Schoology Reviews

Engagement Promotes Student Retention

Comments: 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.

Pros:

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

Cons:

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.

Better than our previous system

Comments: We like it! It serves our needs and helps us build a good learning community!

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Great for Educators

Comments: My overall experience with Schoology has been extremely positive. We used to use another program for recording students' grades. Once we merged everything over to Schoology, my job got a lot easier.

Pros:

This allows me to keep grades for all of my students easily. Schoology gives educators the ability to create assignments that automatically grade student responses. One great benefit of using Schoology is that it allows students and parents to stay current on overall grades.

Cons:

It takes a bit to get used to using Schoology. But after a few days of messing around on the website, you can easily use the program.

The gradebook makes everything take longer than it should for teachers.

Comments: I have no choice; my school district makes me use it. Yes, it allows us to post and accept work online, but many more improvements to the gradebook should have been made in the six years that this has been used by the second-largest school district in the USA. It may be better than other LMSes in certain aspects, but the gradebook sucks, as detailed above.

Pros:

It's better than nothing. 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. I also work with teachers who say they've used Canvas and it's 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.

Cons:

--NO SEATING CHART--should allow teachers to save pre-set comments in Resources to save time--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 comment--comments should be dated--system should be able to mark empty cells missing automatically once due date has passed (regardless of grading status)--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 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 automatically if student takes it late--should be able to sort students by who has most ungraded submissions--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 instead of having separate boards--Copy Rubrics should not make endless duplicates; should notify when they are duplicates --read receipts for messages--in Mastery tab, should be able to display assignments by alpha order, number order, etc.

One of the Best LMS in Online Schooling

Comments: It was an all-in-one app, because anything that you could possibly need as a student in an online school setting, it is so reliable and easy to use. I am also notified when I have a test or assessment that I need to do. I also love that I can see and track my scores and progress in my course.

Pros:

Schoology was used when we transitioned from face-to-face to online classes. At first, since I was a first-time user, I thought it would be so hard to navigate since I am not tech-savvy. I also thought it would be so intimidating and complicated, but it proved me wrong. It was indeed beginner-friendly and very easy to use for students and even professors.

Cons:

I have honestly nothing against Schoology because it was one of the biggest help I had when I transitioned from face-to-face classes to online classes.

Schoology - good functionality, but GUI is dated and needs additional admin functions

Comments: It has worked pretty well.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Schoology - Powerful, but User Friendly LMS

Comments: Schoology has been a game changer for us. As a district that previously used an open source alternative, we really took a risk by rolling out a new product that was not free. Teachers have really embraced the platform, which is allowing us to move toward a model where learning is individualized and focused on the needs of the learner.

Pros:

Schoology feels like a social media platform. It's easy to use and makes sense when you're using it. It has a tremendous ability to be extended with integrations with Google, Microsoft, etc. and connects well with other learning platforms that are important in K-12 settings.

Cons:

At the enterprise level, sometimes support the can be lackluster when dealing with things such as the synchronization between Schoology and PowerSchool. On the positive side, we anticipate with PowerSchool's purchase of Schoology that this might improve over time.

Helpful Online Learning Platform

Comments: Overall Schoology is efficient and very useful. There are times that it seems that I have to make 15 clicks to do a necessary task within the app. However, I enjoy that I am able to categorize my items within each class and then also collect and view the data from certain assignments. I believe updating the software in order to make the app more user-friendly would be beneficial.

Pros:

Schoology has a lot of features that are conducive to a high-fuctioning online learning program. Many things can be done within the program, such as connecting outside links, videos, and materials.

Cons:

I have not be able to copy assignments from one course to another that include Google Docs. If I copy this type of an assignment, the Google Doc copy does not attach. I have to personally go into every class and reattach the assignment.

Love this LMS!

Comments: This is a great product, and is super easy to use for almost anyone, it is lacking in some features but overall great product.

Pros:

This is the best possible LMS that I have found out there-has several features. Organized folders, quiz giving ability and integration with ExamView, discussions, and district wide setup ability.

Cons:

It is very spendy if you want to implement it into your school-hard to justify when Google Classroom is free. I wish the integration with google was more seemless, and the lockdown browser option was free for quizzes/tests.

Less complicated the Blackboard

Comments: Overall, I like the functionality. It's simpler to use than Blackboard.

Pros:

It's a streamlined system that's not clunky.

Cons:

It needs some more features. I thought the way tests were administered could be improved.

Schoology - like a Swiss army knife for educators!

Comments: 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.

Pros:

•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.

Cons:

•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.”

Best LMS hands down!

Comments: I've built many project-based and blended learning courses within the Schoology LMS that have allowed me to revolutionize the traditional classroom. We saw huge increases in student accountability and achievement, and tracking student progress has never been so easy. We also use Schoology to take asynchronous remote attendance with just a few clicks of a button. I am extremely proud of what my school has been able to accomplish with this platform. The feedback and ideas I get from both students and teachers continues to inspire me to take learning to the next level using Schoology. Our new virtual classroom is more fun, interactive, and engaging than ever before!

