Schoology

Avantages

The newsfeed and the ability to integrate other tools into classes is hugely beneficial.

Inconvénients

Sometimes the grading didn't work quite right and could be difficult to set up correctly.

Avantages

Ease of use. Student portal works cleanly. Ease to move from one class to another. Lots of choices for adding different types of questions to assessments. Easy to organize.

Inconvénients

It would be nice to have more options for displaying content. We have found some work-arounds in adding a few variations to the straightforward listing style, but it isn’t easy. It would be nice to be able to add some flair.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi choisir Schoology 

Pourquoi passer à Schoology

Avantages

It had a free version that offered alot of features

Inconvénients

It was very american based and didnt cater well to the NZ system of education (levels etc)

Avantages

I like the way quizzes and test can be created.

Inconvénients

It is difficult to create new quizzes and assign them to multiple classes

Avantages

Excellent sync with our self-hosted powerschool server, once all was setup. Uptime is excellent. Communication when there IS downtime is also excellent. Ability to implement additional features via plugins/other services [such as NoRedInk] is good.Teachers are using the product pretty well [ granted, it is a requirement on our campus, but they are going beyond the bare minimum.]Support is excellent.

Inconvénients

Schoology's GUI is dated - it hearkens back to the 90's and MSFT Access.The admin team SORELY misses the ability to "masquerade" as a teacher - we used to be able to login as a teach admin, masquerade as a teacher, and quickly fix implementation and setup errors that the teacher had made. Under Schoology we have to get their login credentials from the teacher - not exactly an easy process.Perhaps one day that feature will be available.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi choisir Schoology 

Pourquoi passer à Schoology

Avantages

Could create quizzes that drew from a created bank of questions, which helped with quiz security and gave a more accurate of what the student knew and understood.

Inconvénients

When you switched from free to a priced platform.

Avantages

I liked how easy it was to set up multiple classes. It was a great platform for students, they could easily figure out how to find and submit assignments.

Inconvénients

I found it hard to communicate with students in that they didn't seem to get alerts. Also, there wasn't much in the way of customizing your site.

Avantages

Easy to use, clear layout, could add links to microsoft sway previous learning material.

Inconvénients

There was space for learning material, but from my time in using it there wasn't any space for overly interactive learning activities.

Avantages

Being able to see all assignments due and coming up.

Inconvénients

Sometimes the user interface isn't the most clear.

Avantages

Schoology interested well with other educations platforms.

Inconvénients

There are so many working parts that it can be overwhelming at first.

Avantages

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to create quizzes using Google Forms and upload them into Schoology as an assignment. You can also directly create an assignment in Schoology itself which is pretty easy to do. I frequently create math tests on here, because it is so easy and has different options like multiple choice, sequencing, etc.

Inconvénients

I had to take an initial training course to understand this software better. There are a few confusing buttons when creating an assignment - but after a few tries, you get used to it. (I would recommend watching some YouTube videos about how to use Schoology if you're interested in buying this software for your school. They have some very helpful ones on there.)

Avantages

Schoology is out LMS connected to PS. It allows so much more than just virtual learning. Students can check classwork by reviewing files and notes teachers upload to courses. Schoology allows parents to see the materials students are provided with. It is our go-to for classwork and course information!

Inconvénients

The add-ons and additional connected apps can be glitchy.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à Schoology

Avantages

I like that this platform has everything to offer. You can look up anything you'd think of that you'd want to know about your child's school information. You are able to reach out throw this portal and pay through it as well.

Inconvénients

I have had some trouble logging in at times so I do wish it had like a fingerrprint or eye login.

Avantages

I love that we are able to track attendance and our students records with this software. I also like that the parents have access to they same system.

Inconvénients

Overall, my biggest flaw with this software is that it was difficult to have our staff get used to using the software.

Avantages

Comprehensive SIS system which functions and integrates perfectly with the rest of the Schoology eco-system.

Inconvénients

Adding additional components can become pricey

Alternatives envisagées 

Avantages

Easy to use platform for virtual learning platforms.

Inconvénients

No disadvantages noticed at this time while using schoology.

