Edmodo VS. Schoology

This week I had the opportunity to closely look at two different School Management Systems (SMS), Edmodo and Schoology.  When I recently subbed in the Lees Summit School District I had the opportunity to do just a little with Schoology, but my understanding of it was pretty limited as I had never used an SMS before.  For that reason, and knowing that when I return to the classroom in the Fall that my school will use a Schoology platform, I decided to examine Edmodo first as I knew I really wanted to take quite a bit of time learning Schoology.  I was really impressed with the layout of Edmodo! It feels sleek and colorful, easy to navigate and has some really impressive Professional Learning Network bells and whistles.

Edmodo Home Screen

 I think my favorite part of Edmodo was the access to join groups of other teachers from all over the world and access some excellent resources!  I found an excellent resource that offers prompts to higher level thinking in discussions of famous artworks.

To watch a brief overview of what Edmodo is, check out this video:

Next, I examined Schoology and spent quite a bit of time watching videos to help me understand its layout and options.  I really wanted to use this opportunity to feel comfortable navigating Schoology since I know it will be used daily in my classroom next year.  I found the format of Schoology to be far less colorful and overall just has simpler content.  The options to access PLN's from across the world are clearly not the important focus, but there is great opportunity to collaborate with other professionals, you just have to be a bit more intentional about who you are going to collaborate with.  I am so excited about the online rubrics and the fact that Schoology can score quizzes for you!  What a great formative assessment tool!  I had really wanted to play with making a mock-class to just start setting up folders and play around, but since my account is still linked to the school district, I was unable to access creating a class.  I was able to create a group that I designed to be a spot where all three high school art departments could visit to collaborate, ask questions, and share resources.  I think adding and embedding pictures, documents, and websites is pretty slick, and really begins to personalize the "blank canvas" of Schoology to make it more fun.

Schoology Resouces Page in my Group

To see a brief overview of what Schoology can do, check out this video:

I think moving forward I will save my Edmodo account for PLN contacts and then active start building my Schoology account for my School Management System.  Both are terrific platforms that offer different bonuses.