Schoology

 Facebook for School? Schoology allows teachers the opportunity to set up an environment very similar to Facebook but without some of the issues that accompany "friending" students. One nice thing is that Schoology allows for the creation of user accounts that are not tied to email addresses. Passwords can be generated by the account administrator giving members the ability to change them once they initially log in. Classes can be created to include only the students in a particular class, and different groups can be created within those classes. To test Schoology, I created a fictitious course called Cartoon Studies using characters from Charlie Brown. Students could assume fictitious identities to create some interesting entries. Think of a Schoology page for famous philosophers with students assuming the roles or a page for a book title with students assuming the roles of the characters within the book. Students love to create. This would also make them really have to think as well!