 20-25 minutes of live instruction during regular class periods before moving on to independent work.

The Schoology system, web cams and mics were purchased through funding from the federal CARES Act Safety and Security Grant.

School board member Mark Kozlosky said the system is a good way to keep instruction cohesive.

“This system is designed to upgrade our school, and it’s not just a short-term fix for (the pandemic), it’s a long-term investment that will drive instruction years down the road.”