Avantages

Our district uses Schoology as a district-wide Learning Management System (LMS). We switched to Schoology last year and I use Schoology for almost all of my course work. I teach using the flipped classroom model and Schoology's platform allows me to share my lecture videos, conduct assessments of student knowledge and understanding, give assignments, and to provide communication with students and parents. All of my content is available to my students through Schoology 24/7, I can make it available in a variety of ways, and I can make updates in real-time.

Schoology's introduction of the Google Assignment App has me excited about our switch to Chromebooks. This app allows you to attach a Google Doc (say a study guide) as part of an assignment. When students open the assignment the document is copied, renamed, and added to their Google Drive. No more students opening or copying a new version of the document each time they go back to the assignment instead of to the copy they made but didn't actually rename as the directions stated. The document is 'tied' to the assignment and updates no matter where they work on it from (inside the assignment or through their Google Drive.) I also use the platform’s completion rules to give students autonomy while also keeping them on track.

Another great option is the ability to add images to pages, updates, announcements, and folders to give visual information, help guide students, and give them access options. I also am able to hyperlink

Inconvénients

While they've done a great job updating the product, however, I wish the pace of that was faster. For example, they introduced a new "Assessments" feature that was to eventually replace the "Test/Quiz" feature once it had all of the same options. While the question types in Assessments are nicer, it is two years later and it is still missing features of Test/Quiz including the ability to comment on individual student questions, auto-correction and rescoring if you made a mistake in setting up the correct answer in a question, and importantly, they still have not added a question test bank option for Assessments. Without the option to randomly pull questions from question banks I still use Test/Quiz for later end of unit assessments and semester exams.

Avantages

What I like most about Schoology is its ability to allow the instructor to compile all necessary course information into one easy-to-use online portal. Via this portal, I am able to create and post assignments, mark down due dates, grade the aforementioned assignments, among a plethora of other essential tasks, such as attendance tracking, progress report generation, and managing regrade requests. I am also able to communicate with students directly through the portal, which is great just in case the students want to keep their personal email addresses private. Lastly, customer service is very friendly, convenient, and helpful any time I need them, (which is infrequent, as the platform lives up to its expectations on a regular basis without any mishaps, which is fantastic, especially for efficiency's sake).

Inconvénients

There is honestly very little that I dislike about Schoology, as it really does help me manage my classroom in an efficient manner, eliminating all of the hassle I was occasionally confronted with prior to my implementation of the platform, (the same applies to the students' perspectives on the matter, according to a mini-survey I provided them with). With all that being said, however, if I were to choose one aspect which could be further improved upon, it would be the performance of the app on both Apple and Android devices. I occasionally receive complaints from students pertaining to random crashes of the app, assignments not being able to be submitted, and various other technical issues. I must add that these issues are rare, but it would be nice if they could be eliminated in their entirety. Other than that, there is really not much else I can report as being a negative.

Avantages

This is hands-down my go-to LMS for education. Having used a variety of LMS programs out there, and having come from some such as Google Classroom, and 3DGameLab, Schoology is top notch. Constantly being updated, Schoology helps transition the focus from the teacher to the student. The best features are Schoology's ability to integrate with other tools, as teachers can embed edtech tools such as Padlet, Polleverywhere, Thinglink, etc into a Schoology assignment using their LTI integration. As they continue to partner with other edtech companies, some of these then become options within their platform. I have used their integrated Conferences, Lock Down Browser, and more. The ability to transition ownership to the students, monitor their work while letting them work at their own pace is truly remarkable and a game-changer in education.

Inconvénients

There are some things I wish were available such as the ability to share an entire folder of contents with an individual student, or to set separate completion rules/dates for assignments within a folder. Not sure why these aren't options. I also think a way to automatically award badges upon completion would really help teachers cut down on time awarding them.

Avantages

I like that we can set up folders and organize our course how we would like. I work with upper elementary so it worked fairly well, but definitely had a learning curve. Announcements were pretty easy to post. I also liked students messaging in schoology, they found this feature easy to use. I like that I also got an email when they messaged.

