Schoology: Course Names, Course Codes, Section Names, and Section Codes

Setting up your courses for the beginning of the school year

Whether you are setting up courses in Schoology for the very first time or you are copying last year's courses into the new school year to begin fresh, it is best to set up your courses properly from the start. While most of the fields within "Create New Course" seem self-explanatory, there are some that can be confusing.

The "Create Course" window in Schoology

It is highly recommended that you edit your previous year's courses

before copying them into this school year.

You can find your old courses in the archives of your My Courses section.

Course Name

Using a standard format for the name of your courses will help keep your classes organized, and it helps improve your students' view of their entire class schedule. The best way to name your course in Schoology is to use the overall course name that is listed in the electronic gradebook.

Example Course Name: M328 Algebra 2

Course Code

Each course has a unique code that allows others to search for your courses if necessary. The code also keeps track of your courses year-after-year by placing every section in every year under the same course.

Example Course Code: M328

Section Code

Every course technically has a single, unique number to identify itself. This number can only be used once across the entire school district. The only way to upload a large number of students into a course is if that course has a section code. For example, our entire freshmen class of 680 students are enrolled in a course called Class of 2020 where they receive information and advice from their counselors during their four years of high school. The only way to enroll them quikcly is to assign the course a unique Section Code. You do not need to enter anything into this field unless you want the tech department to upload a large roster of students into your course.

Do not simply make up a random number for the section code. Every class has a section code that can be found in the electronic gradebook. In Infinite Campus' gradebook it is called the Section ID.

Section Name

One course, such as Algebra 2, can be taught multiple times per day and by several different teachers. A section is one class of students sitting in front of you (or online). There might be 20 different classes, or sections, of the same subject. Enter a different Section Code for each class, and use a name that makes sense to you. Some examples are:

• Period One; Period Two; Period Three
• P1; P2; P3
• 2016-2017 P1; 2016-2017 P2; 2016-2017 P3

Some sections are co-taught by multiple teachers, or simply shared by all the teachers who are assigned to the course. If three teachers all teach Algebra, and they share those sections with each other, then their section naming convention might include their last name. For example:

• Goettsche P1; Goettsche P2; Goettsche P3
• Mantra P4; Mantra P5
• Johnson P6

Course Description

In the syllabus of a course there is often an overall description of the course followed by the topics that will be taught during the year. At the high school level, most if not all courses have some type of official description.

In our school district we can view all course descriptions from within the gradebook. Instead of searching for the Course or Section one will search for Course Master. All general information related to that course, which is taught by multiple teachers in five different high schools, can be viewed by clicking on the master course.

Adding a course description to your Schoology course provides students and parents with additional information about the class. The description of M328 below comes from our gradebook. A teacher can cut-and-paste the information into their Schoology course information by opening the class then going to Course Options -> Edit Info -> Details.

Course description for M328 found within the electronic gradebook

Installing the new VPN client

What is VPN?

VPN is used to provide a secure connection to many computer resources that are safely protected back in the district office. If you are at home or anyplace else outside of school you can use VPN to send print jobs to a computer back at school, access your H Drive right on your computer, and get to protected district materials stored on the SIP, RTI, and other web sites.

Installing VPN

You can install or upgrade the VPN software yourself. There are two different scenarios below that will help you.  As of April 2014 the district was using version 3.1 of the AnyConnect VPN software.  

• When you are outside of a district building you can open up a browser (like Chrome) and enter the address https://vpn.d211.org to get to the VPN login screen where you can install or upgrade the software. 
• If you are still at school you will need to open up a browser and enter https://10.6.1.239 in the address bar to go to the VPN page to download or upgrade the software. 

As always, you can also stop by the technology center inside the school for assistance.

More information on VPN

Watch this video to see how to run VPN on your computer for the first time. If you have never heard of VPN watch this extremely ridiculous video shown below. It is less than two minutes long, it's actually very informative and accurate, and it will probably make you laugh.

Backing up your iPad before you update the iOS

You should back up your iPad before you update the iOS. Back up you iPad if you making a major upgrade from iOS6 to iOS7 and also if you are making a minor update from iOS 7.0.3 to 7.0.4.  Each update can cause you to lose settings or data. Back it up first!

The following steps will help most users but are especially useful to students in School District 211.

1. Back up your data in Notability. To do this you need to open Notability, click on the Settings gearbox at the bottom of the screen, then choose Auto-backup. Choose either Google Drive (you can use your personal Gmail account or the school-issued one) or Dropbox to back up your data. If you want to add a second layer of protection, back your data up to iCloud as well. While you are still in your settings, click on iCloud and then move the slider to On. This will only work if you have enabled iCloud backups which we will cover next.
2. Back up your iPad. Open the Settings app on your iPad, then click on iCloud, then click on Storage & Backup. Under Backup, move the slider to On for iCloud Backup. Then click on the button that says Back Up Now. This will create a copy of all of the data stored on your iPad. If something goes wrong with your iOS update you will be able to go back to this "copy" of your iPad and start over.

1. Not enough storage? If you got an error when trying to back up your iPad you either have too many older backups or you are trying to back up too much data. To see if you have older backups, go to Settings, then iCloud, then Manage Storage. It will show you how many backup copies you have, and it will also tell you how much space you will need to make a new backup. If you have older backups go ahead and delete them, then create a new backup. 
2. Too much data? If you do not have any older backups, that means you are probably backing up too much data. go to Settings, then iCloud to see what is being backed up. Turn off photos - this takes up the most space. You can back up your photos to another location like Google Drive or Dropbox which has much more free storage than Apple offers. Be sure your photos are being backed up elsewhere! Then continue with creating a backup of your iPad.
3. Update the iOS. Go to Settings, then General, then Software Update. If one is available, then click on Download and Install. It will take anywhere between 5 minutes and an hour depending on the size of the update. You will not be able to use your iPad during the update.

Once the update is complete you will be able to use your iPad again. If you notice missing data or if something went wrong you can go back and restore your iPad using the backup you created earlier. If you need help with any of the above steps please stop by your school technology center and someone will assist you.

NOTE: Once you have iCloud backups turned on, your iPad will back itself up automatically every time it is (a) connected to Wi-Fi, (b) plugged in to a power source, and (c) in sleep mode. Basically, it will back itself up every night when you go to sleep. 

Subscribe to news sites using your cell phone

One of the best changes in technology in the last two years involves improvements made to our cell phones.  The cell phone has become the center of information for many people.  We use apps to have the information delivered straight to us, rather than having to go to different sites to get information.  Groupon deal of the day?  You can check their site daily, or you can subscribe on your phone and have that little DING go off telling you that a new deal has arrived.  Your friend just announced on Facebook that he got engaged.  Yes, you really found out through Facebook.  Did you get the alert on your phone as soon as he posted it, or did you find out two days later when you logged on?  The cell phone has become the instant connection to news that is important to us.

Subscribing to news sites can be a little harder, but as usual, someone has an app for that.  It is called an RSS Reader, and you can download one for your Android or iPhone.  To use the app, you visit the web page where you read your news, open your RSS Reader app, and click on a "subscribe" button.  Any time a new article is posted it will automatically be sent to your phone.

I can download all the latest news from D211 by subscribing to their new blog called D211 Post, a new blog that is very mobile-friendly. 

Click here to download "Feedly" for free on your Android phone.

Click here to download "Free RSS Reader" for free on your iPhone.