Number 1 LMS on the Market

Overall, I can't imagine my experience both teaching using Schoology and leading professional development for teachers without Schoology. It has afforded me an opportunity to totally revamp my district's PD to something more teacher centered, self paced, and differentiated, by putting together an online database of modules tailored to our specific district needs.

Pros

This is hands-down my go-to LMS for education. Having used a variety of LMS programs out there, and having come from some such as Google Classroom, and 3DGameLab, Schoology is top notch. Constantly being updated, Schoology helps transition the focus from the teacher to the student. The best features are Schoology's ability to integrate with other tools, as teachers can embed edtech tools such as Padlet, Polleverywhere, Thinglink, etc into a Schoology assignment using their LTI integration. As they continue to partner with other edtech companies, some of these then become options within their platform. I have used their integrated Conferences, Lock Down Browser, and more. The ability to transition ownership to the students, monitor their work while letting them work at their own pace is truly remarkable and a game-changer in education.

Cons

There are some things I wish were available such as the ability to share an entire folder of contents with an individual student, or to set separate completion rules/dates for assignments within a folder. Not sure why these aren't options. I also think a way to automatically award badges upon completion would really help teachers cut down on time awarding them.

Schoology - like a Swiss army knife for educators!

I have used Schoology as a teacher with students and as a professional development platform with other teachers. I love all the options I have for sharing content of all types and engaging students in many ways. I constantly find new features to try out with my students. In addition, I am one of the system admins for our school district. I have used both the Basic (free) version and the Enterprise version. Schoology Support is always helpful, and while they cannot always meet my needs right away, they are always working on site improvements and new features.

Pros

•Ease of use - Most teachers, students, and parents learn to navigate the LMS pretty easily.

•Many levels of use - Teachers can begin using the LMS at a simple, basic level with great success, and then progress to use more advanced features that enrich the educational experience of their students. I love incorporating online discussions and media albums in my classes.

•Anywhere, anytime - Teachers can set up their daily classes in Schoology, embedding images, media, discussions, quizzes, and more. This lends itself to all types of teaching experiences from whole class to small group to individual assignments. Assignments can actually be assigned to small groups or individual students, and these will not populate the Schoology feeds of other students. The Schoology course can be used to facilitate the classroom experience, but also allows student access to classroom content 24/7.

•Great integration with G Suite - Schoology plays very well with all things Google. I love the Google Drive Assignments app, which organizes my students’ assignments so beautifully.

Cons

•Cannot create recurring calendar events.
•Badges are only visible on Profile Page. I wish they were more visible on all pages, like they are in Khan Academy. Badges are also not visible on the iOS platform.
•I wish assignments had both “assigned on” dates, as well as “due dates.”

Great LMS option for K-12 schools and post secondary as well. I flip my classes and it works great.

I use Schoology for almost all of my course work. I teach using the flipped classroom model and Schoology's platform allows me to share my lecture videos, conduct assessments of student knowledge and understanding, to give assignments, and to provide communication with students and parents. All of my content is available to my students through Schoology 24/7, I can make it available in a variety of ways, and I can make updates in real time. Recently, Schoology's introduction of the Google Assignment App has me excited about our switch to Chromebooks. This app allows you to attach a Google Doc (say a study guide) as part of an assignment. When students open the assignment the document is copied, renamed, and added to their Google Drive. No more students opening or copying a new version of the document each time they go back to the assignment instead of to the copy they made but didn't actually rename like the directions stated. The document is 'tied' to the assignment and updates no matter where they work on it from (inside the assignment or through their Google Drive.) Still to come, a cleaner looking interface with differentiation for elementary students!

Pros

+Google Assignment App - this is a game changer for schools using Google and Chromebooks.
+Most open LMS - it integrates with more outside apps and programs.
+New interfaces on the way - a cleaner look for all and an elementary version of the interface.
+More question types coming for assessments including labeling.
+Options are available for assessment monitoring for schools and districts.

Cons

-I wish I could move and resize pop up editing boxes. I create complex and visual landing pages with hyperlinks for my students. I wish that box were able to be made bigger and many pop up boxes cover information on the page that would be helpful when working in the box.
-Settings and due dates for assessments are in two completely different places when creating them. One is in a tab in the content area, the other is in the creation "gear" menu. If both are not set correctly, your assessment will not work.

BEST LMS experience for teachers, students, admin and community!