Inconvénients

As a specialist teacher, it was confusing whether to work with the classroom teacher or have our own Schoology accounts. When giving feedback on assignments, students could never find it, they didn't get notifications. Students also struggled with how to turn in assignments and would do it differently. You could connect google docs and things, but was super confusing and students also didn't do this correctly. It also does not look modern, there are so many other platforms that look nicer and more kid-friendly. In addition, I like students to share photos and videos with one another and the social discussions/sharing piece was definitely lacking. we liked flipgrid but was not easily incorporated within schoology.

Avantages

It was extremely convenient not only as a student but for staff and teachers that manage a large amount of students. For students, they are more encouraged to finish the school work quickly due to its convenience since they are only required to have a technological device such as a tablet or phone and internet in order to finish their work. They can access this in school, home, or anywhere as long as they have access to the internet. The app or website is easy to navigate through as well. The same goes for teachers and other staff since they are able to go through each student’s work efficiently since they are listed under their respective classes. Both student and teacher are able to track the progress of their work and they are enabled to see how they are faring in each class which encourages each student to improve and teachers are able to see which topic a student needs to work on. Teachers are also able to post take-home quizzes and lectures online which students can conveniently access.

Inconvénients

If the student does not have access to wifi or internet, they are unable to see their homework/school work and they won’t be able to submit their requirements.

Avantages

I am a teacher and school district I work for recently rolled out schoology and mandated all teachers to use it and I think this has been the best move in years. Schoology is AMAZING. First, it's very user-friendly (homepage looks like Facebook news feed, and grade books mirror many early-stage online grade books). Gradebook is easy to use and my school district has embedded an option where grades can automatically transfer and post in the district database every 5 weeks. That alone takes hours of work away from teachers when grades are due! Second, students can submit assignments on schoology - everything from exit tickets and papers to discussions and even tests. No more stacks of papers to take home and grade - I can literally access those online from any device and grade at my spare time. Even better - tests and quizzes can be created manually and correct answers programmed in, so when the student submits it, Schoology grades it and posts the grade for you (you have an option to review to verify it).

Inconvénients

I am a math teacher and I would like for the option to allow students to create graphs themselves when doing tests. Schoology does not yet have such options, and instead I have to create graphs and and insert those pictures into tests, and make any graphing question a multiple choice one.

Avantages

Before I transitioned out of teaching, I used Schoology quite a bit as a teacher. Schoology made it easy and convenient to engage students in the classroom. You could post informational resources for them such as notes and websites, or create more interactive lessons with embedded youTube or other videos and they can be set up so students can do scavenger hunt type things on the computer. They also can be used for assessments to see if students learned the material they were supposed to, as an exit ticket, or a way to review information at home. These assessments could then be loaded directly into e-school for student grades.

Inconvénients

One thing I found difficult was sometimes setting up answers to questions especially if I wanted a more free response type of question, although they do offer ways to grade on a rubric as well. Sadly in the day and age of inflating grades there was also no way to grade on a curve, which meant that even though grades could be directly loaded into e-school, administrators desired you to then have to go back into e-school to inflate student grades. All in all they seemed to be keen to adding new features that made things easier for teachers. They also had two different kinds of assessments, one of which I found not nearly as friendly as the other to use.

Avantages

I like Schoology because it's very easy to use, it's a great software for managing courses, it's also very good because you don't need to download the app, you can access your account through online and it's really helpful for users, especially those who don't have large storage like me. It's also very good in terms of making assessment.

Inconvénients

So far this software is really good, however I think it's missing something and that is a meeting classroom for online learning, the management should try to look into this and take consideration to make improvements.

Avantages

Schoology is a turn-key solution for any school, college, university looking to deploy blended/hybrid learning or develop online courses. Schoology allows for increased communication, collaboration, and connectedness among your class, content, and students. It is extremely easy to use, set up, and navigate for both instructors and students. Its integration with both Google and Microsoft365 increase the efficiency of assignment collection and grading than ever possible in a class without a Learning Management System. Schoology also provides a free version of their platform for teachers who may not be within an organization able to fund the full Enterprise version.

Inconvénients

Schoology needs to devote more of its engineers to expanding the platforms LTI integrations and UI to surpass its competitors.