Community reviews for Schoology

I have never used another complete LMS, but there HAS to be a better one when based on the gradebook, which is what teachers use the most. Some teachers at my school also teach community college and say that Canvas is much better. Previous to this, I used EasyGradePro and Illuminate, both of which had gradebooks that were far more customizable. I am literally writing this right now because, in my 5.5 years of being forced by my district to use this LMS, not ONCE am I aware of any teachers being asked for product feedback--and only a couple times have any noticeable improvements been made. I find this intensely frustrating, as I have a long list of improvements that should be made and nowhere to share them. I arrived here, not at the product's website, after Googling "Schoology+feedback" And so I will post them here in their entirety in hopes that Schoology designers might actually care one day. ASSIGNMENT COMMENTS --should provide or at least allow pre-set comments to save time (best scenario: teachers can add them for the semester and save them in a comments bank) --teacher should be able to set a default to show comments to student instead of having to click the box every time they want the student to see the notes --comments should be dated SUBMISSIONS --system should be able to mark empty cells missing automatically once due date has passed (regardless of if assignment is graded yet) --when student submits an assignment, missing mark should disappear --missing mark value should be customizable (not always zero) --”Mark empty cells missing” should be accompanied by the option of “except ones with submissions” --submissions should be time stamped --should have the ability to sort assignments in order of date of late submission --score for quiz needs to update if student takes it late PRIORITIZING --should be able to sort students by who has most ungraded submissions MASTERY SECTION --should be able to display by alpha order, number order, etc. ASSORTED --clicking on a certain kid’s assignment used to take you directly there, but doesn’t anymore --Bulk Edit should allow you to change the lock date --I should be able to type in a LAST name to send a message --Teacher should be able to merge rosters so that students on different rosters (i.e. SpEd) can respond to same discussion topic --Copy Rubrics should not make endless duplicates; should notify when you already have a rubric with that name in the course --read receipts for messages (better if only teachers could see) --make designing seating charts possible!

This is overall the worst program my district has asked us to use in my 16 years as a teacher. I console myself with the thought that this is not the first program I've been through and it probably won't be the last. Soon enough it'll be scraped, I hope the next one will be better.

Whenever we are loading something on Schoology I would rather want the assignments to appear at the top instead of the bottom because I often forget what I already posted then end up posting two of it

Schoology’s good impact on learning and teaching process. It’s the easiest way to communicate with students and parents , following up students progress and creating multiple assignments that match students individuality

If you are not a technically adept person who is not motivated to develop their own content, this isn't for you. Also, if Schoology doesn't overcome the service reliability issues I would not recommend it. I am extremely frustrated and disappointed after creating material for 3 entire levels on this software. As for PowerSchool, if you are a decision-maker, avoid it at all costs. Older grading programs I used had more features, capability and reliability than PowerSchool.

Schoology is a great concept. There are many excellent features. However, it is difficult to use and causes a great deal of frustration for teachers and students alike. I believe these things could be fixed and with some updates, this could be an incredible resource for schools.

Every function I used has a drawback. Keeping in mind that we pay quite a sum of money for this app a year, I found myself turning to other free apps instead, during the MCO. grading (automatically grading students according to weightage you customise) - this worked well but due to problems with the assessments, the grading function cannot be used. Instead, I had to use Markboard, a free online tool that does the same things with more user friendly features. assessments (for homework, assignments etc) - my students often upload items in front of me only to find their work missing because of a glitch from Schoology. I find this a very serious problem. badges (as extrinsic rewards to encourage students) - this works fine but there is no function to see overall as a whole school for the coordinator/principals view attendance - not too bad but then it glitched for one of my batch and all the attendance was erased magically. report card - this one was the silliest. Parents could see everything, including when teachers are halfway uploading marks. I don’t think parents need to see the process and the in between as we are discussing how and what the grades should be like. They should only see the final. But then when we click for the grades to be unseen, the principal/coordinator is not able to see the results. storage and sharing of files - it would be great if there is a drag and drop function. You will find that uploading and downloading files is more difficult than doing it on Google Drive, Wakelet, Trello or even Padlet. Why pay so much for something you can do for free. discussions - this is one of the few things I like and have no problems with. online quizzes - this is the worst. Imagine your student has typed an essay in and then submitted it. The notifications show they have submitted but it cannot be seem anywhere in Schoology. When contacting support, their response is that the student needs to re-submit. This has happened many times. I hate it when my students are affected. networking - it has the same interface as Facebook, which makes it easy to connect with educators around fhe world. However, I can use Facebook for this so why pay so much for Schoology? extension apps (youtube and google drive) - they have many apps that you have to pay for in order to use. Which makes no sense because I can use those apps outside of Schoology so why pay more just to be able to use it THROUGH Schoology.

I honestly cannot imagine going one day without using Schoology now. My courses are all highly customized and built specifically for the populations of students I teach. There is so much you can do with this LMS . I like how assessments auto-grade non-tradition types of assessment questions, how I can have feedback automatically given based on student responses, the badge rewards system, the vast amount of external applications build in the platform, the progress and submission rules system which allows students to progress only after meeting certain requirements, and the clean and easy to use interface.

Great for staying informed and connected with teachers

I love that I can provide my students with the resources they need and they can access the resources when they need them. My students can make up missed work from their absences before they come back to school. I can also more easily prepare and deliver lessons when I have a substitute and be able to see what my students have completed in my absence. It also allows me to easily communicate with my students about their work.