Moodle. Blackboard. Edmodo. Google Classroom. Each year of teaching seemed to bring with it another piecemeal LMS until we found Schoology! Schoology allows our teachers, students, admin and community to stay informed and connected. As a teacher, Schoology was easy to figure out due to its intuitive platform. I love the various features and app integrations that allow students to do much of their online learning within the platform avoiding third party site visits and lots of extra clicking. As an Enterprise user, I also appreciate the SIS integration with PowerSchool that automatically transfers student grades from Schoology. The group feature allows me to easily send updates about One-Act and Speech practice schedules or leave time reminders that can be routed to students' phones, and the groups also provide excellent PLNs for various topics. Admins have begun harnessing the power of online professional development modules via Schoology as well. Students enjoy the calendar view, which we have taught them to use like a planner and appreciate the quick feedback from assessments. Parents enjoy more transparency about what is going on at school and the media albums work great for capturing all of the awesome learning that needs to be recognized and celebrated. As a BlendEd Learning leader, Schoology is integral to day to day planning and organization. I also appreciate that Schoology is very responsive to user issues and requests. Their Client Success team is there to answer questions and trouble shoot when you need them, and the product developers are always taking suggestions and creating new features to make the platform more user friendly for teachers and students. Unlike previous platforms, Schoology is my one-stop shop that is here to stay! After four years of use, I couldn't imagine teaching without it!

Pros

-Ease of use
-Groups provide online PLNs
-Supportive client services
-Excellent BlendEd Platform
-Can align with CC or state standards
-Allows for competency-based grading (Mastery via Enterprise)
-Parent log in options (one log in for all of their kids)
-App works well on Mac and Android devices

Cons

-Can't create reoccurring events or assignments (yet)
-PowerSchool Pro and Schoology integration in beta only (Enterprise)

Schoology for Classes and Professional Development

In my 7 years as a teacher, I was always looking for the latest and greatest tools. The one thing that never changed, was Schoology. They are constantly improving their product and updating to make it better. I used all the free features of Schoology with my students. We took all of our assessments via their platform. They submitted assignments, essays, and projects via the other software. I was able to easily attach rubrics to the work that students were creating. My favorite piece was the discussions. It allowed me to elicit responses from all students, not just the ones who were willing to raise their hands. I would often use the online discussions to facilitate a face to face discussion in class the next day. I was able to use the responses from the online portion to direct and call out specific responses that could further our in class discussion. Schoology is an all around great tool, if you are looking for an LMS, it would be a mistake not to consider Schoology. In my current role, I provide more professional development support. I am working with teachers on their implementation of Schoology and other tools. Schoology allows me a way to deliver online courses to teachers and support them in their growth. It is a great experience for our teachers to use Schoology as a student, this gives them the perspective they need when it is time to work with their students. It also affords us the opportunity to show them some best practices of using an LMS. Schoology is a winner in every way, I wouldn't be where I am today without Schoology, and our teachers wouldn't be making the gains they are without the support of Schoology.

Pros

There is an instant comfort to using Schoology for students and teachers. Most things are very easy to find and within a couple uses, teachers begin to develop confidence with the program. As a teacher, I was easily able to teach myself (with some online guidance) how to accomplish what I needed. The range of options available for free is outstanding and the paid version just adds the icing to the cake!

Cons

There are times where it seems like I have to click a lot of buttons to execute something. There are some quirks (as there are with many programs) that don't seem 100% logical to me. With that said, Schoology is always willing to listen, things may not be fixed immediately but it is nice to know they are aware.

Communicate, Question, Appreciate

Pros

As a vendor, Schoology is top notch. I feel like the crew there is an extension of my immediate work group. Everyone at Support, our Account Manager, and especially their PD team are friendly and professional. I follow many of them on Twitter and we share ideas and thoughts on the product. I'm thankful for their responsiveness and their authenticity about not being able to do everything at all times, but to hear all concerns and appropriately triage them for the product's future.

The product is very clean and straightforward. I am a system administrator for our institution, so I am always poking around in the nitty gritty. I may be the sole user at our institution that uses as many aspects of Schoology as I do. From course level settings, to groups, to system wide, I am all over the product and I heartily give my approval. I can navigate through the product with ease and can easily lead others in doing the same. I support our faculty and students on using the product, so it's great to know when I point them to a feature that it will always look and operate the same. I might say that is the BEST part of the product: the uniformity. We previously used Moodle, and our setup was not uniform. Thankfully, Schoology is.

Cons

The product is young and still catered towards the K12 environment. The language, the features, and the community of users are primarily K12. While that's not a big deal, it can often make community events or new features irrelevant to the higher ed environment.
The only other downside is that there are not many settings for students with special needs. It is often clunky to create workarounds to accommodate students who need more time in quizzes or struggle to access media content.

Schoology is central to our successful 1:1 blended learning classrooms providing digital workflow.

The software is central to our curriculum delivery in our 1:1 blended learning classrooms. It is a core app that we use daily and streamlines communication, assessment, and assignments.

