Likelihood to Recommend Well suited for:
A busy environment where you want learners to be self-sufficient and to be able to access learning solutions at a time that suits them. For anyone who wants to access learning using different platforms such as iPad, mobile, PC, etc Anyone who needs a more in-depth learning solution rather than an overview of key learning points. Read full review Schoology does the job well enough, but there are enough areas of contention that make advanced use of the system unwieldy. District staff does not have easy reporting ability to determine adoption and use of the platform without having to export to another program for analysis. The reliability of the system is a huge pain point as we need to deliver the curriculum but cannot count on it being available when we need to use it.
Read full review Pros Enables employees to draft work goals and collaborate with their supervisors on a final version - improves mutual understanding right up front. Combines performance goal ratings with competency ratings and provides a blended score. Simplifies the goal weighting so you don't have to do any calculations. 9-box matrix provides useful definitions and descriptions so managers can prepare development notes or plans for individual employees. Read full review Assessments - Much more interactive and have more grading options than Google Forms Auto-rostering - We are able to use Infinite Campus to automatically roster classes and there are no extra steps Family/Guardian access - Schoology allows families to have a sign in and see student grades & work. Read full review Cons Would be good to have have a virtual "top level" (eg board) user built in to allow senior execs without a direct manager to be able to be set up with KPIs instead of having to create a dummy user Reports have difficulty downloading if pop ups disabled or in some browser environments When competencies are updated while a cycle is open, any changes don't effect that open cycle but only future ones. Would be nice to be able to have the option to apply changes to existing "open" cycles Read full review While this product constantly seeks to make improvements, certain features need tweaking. As educators enroll in various courses, these course tend to accumulate. If the educator is not an administrator of the course, it is next to impossible to get out. Switching from one course/group to another course/group takes several steps. Not always easy to find the course/group needed. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It's not that CSB isn't a decent performance management system, but we have decided to go with just one vendor (Workday) for an HRIS/performance management/payroll system so we can directly relate pay to performance. We are more interested in having just one system that "talks" to the other pieces instead of having to work with several vendors. It reduces the hassle of having to communicate with different support teams, having different contracts, and so on.
Read full review While we have taken time to re-evaluate our selected 1:1 devices, Schoology's impact on student learning is unquestioned. Students are able to connect with other learners, create and share products of their learning, and develop their digital fluency through their use of Schoology.
Read full review Usability There are specific things within the goals and competencies that are user-friendly. For example, the rating slider isn't great in my opinion. You can slide in between ratings which can create some odd scoring (if you use scoring). It seems a better solution would be a drop down where you select your rating. There are also some glitches in the system and have been told Cornerstone is aware of them but are focused on delivering new features. There are workarounds, but that doesn't seem to be a great answer.
Read full review It's very easy to use Schoology. As with any LMS, it helps to learn some tips and tricks prior to getting started. But, each item is clearly indicated within the platform. If I want to add materials, it is right at the top of my screen. If I want to view the calendar, it is indicated to the right of my screen. Navigating a course and the platform is quite straightforward. Additionally, the benefit of Schoology's help center and user community makes asking and answering questions quick and easy.
Read full review Reliability and Availability So far 100%.
Read full review Generally good, but issue self-reporting has become a problem. When there are issues, it can be 20 minutes to an hour before it gets noted on the status page
Read full review Performance The saving process slows it down. It doesn’t auto save. If you leave a page, it will sometimes warn you, but not always. When you hit the save button, a window pops up that says creating/saving packets. It feels very archaic.
Read full review Course saves or transfers can take several minutes and up to an hour
Read full review Support Rating My assistant could better address this issue. My perception is that there is not immediate assistance, and that there can be a wait for help. That is not a negative, just a perception. I have not used support in two years.
Read full review We have county-level support and district-level support, but their HELP page offers everything that is needed to answer questions and to find "how-to" information for staff. This includes video and written directions for every available feature. Schoology has also worked with our district to improve their product.
Read full review In-Person Training Too surface level with no follow-up. A
Read full review Online Training We bought training provided by 3rd party – it was fabulous.
Read full review Sit and get with very little hands-on time. 5 minutes to try out a feature/question type, etc. is not enough time. Once your training is done, there is no option for new employees to get that training without having to rebook and pay for the training again. If you pay for basic training, that should be available to a district to use in the future.
Read full review Implementation Rating I think we could have done a better job of rolling out the tool to our managers. We were under a tight timeline. In the training, we showed them everything and said go do it by this date. Looking back, I would have done it in pieces: for example, 2 weeks to write goals, 2 weeks to get sign-off from direct reports. I just let them go at it. Since then we’ve moved to agile development environment and are applying the technique to everything. In future would only do through change sprint. It is a big change I didn’t take it seriously enough. I had a team of 3 project managing. You need a champion from every department to make sure you’re getting it right and to make sure what’s happening is communicated. It’s not something you can do without input from department heads
Read full review Alternatives Considered Lesson.ly has been great to work with but it is a very clear and simple, user-friendly system that anyone can pick up with very little training as it is self-explanatory. It also has a great mobile interface and lots of different features that are easy to add for the admin but really impactful for the user.
Read full review I have taught using both
Edmodo and
Google Classroom . While both were easier than Schoology was to get in the beginning, Schoology is infinitely more powerful than either of them was. I can do so much more, and differentiate so much easier using Schoology than I could with either of my previous LMSs.
Read full review Scalability We use it 5-12 so scalability is not an issue but sharing materials between departments including common assessments is difficult without paying for add-on features
Read full review Return on Investment It's tool and it's only as good as the person wielding it. The investment in PiiQ was accompanied by a quarterly cadence and manager feedback training. We feel like our employees are given regular feedback and bonuses are tied to objective accomplishment. Read full review Using Schoology to build a foundation for a blended learning model has helped increase my students ABC rate between 15-20% in all classes! Using Schoology is forcing my students to become responsible for their own learning! The only negative thing I have encountered is the students resistance to change! Read full review ScreenShots PiiQ by Cornerstone Screenshots Schoology Learning Screenshots