Most students and teachers are finishing their first semester of using Schoology as a learning management system in the classroom, and the reactions are mixed.
Initially approved by the school board in February 2023 at an initial investment of over $49 thousand dollars as a replacement for Google Classroom, Schoology was expected to be utilized in all high school classrooms beginning with the spring semester.
According to communications with teachers, access to Google Classroom will end for students in summer 2024 and for teachers in June 2025.
Seeking administrative reaction to the first semester of Schoology at WSSD, we reached out for comment to Assistant Superintendent Dr. James Conley, who led the Curriculum Council team that selected Schoology as a new learning management system for the school district. Conley, who will exit the district on June 30 to serve as Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education in the West Chester School District, did not provide comment prior to our publication deadline.
However, we received a statement from middle school assistant principal Mr. Stephen Krall, who believes that the transition to Schoology has been a success.
“Students in grades 3 to 12 across the district are experiencing this new Learning Management System in ways that are supporting their learning in a digital environment, and by allowing that learning to be extended into their homes,” Krall wrote.
Krall noted that Schoology allows easier parent access and communication due to its direct connection to PowerSchool, as well as easier syncing of student grades of assignments, classwork, or assessments.
“Big change is difficult for large organizations like schools and school districts, and this is always anticipated,” Krall wrote. “But even in this short period of time since the transition to Schoology began in January, many people are seeing the advantages of it, and that will continue to foster a better use of the system and a better experience in the end for our students.”
“Schoology is a fine program, but it just needs some technical fixes. It’s really just sloppy. The organization isn’t really that good, and the app is terrible. The emailing in it isn’t that good, and it’s just not as good as Google Classroom.”
“I don’t like Schoology... it feels like a website from the early 2000s. It feels so old, and it is extremely hard to navigate. The main thing that people hate about it so far is that it is unfamiliar, but to me, it’s not unfamiliar, it is just ugly. Websites and the Internet have improved as far as what you can do and how you can design websites, and the fact that they do it so stupidly just makes me upset. We’re paying for something that is more stupid.”
“Not even all my teachers are fully switched to Schoology, so I have to switch from Google Classroom to Schoology, at this point. Trying to find assignments and everything takes up more of my data on my phone, and it’s hard to follow everything.”
“I really don’t like Schoology. I feel like it’s definitely not user-friendly. I struggle with it a lot when turning in assignments. I have one class in particular where you have to do this crazy step to even attach the assignment. Google Classroom was so much better for that because you could just attach something from your Drive.”
“With Schoology, how are clubs supposed to function? Are we going to have to transfer that too? Personally, I’m in charge of a few clubs, so if I had to be in charge of a Schoology group and learn that on top of learning Schoology itself, it would be really difficult.”
“It’s fine. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it lets you do all the things you need to do. It is nice that it is synced to the portal, so you do not have different grades in Schoology and PowerSchool, like you sometimes had with Google Classroom. It takes a shorter time to grade, but since it is a new program, it takes me longer to set up assignments. I think it will feel normal in the long run.”
“When we first started with Google Classroom, I figured it out without further instruction. I understand for the most part why they wanted to adopt it, but Schoology is not facilitating things for me as well... I have not adopted it 100%, it’s one of those things that I have put on the back burner. With time, it will get easier.”