Pros

Schoology is intuitive for both teachers and students. I love that Schoology is specifically designed for K-12 and has a simple interface for primary students. Schoology provides students one place to access curriculum content, collaborate with peers, and receive immediate feedback from assessments. Our teachers leverage several features in Schoology including grading groups and completion rules. Teachers can privately differentiate curriculum materials to individual students or groups with just a click using grading groups. Teachers can also design lessons that utilize completion rules which forces students to complete on activity with a certain degree of accuracy before moving on to the next activity. Teachers can also provide students feedback in a variety of formats which can include audio, video, drawings or written. The feedback is available to students as soon as it is graded. In addition to courses, Schoology also has a group feature which is one place for teachers to share curriculum materials with one another. The content in the group is shared with just a click to any course. This makes it very easy to move materials from teachers to students without the need to download or upload files, creating a smooth digital workflow.

Cons

None. The Schoology team is responsive to feedback and the team is constantly striving to make improvements.

Sсhооlоgy сrеаtеs suссеss fоr studеnts аnd stаff

Sсhооlоgy іs а Lеаrnіng Mаnаgеmеnt systеm thаt іs usеd іn bоth thе mіddlе sсhооl аnd thе hіgh sсhооl whеrе I tеасh. It іs bеіng usеd tо hеlр dеlіvеr соntеnt, аssеss studеnt рrоfісіеnсy, аnd dеvеlор skіlls іn оur studеnts thаt wіll аіdе thеm іn роst sесоndаry suссеss.

Pros

I lоvе thе іntuіtіvе dеsіgn оf thе usеr іntеrfасе, whісh аllоws mе tо рrоvіdе thе fаmіlіеs I sеrvе wіth іnfоrmаtіоn thаt thеy саn quісkly ассеss аnd usе tо dеvеlор studеnt knоwlеdgе. Anоthеr fеаturе оf thіs рlаtfоrm thаt I fіnd vаluаblе іs thеіr аssеssmеnt fеаturеs. I utіlіzе thеsе аssеssmеnts rеgulаrly. Anоthеr thіng thаt I еnjоy аbоut wоrkіng wіth thіs соmраny іs thеіr fосus оn thеіr usеrs. I hаvе аttеndеd thеіr аnnuаl usеr соnfеrеnсе twісе аnd I hаvе nеvеr mеt реорlе іn а systеm whо аrе sо tоtаlly dеdісаtеd tо mаkіng thеіr рrоduсt wоrk fоr thеіr сustоmеrs. Thеy аrе truly fосusеd оn еасh usеr оr systеms suссеss wіth thеіr рlаtfоrm.

Cons

I wоuld lіkе tо sее thеm соntіnuе tо dеvеlор thеіr аssеssmеnt рlаtfоrm tо рrоvіdе mоrе mеаnіngful аnаlytісs оf bоth grоuр аnd іndіvіduаl реrfоrmаnсеs. I lіkе hоw thе соmmunіty оf usеrs hаvе а fоrum tо аіdе еасh оthеr. Hоwеvеr, оn rаrе оссаsіоn thе fееd іs а lіttlе оvеrwhеlmіng. I wоuld lіkе mоrе іnfоrmаtіоn аbоut hооkіng mоrе раrеnts іntо thе рlаtfоrm sо thаt thеy соuld іntеrасt bеttеr wіth thе sсhооl аnd thеіr сhіldrеn.

Life Changing

It has streamlined my classroom: Assignments are in schoology, collected in schoology, graded in schoology, I used it to flip my classroom and organize what students do and when. It has streamlined the work that I do to get ready for class: I can easily collaborate with the teachers I work with, I can set up one class and copy to others, It helps me keep track of where my students are and what they are achieving. I teach my students how to use the program to get more out of their own learning: They can check on their level of mastery, rework old assignments and quizzes (when I let them), they can check their progress, see what is coming, and know what is expected of them just by opening the course. 3 years after beginning to use it, I don't know how I ever lived without it.

Pros

I haven't collected a piece of paper in 3 years. It grades many things for me and I can get feedback on how my students are doing. I continue to have access to everything in a course even after it has ended. Schoology is incredibly helpful in fixing problems, and asking for feedback. It merges seamlessly with my school's grade book program. It has allowed me to turn my traditional classroom into a flipped-mastery classroom that use standards based grading. Differentiating instruction and assignments is easy with this program.

Cons

There are still things I wish it could do that it can't... yet. They are still working on those things.

Best Educator Software

This software allowed me to finally free up time and focus on my teaching instead of paperwork! Even better, all the tests and assignments I make can be saved to assignment bank, and I can reuse them for years to come. Absolute game-changer.

Pros

I am a teacher and school district I work for recently rolled out schoology and mandated all teachers to use it and I think this has been the best move in years. Schoology is AMAZING. First, it's very user-friendly (homepage looks like Facebook news feed, and grade books mirror many early-st