Pros:

Schoology is packed with features that let educators customize their courses and content to meet the specific learning needs of various populations of students. The user interface is fresh, simple, and easy to navigate. Many popular external applications are already integrated and available to use within the Schoology platform and sync effortlessly with the gradebook. For me personally, I really appreciate the way I can build customized, authentic, and engaging assessments from their wide assortment of question types. Schoology also has a badge rewards system where teachers can reward students for accomplishing certain tasks. Schoology simply is super customizable with a ton of features that other LMS don't offer.

Cons:

As a user of many learning management systems over the past decade, there is no area where I feel Schoology is lacking in. It is the best for what it does.

Schoology is a great way to engage students!

Comments: Overall Schoology was a great way to engage students and assess their learning in a more interactive and interesting way. The student's seemed to like it better than using just books so it was more engaging for them.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Schoology for Synchronous and Asychronous Learning

Comments: We use Schoology to provide synchronous and asynchronous instruction for our students across all schools and grade levels in our district. Overall, the experience has been positive.

Pros:

What I like most about Schoology is the ability to integrate multiple external tools within a Schoology course--you can embed videos, apps, and other tools directly within Schoology, which allows students a single point of access for all of the learning tools they'll need for a given lesson. For example, you can easily embed a FlipGrid, Padlet, or EdPuzzle directly into Schoology--this has been a great benefit to teachers and students.

Cons:

There are a few small issues that we have a Schoology users--the most notable is the inability to force-submit quizzes and tests on behalf of students who forget to submit their assessments. This makes it impossible for the teacher to grade a students work without having the student go in an press the submit button. Additionally, the inability of teachers to rotate pages in document submissions (i.e. the student uploads a document horizontally, but it needs to be read vertically) adds additional difficulties for teachers as they grade. Finally, the fact that when a student uploads multiple pages to an assignment, Schoology displays them in size order instead of in the order they are uploaded increases difficulty for teachers when it comes to grading because often an assignment is not in the correct order.

Life Changing

Comments: It has streamlined my classroom:
Assignments are in schoology, collected in schoology, graded in schoology, I used it to flip my classroom and organize what students do and when.
It has streamlined the work that I do to get ready for class:
I can easily collaborate with the teachers I work with, I can set up one class and copy to others, It helps me keep track of where my students are and what they are achieving.
I teach my students how to use the program to get more out of their own learning:
They can check on their level of mastery, rework old assignments and quizzes (when I let them), they can check their progress, see what is coming, and know what is expected of them just by opening the course.
3 years after beginning to use it, I don't know how I ever lived without it.

Pros:

I haven't collected a piece of paper in 3 years. It grades many things for me and I can get feedback on how my students are doing. I continue to have access to everything in a course even after it has ended. Schoology is incredibly helpful in fixing problems, and asking for feedback. It merges seamlessly with my school's grade book program. It has allowed me to turn my traditional classroom into a flipped-mastery classroom that use standards based grading. Differentiating instruction and assignments is easy with this program.

Cons:

There are still things I wish it could do that it can't... yet. They are still working on those things.

Schoology - Empowering Blended Learning

Comments: Schoology has transformed my own teaching and assessment strategies, and I have seen it greatly impact the classrooms of my colleagues. It remains one of my top recommendations for any educators across the educational technology spectrum.

Pros:

Schoology's greatest asset is its ease of use. When my institution adopted Schoology as the LMS (to replace a previous, more complicated LMS), we saw a 2/3 increase in active users, effectively transforming our classrooms. Schoology excels at communication (to your entire course, co-workers, or individual students) compared to other learning management systems. Additionally, schoology is an LMS visibly built around a learning centered classroom, unlike the obvious content-centered approach favored by prominent, older learning management systems.

Cons:

Schoology's ease of use does mean some loss of complicated features. At first glance, schoology has a smaller feature set than some LMS's. However, if you are willing to be creative, the platform engages very cleanly with third party tools to accomplish any functionality that may have been lost.

Communicate, Question, Appreciate

Pros:

As a vendor, Schoology is top notch. I feel like the crew there is an extension of my immediate work group. Everyone at Support, our Account Manager, and especially their PD team are friendly and professional. I follow many of them on Twitter and we share ideas and thoughts on the product. I'm thankful for their responsiveness and their authenticity about not being able to do everything at all times, but to hear all concerns and appropriately triage them for the product's future. The product is very clean and straightforward. I am a system administrator for our institution, so I am always poking around in the nitty gritty. I may be the sole user at our institution that uses as many aspects of Schoology as I do. From course level settings, to groups, to system wide, I am all over the product and I heartily give my approval. I can navigate through the product with ease and can easily lead others in doing the same. I support our faculty and students on using the product, so it's great to know when I point them to a feature that it will always look and operate the same. I might say that is the BEST part of the product: the uniformity. We previously used Moodle, and our setup was not uniform. Thankfully, Schoology is.

