Schoology Learning vs. SchoolAdmin

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

SchoolAdmin has been great to work with and the advantages of the product definitely outweigh the disadvantages. With the frequent turnover in admissions offices, it is nice to have a product that is simple to use, easy to train on, and easy to learn quickly. Also, customer support has been great, and we really put them through their paces and they never complain. They also use their support team to help train you - not just give you a fish, but teach you to fish so you can problem solve on your own.

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 online application and checklist - because it is highly customizable, fairly intuitive, and quite effective for managing all the moving parts of our application process.
• The online enrollment checklist, forms, and contract - because of the level of customization, the level of professional appearance, the ease of tracking and managing students in the enrollment process, the integration it provides to our FACTS billing and payment system.
• The communications system - because of the possibilities for both internal and external communications are so vast, the ability to produce highly customized, personalized, and segmented emails, text messages, and/or physical letters, and the relative ease of use.

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.

• Not as flexible as we sometimes need the features to be.
• Data and historical information is not terribly accurate, which means we cannot use it for reporting.

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

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 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

Blackbaud's enrollment management product, OnBoard, was extremely clunky and did not support an online review process. The CRM was also not great. The only benefit of it was that it was a seamless experience, as Blackbaud is our academic software. The import/export from SchoolAdmin into/from Blackbaud has been no problem.

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

• 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!

• Customer satisfaction with our CRM is up.
• Completion of applications is up.
• Office use and satisfaction with the product internally is way up!

Incentivized