“Teacher Appreciation makes the world of education go round”

Here’s to you, Teachers! National Teacher Appreciation Week 2011, from May 1st to May 7th, is a week set aside to honor our favorite teachers who have played a crucial role in our lives. What would we be without them?

And what better way to celebrate these fabulous teachers than sharing some great deals and discounts for them to enjoy. Many of these discounts are available year round so be sure to take advantage of them all. If you know of any that are not listed below, please feel free to share (We don’t want anyone left out).

Happy National Teacher Appreciation Day!

TEACHER DEALS & DISCOUNTS

• AC Moore Teacher Discount Card
  Mail in information to get teacher discount card, details HERE.

• Adobe Teacher & Student Store
  25-75% off retail discounts via Adobe Teacher & Student Store.
• Ann Taylor Loft Loves Teachers
  Sign up and get 15% off and special discounts for educators
• Apple Store
  Special pricing for K-12 and higher education faculty.
• Banana Republic
  Offers a 10% discount to

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“Speaking with a group of Student Affair Managers. Please say hi, Tell us where you’re from and why social media is important for education”

The conversation triggered from this tweet was great! In fact, the instant response from educators from all around the world displayed the perfect example of why social media and education work so well together. Here we have a group of educators, sharing their views, answering a question they were actually living by. It was refreshing to see this process in motion and hearing positive feedback on the topic was great too.

Cristina Costa (@cristinacost), currently the Research Technologies Development officer at the University of Salford in Southhampton, UK, pointed out how “Social media is great to keep in touch, share ideas, connect, learn, network, raise profile, and outreach”. Here at Schoology, we could not agree more. We take pride in being able to incorporate social media with education.…

Schoology has gone mobile! Start off your New Year with the official Schoology for iPhone App.

The app allows you to stay connected with your academic life no matter where you are.

You and your students will be able to manage classes, view assignments, keep track of grades, participate in discussions, and communicate with one another. No need to worry, every action executed from the Schoology for iPhone app is synced with your online Schoology account.

Teachers can create assignments, events, discussions, and announcements with ease.

Just like Schoology itself, the Schoology app is free. Just hop onto the Apple App Store and search for “Schoology“.

The app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch , and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Have the App? Tell us what you think below:

@drezac : Kids are being bombarded with “connect, connect, connect.” But when they enter class, we tell them to “put everything away.” #IETC

@henrythiele : Use cellphones for texting in quick exit slips #IETC #IETCcell

@drezac : Another idea: allowing students to use their cell phones on field trips to engage, take pictures, reflect. #IETC

@jorech : Learning about going paperless #IETC

@france98 : Daggert keynote should waken some ears at #IETC #edreform. From start I think he has right idea.

@jjanczak : Thanks to all attended Blooms Textonomy Using Cellphone in Schools today at #IETC. Here is a link to presentation

@gicart : #IETC Daggett preparing students for their future not our past

@leperez1: Daggett: Reg laptop looks clunky to kids. Computers are coming in many objects, including watches. #IETC

@cheritoledo : IETC in Springfield, IL is a great place to put faces to the virtual…

Schoology is extremely excited to head out west to Springfield, Illinois for the 17th Annual Illinois Education Technology Conference (IETC). Judging by the IETC schedule, all attendees will have a fun-filled day of learning and broadening their knowledge of educational technology. It is exactly where we want to be!

For those of you who will be attending the conference make sure to come visit us in the Exhibit Hall.

Where can we find Schoology?

We will be exhibiting at Booth 140-141. We are excited to have a double booth with classroom seating which will allow us to give demos all throughout the day. The days can be long so if you’re looking for a place to rest your feet stop by and kill two birds with one stone by learning about Schoology.

Conference Location:

Crowne Plaza Hotel

3000 S. Dirksen Parkway

Springfield, IL

Exhibit Hall Hours:

Wednesday, November 17, 2010             6:00pm – 8:00pm

Thursday, November 18, 2010                7:30am – 5:15pm

Have a Twitter Account?

The official Twitter hashtag for IETC is #IETC

Follow @Schoology & #IETC to get great…

Today, we are excited to announce that Schoology now supports the importing of course content from Moodle.

If you have been using Moodle, chances are you are aware of its limitations and drawbacks — primarily regarding ease of use and lack of engagement from students and faculty. We understand that it may seem difficult to switch over to a new platform because of the large amount of content created in Moodle. Now you can throw that thought out the window and treat yourself and your school to a new gift this holiday season – Schoology.

While Moodle is the right system for some schools, there are a growing number of individuals that find the setup and user experience to be cumbersome and dated. Since many educators have spent a large amount of time and effort building courses and content in Moodle, we wanted to provide a simple way to transition to Schoology.

Why use Schoology?

• Full use of learning management system (LMS) & imports for free
• Fun and engaging user experience
• Familiar look and feel to popular online social media tools

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One of the conference highlights was the GaETC Treasure Hunt. How it worked, vendors who wanted to participate in the treasure hunt submitted a question about their company that they wanted to share. Once the exhibit hall doors opened attendees were able to walk around with their treasure map of questions and attempt to answer everything correctly. After completing, attendees would go to the treasure chest and claim a prize.

Schoology’s question and answer for the GaETC Treasure Hunt:

Q: What is Schoology releasing in the month of November?

A: Schoology iPhone App

It was great to see how excited these educators were to hear that we are coming out with an iPhone App. Although many of their schools do not allow mobile use in the classroom it was wonderful to hear how many schools take advantage of classroom sets of iPods (which can also support the free Schoology iPhone App)

Be sure to keep checking…

• Keynote Speaker: Jeanne Robertson
• Featured Speakers: Tammy Worchester, Leslie Fisher, Howie DiBlasi, and many more.
• Special Events
• Schoology Booth 101 located in the Exhibit Hall

Not sure where to find us? Check out GaETC’s Interactive Floor Plan:

Schoology Booth: 101

Exhibit Hall Hours:

Wednesday, November 2, 2010          10:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Thursday, November 3, 2010              9:00 AM – 3:30 PM

The buzz online has already started with many regional Tweeters chatting up about the next few days. We will make sure to keep you updated while we are there so follow…

Besides enjoying the gorgeous 80 degree weather, we have already gotten settled in and set-up our exhibit booth (Booth 211 – Make sure to stop by and say hello!) for tomorrow’s show. And boy is it going to be a great one! We will make sure to post pictures of all the action later today. What we are extremely excited about is the T+L Attendees will be among the first to see the new Schoology redesign and experience all of our new features at first hand.

That’s right, Schoology just got easier!

Here is a little preview of what to expect when you sign into Schoology this morning:

Site Redesign

We have compacted our interface to give more room for the main content area. We have also updated a number of…

“Students- particularly high school students – wanted to use it more as a collaborative space, and teachers were coming to us to take advantage of that,” says Founder and CEO, Jeremy Friedman. “We saw an opportunity to create a really interactive and social connection between the two.”

To read the full article in the October 2010 edition of Entrepreneur Magazine read, The Rise of the Virtual Classroom by Gwen Moran.

We are so proud of our founders and hope for continued success to the team in the future!