DigitalChalk, by Sciolytix vs. LearnUpon vs. Schoology Learning

As I've stated, the best scenario for an organization to use DigitalChalk is in a highly structured course delivery format where information does not change often, where the course doesn't need any hands-on facilitating, and the outcomes can be automatically assessed. For certificate courses, DigitalChalk has everything the organization needs to implement their courses and certificate delivery.

Incentivized

With regard to course construction and design, I think LearnUpon excels in many areas. There tends to be a bit of a learning curve for new users, but the dashboard interface and finding courses that a student has enrolled in is pretty quickly resolved, and it is very convenient to house materials in LearnUpon and ensure that students are able to access them, rather than having to rely on printing materials and/or manually distributing documents through emails or some other digital means (DropBox, Drive, Hightail, etc.). It is, for all intents and purposes a Learning Management System, and is intended to manage and track students' coursework and learning. I will say though, that in terms of record-keeping, is an area where it falters. Finding and maintaining receipts of orders placed through the storefront is not convenient from an administrative standpoint. Processing a refund for a student if we cancel a class, that was an enrollment transferred from a previous class, is clunky. Guaranteeing that members are able to purchase course enrollments under their specific price tier, while at the same time preventing non-members from doing so, is not convenient and not something that is easily fixable. Currently, new users can only [default] to either members OR non-members, and that classification has to be manually adjusted. Given that some organizations can run into above 10,000 members, this is an obvious challenge.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

• While I used the platform, it improved its integrations with PowerPoint, making it easy to convert slides to the DigitalChalk format.
• The editing layers for audio underneath the slides is very user-friendly and easy to use.
• While we didn't use the quiz randomization, I liked how there was a structure built to it so that those who had more robust usage situations than ours would be able to improve engagement and assess learning at a higher level.

Incentivized

• LearnUpon has EXCELLENT support. I have always been quickly and effectively taken care of whenever I had a problem (the majority of the "problems" were simply my perception; turned out not to be problems at all).
• LearnUpon has a simple, intuitive interface that works and rarely causes problems. Obviously, they heavily user-tested the interface before implementing. Too many LMSes do not do this and the interfaces which have been designed by software nerds are super hard to navigate.
• LearnUpon has lots of features packed into one system. You can host multiple "portals" for different audiences, you can have learning paths, you can upload videos and documents of all kinds. It just works and is not limiting.
• LearnUpon has an EXCELLENT test creation/implementation feature which I have not seen in any other LMS I have used.

Incentivized

• Customer Service is amazing. If there is something that doesn't see to work, the customer service department is there to help! The help and support page is comprehensive.
• It is easy to embed various programs, web site and apps into this one LMS platform. This makes if very easy to customize.
• Improvements and modifications are constantly being made. The company stays ahead of current trends.
• Organization of courses and groups is easy, with many an endless amount of possibilities available for creation.

• The administration of Digital Chalk is very easy. The function I think may be missing is an easy way to add revisions and assign them to the students who need them. For example, when you update a piece of a course it would have an indication that it is version xxx and would ask who would like to assign it to - everyone who has taken it before or just new students.
• It would nice to have the system recognize when a student has already completed an element of a course that may be used in another course. For example, if video A is part of courses 1 and 2, and the student already watched it in course 1, it would ask the administrator if they should get automated credit for it in course 2, as well.

Incentivized

• No integration with a payment gateway that shows in a students account what courses they have purchased at what price.
• There is some confusion on when registering for the LMS that only a username and password need to be supplied, it does not require a first and last name.
• Limited function of coupon codes, too many restrictions make us come up with work around in order to utilize coupons.
• They ability to group students by the course type they are selecting not just custom data fields.

Incentivized

• The test banks in the personal resources need to be more functional. The ability to be able to create folders for a course and insert multiple test banks within that folder for different units of the same course would be more efficient. Being able to add colors to different folders would also make it easier to identify which course teachers were looking for and separate test and quizzes from the unit and final exams. It would be nice if the tracking of the test banks could be turned on and off so that graphs, charts, political cartoons, and other images could be changed without the need to necessarily change the question. For example, using red for US History, blue for World History, green for Economics, black for Government then within each folder quizzes could be orange, unit exams could be yellow, and finals exams could be purple under each course, or whatever color made sense to the teacher.
• The graphing capabilities in assessments need to be more functional outside of math. It would be nice if geography students could create population graphs that would include inverted x and y-axis charts to the left of a regular x and y-axis chart with the ability to add age ranges in between them and then have bar graphs going both directions. Economic students need to be able to create dot line charts that curve to demonstrate supply, demand, and equilibrium charts. These also need both the x and y-axis so that price and quantity can be included. Bar graphs need to be able to have multiple bars in groupings so that students can compare the different measurements of GDP across multiple countries. Graphing isn't only for math.

We've been a customer for six years and I don't see that changing anytime soon. We're very happy with LearnUpon.

Incentivized

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.

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.

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

Course saves or transfers can take several minutes and up to an hour

As I mentioned previously, Digital Chalk's customer support is excellent. I also got a reply back within an hour, and it was usually the same person. So, they were familiar with our needs and how we were using the system. Honestly, most of the time we had to contact their support, it was an issue on the user's side, not in the software. Yet, they still helped identify the issue and consulted on how to fix it.

Incentivized

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.

Too surface level with no follow-up. A

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.

I've worked with Cornerstone, Saba, SuccessFactors, and Blackboard. As an administrator, those systems are a beast to learn and require someone to spend a large portion of their time supporting them. Once you are their customer, their customer support is almost nonexistent. There are so many functions and settings that it's just overwhelming. By contrast, we had Digital Chalk up and running in a week with minimal issues. The administrative side is so much easier and doesn't require hours of involvement. The customer support is the best support I've ever had with any software, even outside of LMSs.

Incentivized

You cannot publicly post badges from LU which you can with Credly. That would be a nice feature. LU is a much nicer interface than both SumTotal and YourMembership/Crowdwisdom. However, course searchability was much easier in your membership. Course creation is much easier in LU. From an administration perspective, I think LU is easier to use, including standard reporting. Your membership has a much better self-assessment product than LearnUpon. You can rank your confidence when answering questions. You can also do more robust mapping

Incentivized

As mentioned before, Schoology has a lot more capabilities than Google Classroom. Granted that Schoology is an actual LMS and Google Classroom is not. Assessments are better; guardian views and information; communication with our Student Information System; Better organization of files and assignments. I find Canvas & Blackboard difficult to navigate and understand

Incentivized

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

• Digital Chalk allowed us to move the vast majority of our leadership development training online. This allowed our field managers to spend more time on coaching and mentoring than delivering training. Previously, our field managers were having to spend 48-72 hours training, plus travel expenses.
• Many of our learners had prior negative experiences using online training. After switching to Digital Chalk our learning engagement increased over 100%. The vast majority of feedback receive is positive in regards to the software.

Incentivized

• LearnUpon helped us significantly reduce the cost of travel and lodging for staff and trainers who would previously have had to travel to participate in learning.
• LearnUpon helped introduce our organization to the concept of online learning and asynchronous study.
• LearnUpon helps us improve our staff's technological literacy by giving them a friendly and inviting system to learn from independently.

Incentivized

• Schoology has had a positive impact on my classroom because it allows me to easily organize content as well as assign content based on the specific needs/wants of my students.
• Schoology has had a positive impact on my classroom management because it allows me to easily embed everything my students need with no reason for them to leave the LMS and venture out on the wider internet.

Incentivized