Edmodo & Schoology: Let's get connected!
Hey everyone! Let's talk about Learning Management Systems. If you've been reading this blog, I submitted a post about Google Classroom a few months ago (you can revisit that post here) and I praised it for being user-friendly with a professional, creative-looking layout. I love that it allows teachers to share and post a variety of resources. Google has so many different tools that are able to weave and work together that the possibilities are fairly endless. However, this week I learned about two new systems that share some of those same qualities, but add some additional tools that educators may find helpful as well.
First, let's discuss Schoology. Schoology is more interactive than Classroom in that it allows for more collaboration between teacher & student, as well as teacher & teacher. Schoology is still synchronized with Google Docs to allow for easy document/file sharing and editing. It allows teachers to post tests, quizzes & polls with immediate results, as well as collecting homework through a dropbox, posting discussion forums, and sharing important resources. One thing that sets Schoology (and Edmodo) apart from Google Classroom is that it offers an online gradebook for easy score tracking. I liked Schoology, but to be honest, there seems to be a bit of a learning curve with using it. Its format isn't quite as friendly as Classroom or Edmodo, and while it has a great library of resources, it isn't my top choice.
Edmodo, on the other hand, has stolen my heart this week. Again, teachers can share ideas, files, and assignments with students and other teachers. Like Schoology, users must register with a specific class code to join your website, which is good for safety and privacy. I like that assignments can easily be sent to individual students with the ability to provide specific feedback and track grades. I LOVE that, as students work on assignments, their Office Online program saves their work automatically (avoiding any technological difficulties) and that assignments come with a "read receipt" allowing teachers to see which students have or have not accessed an assignment. Here is a video showing some of the best classroom tools to engage students using this technology:
First, let's discuss Schoology. Schoology is more interactive than Classroom in that it allows for more collaboration between teacher & student, as well as teacher & teacher. Schoology is still synchronized with Google Docs to allow for easy document/file sharing and editing. It allows teachers to post tests, quizzes & polls with immediate results, as well as collecting homework through a dropbox, posting discussion forums, and sharing important resources. One thing that sets Schoology (and Edmodo) apart from Google Classroom is that it offers an online gradebook for easy score tracking. I liked Schoology, but to be honest, there seems to be a bit of a learning curve with using it. Its format isn't quite as friendly as Classroom or Edmodo, and while it has a great library of resources, it isn't my top choice.
Edmodo, on the other hand, has stolen my heart this week. Again, teachers can share ideas, files, and assignments with students and other teachers. Like Schoology, users must register with a specific class code to join your website, which is good for safety and privacy. I like that assignments can easily be sent to individual students with the ability to provide specific feedback and track grades. I LOVE that, as students work on assignments, their Office Online program saves their work automatically (avoiding any technological difficulties) and that assignments come with a "read receipt" allowing teachers to see which students have or have not accessed an assignment. Here is a video showing some of the best classroom tools to engage students using this technology:
Needless to say, every teacher is entitled to his or her own opinion, and the learning management system that works best for me may not be what works best for you, but I found this chart super helpful in comparing the features of each program:
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