Tech Tip Tuesday #1

For this week's Tech Tip Tuesday, I have a Schoology tip.

In Schoology, we cannot change the course names or section numbers. (If you do, it will just change back the next day after the overnight import from Synergy.) This makes it confusing for both teachers and students to know what course is what. A way to work around this is to include the desired information in your course picture. This could be as simple as an hour number or textbook or as "advanced" (it's really not too hard) as creating your own picture.

Here is a tutorial (from this teacher blog) for creating your own picture: 

Schoology Course Pictures Hack

I've had a few people ask me if it is possible to change the section name of each Schoology course so it is easier to figure out which hour it corresponds to. Unfortunately, you are unable to change that because it will revert back to the original every time it syncs with Skyward. The work around for that is to change the Schoology course picture for each class to include the hour which you teach that class. See the example below.

Follow these steps to make that happen:

1. Create a new Google Drawing in your Drive by click New then More and Google Drawing.

2. To resize the drawing to a profile picture size click File --> Page Setup and then select Custom. Enter the dimensions 170 x 170 pixels.

3. Add a picture by using the Insert menu and then clicking Image. You can upload an image that you already have or search for one. 

4. Crop the picture to fit in the square

5. To add the number to your picture click Insert and then Word Art. Type the number that you want on the picture and then hit enter. Change the font, size and color settings to your liking.

6. After it looks good, click File --> Download As and then select JPEG image. Choose the location where the file will download to your computer. 

7. Open Schoology and navigate to the course that you wish to change the picture for. 

8. Hover your mouse over the current course picture and you will see the Edit Picture button pop up in the top right corner of the square. Click that.

9. Select Attach File and then find the picture that you just downloaded. 

10. Repeat for any course that you wish to change. 

Here are some course picture examples from the East Central Tech Team: