TalentLMS vs. Schoology Learning

This software is perfect for any company that has document/pdf-based training files that they want to convert into actual training modules for new employees. It is easy for new employees to use and navigate, and the quizzes that can be added at the end of each section/module are great for ensuring new employees' understanding of your content. It probably wouldn't be best suited if you need more interaction during your training process - but for those that just need employees to view and read text/images/videos and to be quizzed after, it is great.

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

• Assign a predefined route to a certain place
• User interface is very good and clean
• Very effective user experience
• Issues or problems are handled rapidly by their customer support team

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• We have courses that are required for each employee based on their job title, and then, many courses we consider to be elective for that job title. We have not found a method to distinguish between those in order to view an employee's performance on required courses only.
• Reports are only available by user ID or user name. We have some facilities or managers who need the user ID (based on payroll entry) and some that need names (employees they interact with each day).

Incentivized

• 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.

We have not had any problems with TalentLMS. It has worked well for all of our employees.

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

The support is great, you can either go online and get the training you need or you can work with talent directly to get the support you need, they are readily and easily available and are very friendly, the support structure that they have is great. The other thing is that from a bug's perspective Talent has never had any issue so I really haven't had to use the support outside of trying to figure out how to do certain things.

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.

TalentLMS is more all-inclusive with a lot of great options and the ability to upload PowerPoint presentations. Some of the other LMS companies required other software ad-ons, oftentimes with a cost, to meet functionality. Some other companies use a different format for training reports. Unlike TalentLMS, in which Excel-based reports are very easily generated.

Incentivized

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.

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

• Dramatically more cost-effective than alternatives, with greater feature sets. Made our eCommerce training deployment a breeze. Hard to attribute an ROI to just the LMS specifically but it would be a high multiple in a period of just a few months.

Incentivized

• 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!