Rototuna High Schools

Rototuna Junior High School (year 7–10) and Rototuna Senior High School opened in 2016 and 2017 respectively on a shared site in Hamilton, New Zealand. Both are innovative learning environment schools: purpose-built to encourage collaborative and creative, cross-curricular learning.

SEEKING MORE THAN AN LMS

Rototuna was seeking a learning management system (LMS) with all the traditional functions such as resource sharing between students and enabling them to submit work; but that could also be a progress-tracking tool to encourage both students and parents to engage with learning progress and develop student agency. They also sought a platform for communication with family and community, about all things school life: learning, sports, arts and culture, opportunities, events and notices.

They were attracted to the vast array of tools Schoology provides, particularly the multiple ways students can demonstrate their learning, and many ways teachers can give feed-forward and feedback. “Schoology is not a one-way street product (from teachers to students) – it allows for interaction between teachers, students and learning.”

“SCHOOLOGY IS A FANTASTIC TOOL! AGENTIC, COLLABORATIVE, COMMUNITY MINDED LEARNERS IS OUR VISION – SCHOOLOGY IS PLAYING A KEY ROLE IN GETTING US THERE.”

SCHOOLOGY DRIVES STUDENT AGENCY

ZOOMING TO MASTERY WITH EASE

Rototuna teachers received a training session shortly before the school year began. The training sparked the interest of teachers and demonstrated what Schoology could do. By the following week, it was being used for students to reflect on camp experiences. Some teachers have found further training from the online courses helpful, and others have benefited from weekly drop-in sessions. Within 3 months of implementation, 100% of teachers and students are using Schoology.

A MULTITUDE OF BENEFITS

In a short time, both schools have noticed a load of benefits from using Schoology. These include flexibility in terms of what can be shared with students, and the ways they can respond; improved workload and work flow when marking assignments; and the different methods teachers can use to give feedback to students – mark-up, notes, comments, voice and video recordings and grades. The discussion feature has been particularly popular, especially when graded. The rubric function has proved useful as Rototuna uses structure of observed learning outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy to make learning visible and give feedback.

“The initial training was very good for sparking teacher interest and demonstrating how Schoology could work for them.”

Mel Moore, Assistant Principal, Rototuna Junior High School

“We were attracted to the vast array of tools within the product. We particularly liked that the product allows for multiple methods of students demonstrating their learning, and multiple ways in which teachers could give feed-forward and feed-back.”

Mel Moore, Assistant Principal, Rototuna Junior High School

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