Schoology

Commentaires: While Facebook has had some bad press regarding privacy here lately, the overall impact and popularity of social media in general and Facebook in particular is undeniable and has become a permanent part of online culture. Why? Because Facebook is, by design, set up in such a manner that it is both extraordinarily easy to use and navigate around, and because it has a well-documented tendency to "suck you in" - it keeps you engaged with the platform. It's easy. It's interesting. It's fun. It's entertainment. So what does that have to do with Schoology, you ask? Immediately after registering for my Schoology account provided by my grad school (MBA student), I was very surprised to see what looked and felt just like Facebook, but with an academic focus. The main feature is the user's feed, which looked and felt exactly like any social media feed. It contained posts from the school admin and financial aid, posts from instructors with information, videos, etc., pertinent to the current material, and posts from fellow classmates asking questions so classmates and the instructor could all interact on the thread. Users are able to "Like" a post or even direct message others in a private, Messenger-style chat feature. Surrounding the feed are links to everything the student needs for college success, from financial aid to wellness. Simply put, Schoology's brilliant adaptation of a popular technology makes studying easy, interesting, fun, and entertaining.

Avantages: Schoology is academia's answer for engaging with today's social media obsessed generation of students.

Inconvénients: I can virtually ALWAYS come up with something that I didn't like, Schoology however is one of those few exceptions. For the sake of entering a "con" however, I will say the one lacking feature I did wish users had would be an option to switch from the blaring white to a dark mode type theme. Helpful for battery life when using mobile devices and also more conducive for night-time study and eye health. After all, many students are working while studying, leaving night time as their only option to get their classwork done.

Commentaires: Overall, I can't imagine my experience both teaching using Schoology and leading professional development for teachers without Schoology. It has afforded me an opportunity to totally revamp my district's PD to something more teacher centered, self paced, and differentiated, by putting together an online database of modules tailored to our specific district needs.

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.

Commentaires: I have used Schoology as a teacher with students and as a professional development platform with other teachers. I love all the options I have for sharing content of all types and engaging students in many ways. I constantly find new features to try out with my students. In addition, I am one of the system admins for our school district. I have used both the Basic (free) version and the Enterprise version. Schoology Support is always helpful, and while they cannot always meet my needs right away, they are always working on site improvements and new features.

Avantages: •Ease of use - Most teachers, students, and parents learn to navigate the LMS pretty easily. •Many levels of use - Teachers can begin using the LMS at a simple, basic level with great success, and then progress to use more advanced features that enrich the educational experience of their students. I love incorporating online discussions and media albums in my classes. •Anywhere, anytime - Teachers can set up their daily classes in Schoology, embedding images, media, discussions, quizzes, and more. This lends itself to all types of teaching experiences from whole class to small group to individual assignments. Assignments can actually be assigned to small groups or individual students, and these will not populate the Schoology feeds of other students. The Schoology course can be used to facilitate the classroom experience, but also allows student access to classroom content 24/7. •Great integration with G Suite - Schoology plays very well with all things Google. I love the Google Drive Assignments app, which organizes my students’ assignments so beautifully.

Inconvénients: •Cannot create recurring calendar events.
•Badges are only visible on Profile Page. I wish they were more visible on all pages, like they are in Khan Academy. Badges are also not visible on the iOS platform.
•I wish assignments had both “assigned on” dates, as well as “due dates.”

Commentaires: 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, to 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. Recently, 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 like 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.) Still to come, a cleaner looking interface with differentiation for elementary students!

Avantages: +Google Assignment App - this is a game changer for schools using Google and Chromebooks.
+Most open LMS - it integrates with more outside apps and programs.
+New interfaces on the way - a cleaner look for all and an elementary version of the interface.
+More question types coming for assessments including labeling.
+Options are available for assessment monitoring for schools and districts.

Inconvénients: -I wish I could move and resize pop up editing boxes. I create complex and visual landing pages with hyperlinks for my students. I wish that box were able to be made bigger and many pop up boxes cover information on the page that would be helpful when working in the box.
-Settings and due dates for assessments are in two completely different places when creating them. One is in a tab in the content area, the other is in the creation "gear" menu. If both are not set correctly, your assessment will not work.

Commentaires: In my 7 years as a teacher, I was always looking for the latest and greatest tools. The one thing that never changed, was Schoology. They are constantly improving their product and updating to make it better. I used all the free features of Schoology with my students. We took all of our assessments via their platform. They submitted assignments, essays, and projects via the other software. I was able to easily attach rubrics to the work that students were creating. My favorite piece was the discussions. It allowed me to elicit responses from all students, not just the ones who were willing to raise their hands. I would often use the online discussions to facilitate a face to face discussion in class the next day. I was able to use the responses from the online portion to direct and call out specific responses that could further our in class discussion. Schoology is an all around great tool, if you are looking for an LMS, it would be a mistake not to consider Schoology. In my current role, I provide more professional development support. I am working with teachers on their implementation of Schoology and other tools. Schoology allows me a way to deliver online courses to teachers and support them in their growth. It is a great experience for our teachers to use Schoology as a student, this gives them the perspective they need when it is time to work with their students. It also affords us the opportunity to show them some best practices of using an LMS. Schoology is a winner in every way, I wouldn't be where I am today without Schoology, and our teachers wouldn't be making the gains they are without the support of Schoology.

Avantages: There is an instant comfort to using Schoology for students and teachers. Most things are very easy to find and within a couple uses, teachers begin to develop confidence with the program. As a teacher, I was easily able to teach myself (with some online guidance) how to accomplish what I needed. The range of options available for free is outstanding and the paid version just adds the icing to the cake!

Inconvénients: There are times where it seems like I have to click a lot of buttons to execute something. There are some quirks (as there are with many programs) that don't seem 100% logical to me. With that said, Schoology is always willing to listen, things may not be fixed immediately but it is nice to know they are aware.