Schoology

RATING:

4.4

(469)

About Schoology

Schoology is a cloud-based learning management solution specializing in curriculum management, course instruction and system-wide resource sharing and collaboration. Users can upload course content and assignments into the database to create their website, which is hosted by the vendor. From there, dynamic content creation tools and a rich text editor allows for the creation of content and lessons. HTML and CSS tools are also available to keep lessons as visually simple or complex as desired. From the website, each student’s profile can be viewed to gauge progress. Color-coded workload thresholds will show if any students are overloaded. With web-based and native apps for iOS, Android and Kindle devices, Schoology allows students and faculty to collaborate and lear...

Awards and Recognition

FrontRunner 2023
Software Advice's FrontRunners report ranks top products based on user reviews, which helps businesses find the right software.
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Schoology Reviews

Overall Rating

4.4

Ratings Breakdown

Secondary Ratings

Ease-of-use

4

Customer Support

4.5

Value for money

4.5

Functionality

4

Most Helpful Reviews for Schoology

1 - 5 of 466 Reviews

Karee

Education Management, 201 - 500 employees

Used more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

3

Reviewed July 2021

It works, but better options out there.

User Profile

Nick

Verified reviewer

Education Management, 201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed December 2018

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.

Tara

Education Management, 11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed September 2021

Virtual Learning Made Easy

Overall, it's an inexpensive program that our district has adopted to use for virtual learning options. When the pandemic hit, students had to access their work through Schoology, and teachers had to use it to upload assignments. As a program, it is fairly simple to use. It takes a few tries at first, and then you get used to it. It has a wide range of options for uploading content including: documents, videos, YouTube and HTML links, and quizzes/tests.

PROS

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to create quizzes using Google Forms and upload them into Schoology as an assignment. You can also directly create an assignment in Schoology itself which is pretty easy to do. I frequently create math tests on here, because it is so easy and has different options like multiple choice, sequencing, etc.

CONS

I had to take an initial training course to understand this software better. There are a few confusing buttons when creating an assignment - but after a few tries, you get used to it. (I would recommend watching some YouTube videos about how to use Schoology if you're interested in buying this software for your school. They have some very helpful ones on there.)

Reason for choosing Schoology

It was more "official" than Google Classroom (free option).

Reasons for switching to Schoology

Our school purchased Schoology as an official virtual learning and gradebook platform.

Analisa

Education Management, 10,000+ employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

3

EASE OF USE

3

VALUE FOR MONEY

2

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

1

FUNCTIONALITY

1

Reviewed February 2023

The gradebook makes everything take longer than it should for teachers.

I have no choice; my school district makes me use it. Yes, it allows us to post and accept work online, but many more improvements to the gradebook should have been made in the six years that this has been used by the second-largest school district in the USA. It may be better than other LMSes in certain aspects, but the gradebook sucks, as detailed above.

PROS

It's better than nothing. I have never used another complete LMS, but there HAS to be a better one when based on the gradebook, which is what teachers use the most. I also work with teachers who say they've used Canvas and it's much better. Previous to this, I used EasyGradePro and Illuminate, both of which had gradebooks that were far more customizable. I am literally writing this right now because, in my 5.5 years of being forced by my district to use this LMS, not ONCE am I aware of any teachers being asked for product feedback--and only a couple times have any noticeable improvements been made. I find this intensely frustrating, as I have a long list of improvements that should be made and nowhere to share them. I arrived here, not at the product's website, after Googling "Schoology+feedback" And so I will post them here in their entirety in hopes that Schoology designers might actually care one day.

CONS

--NO SEATING CHART--should allow teachers to save pre-set comments in Resources to save time--teacher should be able to set a default to show comments to student instead of having to click the box every time they want the student to see the comment--comments should be dated--system should be able to mark empty cells missing automatically once due date has passed (regardless of grading status)--when student submits an assignment, missing mark should disappear--missing mark value should be customizable (not always zero)--”Mark empty cells missing” should be accompanied should be accompanied by the option of “except ones with submissions”--submissions should be time stamped--should have the ability to sort assignments in order of date of late submission--score for quiz needs to update automatically if student takes it late--should be able to sort students by who has most ungraded submissions--Bulk Edit should allow you to change the lock date--I should be able to type in a LAST name to send a message--Teacher should be able to merge rosters so that students on different rosters (i.e. SpEd) can respond to same discussion topic instead of having separate boards--Copy Rubrics should not make endless duplicates; should notify when they are duplicates --read receipts for messages--in Mastery tab, should be able to display assignments by alpha order, number order, etc.

Reasons for switching to Schoology

I was forced to.

Amy

Primary/Secondary Education, 51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

4

EASE OF USE

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

4

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed August 2021

Excellent LMS with a variety of features

I love Schoology. The few times I needed support, the individuals I spoke with were amazing. The features and ease of Schoology outshines other Learning Management Systems on the market. Other than the couple of quirks I mentioned above, this is a product good for a wide range of ages and courses.

PROS

I have been using Schoology for approximately five years now and I find it to be the easiest LMS with the most features of all the other ones I’ve tried. It is so easy to organize in whatever way is most convenient for you and your course. It supports video uploads from multiple different kinds of sources whether be YouTube or Loom or Edpuzzle. Students love the use of badges where teachers can send “gold star” encouragement to students like “most improved” or other distinctions. Students can easily email their teachers through Schoology. Course updates allow for whole class communication. The pro list goes on and on.

CONS

The biggest con I have experienced occasionally rears its head when I try to sync Schoology to PowerSchool. I find that some assignments will not sync. Even after I go through all of the usual troubleshooting details such as having a due date or the assignment title being too long, nothing will get it to sync. This is not a huge problem maybe one assignment and 50. What is frustrating, is that when you go into the sync page the error listed doesn’t tell you what to look for us just simply says “failed the sync. Another frustration I have is when I want to unpublished material to students In Schoology that unpublished material is then unpublished in PowerSchool. Just because I want to on publish it in Schoology does it mean I want their grades in assignments to be unseen in PowerSchool.

Reasons for switching to Schoology

Schoology had more features and was easier to use.