DigitalChalk, by Sciolytix vs. PowerSchool Unified Classroom vs. Socrative

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

We use PowerSchool Unified Classroom with our Teacher/Student work. Teachers can hand out assignments and have them edited and returned to the teacher in an organized folder, in which the teacher can review, grade, and send back to the student. Papers are never lost this way. Another way that PowerSchool Unified Classroom is used is to deliver assessments for district tests.

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

• It easily makes calculations for you to come up with a mark easily.
• It allows me to put my comments on assignments into the grade so that students get feedback quickly and easily.
• It is easy to use.

Incentivized

• 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

• I teach 15 different sections of classes and it is hard to view sections all at once to enter grades in
• Navigating through all of the tabs to know how to view grades is hard- whether it is Assignments view, or by students, etc.

Incentivized

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

They are very responsive to the issues that we have and follow through with their assistance. Having a live assist that is available when our teachers need it is essential too. They also seem to listen to suggestions on making improvements and have been transparent with us when renovations are done.

Incentivized

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

PowerSchool is similar to Schoology but actually has one less component: assignment uploads. Schoology is very helpful because it also students to upload their assignments on dropbox, which syncs automatically to the grade book, which allows me to view who has submitted things on time and who hasn't. I'm able to create Rubrics in Schoology itself which also helps the grading process because it ties in directly to their overall grade after I submit their rubric scores. Powerschool is helpful because it allows for attendance and access across the board with all parties.

Incentivized

• 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

• PowerSchool has successfully helped us create a database on our students and allow staff to quickly access student information.
• We have been able to coordinate the arrival of new students to multiple teams for student support.

Incentivized