Infinite Campus vs. Schoology Learning

Infinite Campus is very easy to use when it comes to looking up personal student information as well as taking attendance. However, it is less suited for making it easy for users to find specific language testing data, ensuring the viewer feels confident in finding the correct webpage based on what they are looking for as well as being properly set up for the viewer to feel confident in arranging a progress report easily as well as quickly. Lastly, Infinite Campus could better enable the user to copy progress reports in bulk versus the current set up of having to go into each student's progress report individually to print.

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

• It is very clean (not cluttered with information and buttons)
• It keeps all personal information in one spot
• The message center is helpful, and it is easy to see when there is a new message
• The breakdown of attendance is done very well

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

• The Gradebook is just so busy, even though it does contain all the grades/information you need, I find it very hard to find data/information just because of the sheer numbers and drop downs that I have to go through to get to what I want.
• Not very user-friendly for first time users - takes many tries and searching around to get to where you want. Gets easier as you use it, but they could attempt to make it more user-friendly for the novice/first time users.
• I'd like to see the drop-down menu for the classes broken up into separate folders/files for each group (ie. ELA, Social Studies, Science, Math). Then it wouldn't be just rows and rows of classes that make my eyes run them all together and hard to find the ONE I am looking for.

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.

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

I haven't reached out to Infinite Campus for technical support. We have in-school people who are trained to help us out in the event of a problem. We have had a couple of times where the system has gone down unexpectedly, but our school IT professionals were able to sort it out.

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.

Synergy, PowerSchool. Infinite Campus was definitely the "Cadillac" when looking at other systems. Other systems look and felt clunky when stacked against Infinite Campus. Although the company is not local, they FEEL and ACT as though they are right next door.

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

• Infinite Campus helped us to successfully meet our goals in the last Strategic Plan of establishing an electronic communication framework for academic progress between the district and parents.
• Issues with integration, or lack thereof, has resulted in loss of productivity and ultimately revenue since countless hours are dedicated to grading inputs that would have otherwise been spent on fulfilling other institution needs.

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!