Schoology

Schoology is a learning management software which has a free account if you're solo at the moment and premium plans with advanced features for organizations. The Enterprise plan includes an API which you can use to extend your platform into other software or infrastructure you may be currently using. It also has audio and video recording, advanced role and permissions creation, better analytics reporting and the ability to customize your whole account to have your school's name, logo and colors which is good. The basic free platform is something like a social network in terms of interface and user experience design. It has parental account available which is good though parents must respect the teacher and student boundary and the account is setup this way. You have gamification features in your account which I like. Healthy competition is a good thing in the right context. It's similar to Edmodo in that is a free learning management platform for teachers, students and parents. The extensions are good I was pleasantly surprised to find note taking and cloud file storage integrations available such as Box and Dropbox. And the Khan Academy is great integration in my opinion. If you haven't checked it out there are hundreds if not thousands of amazing free courses there to learn from. Some of the courses are from famous art galleries and museums. Pixar has a course there. Nasa too. It's awesome and you can import them into Schoology so you can organize and offer them from there and I think that is outstanding. The Calendar is a great tool with useful functionality in your account. You can utilize color coding, filtering with drag and drop technology as well making it a very helpful, practical tool you could use every day. Teachers, students and parents only see what is relevant to their role in accounts but to have this common calendar from the admin side is a great way to minimize miscommunication and keep everyone on the same page. Another use for this software would be for small businesses who could use it to setup training which they offer new hires. It has everything to organize learning but this doesn't have to be only for organized schooling. Fire and safety training, chemical and hazardous materials safety courses, CPR and first aid training are a few ideas this could be a great free software to be used by start ups.

Almost everyone who reviews this software has great things to say and Schoology is certainly in some large school districts so it is trusted more or less all around though there is the odd report that it is difficult to maintain consistent content posting by teachers and students. And that quizzes and other items may crash at times. I have not seen this in the least but I needed to have so many words here and it's the only negative thing I noticed to keep in mind, so far. Perhaps testing everything in real time over a few days prior to the start of classes is a good idea. Don't leave it to the last minute so you have knowledge of the process how to deliver your education in the most streamlined, reliable way. Practice helps, of course.

Overall, one should not complain too much about anything of actual value that is free. Schoology is a beautiful thing in that it is free and it offers one of the most vital aspects of humanity; education. The fact that you can integrate with a lot of helpful third parties yet not compromise the message or security for anyone, as well as the Khan Academy is very cool. The courses there are amazing and diverse. Importing courses was one of the first things I did to setup my account in Schoology within five minutes of entering it. The account is setup well enough it was easy to do and I highly recommend this platform for teachers, students and parents alike.