Google Classroom was rolled out to a group of teachers during the summer, and was made available to everyone at the beginning of the school year. With the introduction of Google Classroom, some teachers find themselves torn between using Classroom or a well-known Learning Mana
gement System.
My answer to that question?
I use both!
Yes, I know that using both of these tools requires my students to manage two different accounts. Yes, my students often ask, “is this on Classroom or Schoology?” Yes, that question becomes slightly aggravating by 7th hour.
Why then do I use both tools?
Simply because I need features that each tool offers, and neither tool fully meets all of my instructional needs!
Here’s a quick rundown of how I use each tool…
Google Classroom:
- Make announcements to my classes
- Post and distribute assignments (created via Google Drive)
- Share links to websites
- Assign and share videos (YouTube)
Schoology:
- Assign “Discussion Board” activities
- I know Classroom offers a similar function. Through Schoology, my students can post their original reply to my question, and then can comment directly on their classmates’ posts. I can also choose to hide class responses from students until they post their original response…to eliminate the temptation to cheat 🙂
- Create and assign tests and quizzes
- **GROUPS FEATURE**
- This is purely for my benefit as a teacher. I love being able to interact with teachers from all over the world and discuss instructional strategies and ideas for enhancing my classroom learning environment!
- Work with my Co-Teacher
- Schoology allows multiple course “administrators,” which means both my Co-Teacher and I are able to interact and create assignments for our students.
Google Classroom DOES NOT have this feature, and it is a feature that is DESPERATELY NEEDED!! - UPDATE!! Google Classroom added this feature! Yippee!!
- Schoology allows multiple course “administrators,” which means both my Co-Teacher and I are able to interact and create assignments for our students.
Thanks for reading 🙂
Was very interested in your post as our school currently has both of these tools setup for classroom teachers. I've played some with the Google Classroom features, and enjoy them a lot. Certainly if we did not have Schoology I'd be very keen. But, as we do, I've had a challenge in finding something that Google Classroom does that Schoology does not also do.
The four items you listed …
*Make announcements to my classes
*Post and distribute assignments (created via Google Drive)
*Share links to websites
*Assign and share videos (YouTube)
… can all be done within Schoology as well. My question is what about those four features do you enjoy more in Google Classroom?
Thanks!
Hi, Jason!
I think an indispensable feature of Classroom is the teacher's ability to not only assign documents created through Google Drive, but also to create an individual copy for each studen. This allows students to edit and submit Google Docs assigned by me without having to go through the process of making a copy of the document, renaming it, and sharing or submitting with the teacher. This is a feature I LOVED from Doctopus…I just didn't like the process of setting it up!
I try to use Classroom as a landing page for my class. My students are supposed to open Classroom every day, and then access videos, assignments, and websites from that page.
I hope this makes sense
Interesting post! Among the free LMSs (Edmodo, Moodle, Schoology, etc), I think Schoology has the most to offer. But, while Classroom isn't a true LMS in the sense that Schoology is, one feature of Classroom is very useful, single sign-on.
If you are a Google Apps district and have assigned Google accounts to your students, setting up Classroom is much easier than Schoology. Instead of using an access code to enroll students, a teacher can enroll students with the click of a button. Additionally, the use of a single sign-on across every Google service means that students don't have to remember multiple accounts or urls to access class materials. This is very helpful especially when working with younger students. I know that Schoology can be integrated with Google Apps, but I believe that is only available in Enterprise.
Your critique of Classroom only allowing one instructor is a huge drawback. It is really my one reservation about the platform. However, from the tech side, I can imagine that it would be a huge nightmare trying to code in permissions and sharing across 2 administrator accounts (teacher accounts are essentially admin accounts)
Like you, I think that Classroom works great as a landing page, and what it lacks in comparison to other LMSs can be supplemented with linking to outside sources.
Calter Moore
@caltermoore
http://www.caltermoore.com
Great post!
Do you still use both Schoology and Classroom, or have you switched exclusively to Classroom?
Hi!
I still use Classroom and Schoology together. I find that assessments and discussion forums on Schoology are a little smoother. I also like how I can create folders in Schoology and have my students view that same structure on their Schoology page. Just cleaner, in my opinion. I see Schoology as my LMS and Classroom as my DMS (document management system).
Thanks for stopping by!
Bethany