Cons:

The product is young and still catered towards the K12 environment. The language, the features, and the community of users are primarily K12. While that's not a big deal, it can often make community events or new features irrelevant to the higher ed environment. The only other downside is that there are not many settings for students with special needs. It is often clunky to create workarounds to accommodate students who need more time in quizzes or struggle to access media content.

Connect Learners and Content via Schoology

Comments: Schoology has been essential in our school's mission to be more agile and flexible when thinking about how we schedule and deliver courses to students. It is a major component of our success in meeting our goals.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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

A beautiful piece of software

Comments: Our business is extremely productive thanks to Schoology. It gives teachers a lot of control over their class and a way to organize everything in a way that it saves time and money. Amazing!

Pros:

I cannot stress how incredible this software is. It looks a bit like Facebook, which makes it both familiar and easy to use, the user-interface is a huge reason why my company uses Schoology. Schoology interfaces with Google, allowing embed of my google files so that it will automatically update in Schoology if I update an assignment sheet and/or calendar. Students can also upload assignments from their Google Drive. In fact, the interfacing means you can grade, view, and comment on all assignments in Google Drive. It's incredibly easy to use in the classroom setting and I have had student parents thank me for their children's learning progress because of this software.

Cons:

The thing I like least about Schoology is that while it has great Google interfacing, there's a lack of some other platforms that could be useful for people who might need that kind of feature. It's not a problem for me and my company.

Best LMS in the game!

Comments: Schoology changed my classroom experience for the better. It is integral to my classroom and our school district since we are 1:1. Schoology isn't just a tool it creates a culture in your classroom that helps faciliate community in the classroom experience.

Pros:

*User Functionality - easy for teachers and students to use! *Consistency of Updates from Schoology - they are constantly improving the platform whether it be with new app integration or ease of use in design. *Support - Their support team is amazing, and client services are impeccable. * Number of Apps that integrate is growing all the time! *Google Assignment App stepped up the overall experience and use for Teachers. * Assessment update changed the game - appeals to all different subject areas.

Cons:

Honestly none because any issue that has existed Schoology has responded with an update if there was enough need for a change! That is one of their greatest strengths as a company.

Easy to use!

Comments: Schoology made my life easier as a busy teacher with a split job of teaching Spanish and EL. I could easily see my Spanish students’ progress and didn’t have to worry about trying to add scores to PowerSchool since it automatically synced. I could also see every class my EL students had and could see what they needed to complete or needed extra support with.

Pros:

I loved being able to assign and see student progress. We also had the option of deciding what needed to be teacher graded. My favorite feature of all was that it automatically integrated and synced with PowerSchool.

Cons:

It took some time to get used to adding standards and just using it, but after that I don’t feel like there was anything negative.

Schoology helps organize classes and groups. It keeps everything organized and available for all.

Pros:

Schoology is a great organization tool for students as it displays all their classes and has each classes' contents inside the group. This allows for teachers to easily make assignments and information available to students digitally. Schoology also has a built-in calendar and notification system to make sure students turn in assignments on time. It has a very intuitive interface and it is easy to access for both administration, teachers, and students from both the mobile app and the web.

Cons:

Schoology can sometimes have bugs which makes it frustrating in a classroom setting. Bugs can take time to fix and can delay important teaching material. The settings can be confusing at times and the mobile app can crash at times. Schoology support also takes some time to implement essential features which can be quite annoying at times.

Schoology is our go-to!

Comments: We love this program and will use it for years to come.

Pros:

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!

Cons:

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

Pretty straightforward to use

Comments: Schoology seems great. I wish our admin would learn how to use it to its capacity.

Pros:

I love the easy look of it for the students to use and upload their assignments to.

Cons:

I don't love how older curriculum is not stored for the students, but that may be something to do with the admin of the product and not the product itself.

Schoology can help you get educated from home

Comments: Schoology is continuously upgrading. Since executing Schoology we have had the advantage to see various key new options be added to the stage incorporating LockDown Tests with Respondus, the AMP and Dominance Learning highlight, the Portfolio includes, and the impending improved Google Docs combination.

Pros:

Permits reconciliation with our school's report (grades are consequently imported to report cards for students and parents to see).Schoology has a straightforward and simple-to-utilize interface - it's easy to coordinate your study hall such that it checks out for the specific class you are instructing.

Cons:

While composing remarks on task, the default is to NOT show the remarks to understudies - so that understudies might see, you should click a container prior to submitting and it is basically impossible to change that setting. Students can get carried away from the main educational focus and get distracted.You may not have more than one student account.