Microsoft Teams vs. Schoology Learning

Microsoft Teams is ideal for organizations where employees regularly collaborate by sharing files, working on the same documents, updating the progress, etc. This is because different file formats are supported for online editing and collaboration with the help of Microsoft Teams. Additionally, for every file which is shared among the team members, emails are not sent again and again which helps in easily managing and organizing files. It is less appropriate where the team members have to instantly reply to an urgent task as sometimes the notifications are not sent properly which may lead to a delay in the work.

Incentivized

Schoology does the job well enough, but there are enough areas of contention that make advanced use of the system unwieldy. District staff does not have easy reporting ability to determine adoption and use of the platform without having to export to another program for analysis. The reliability of the system is a huge pain point as we need to deliver the curriculum but cannot count on it being available when we need to use it.

Incentivized

• Video calls are great with Microsoft Teams. They've made big improvements over the last year and I rarely have issue with getting on. It's nice when things just work.
• The most used functionality is, of course, the chat feature. It does what it's supposed to do and you can create chat groups from whoever you'd like. We use it a lot when there is a special project and a team from various groups get together for a short period of time to get things done.
• An overlooked function is the ability to search anything within Microsoft Teams. Any photo, document, or chat can be searched and found pretty easily. I can't tell you how many times this has saved me from having to rewrite something or start over.

Incentivized

• Customer Service is amazing. If there is something that doesn't see to work, the customer service department is there to help! The help and support page is comprehensive.
• It is easy to embed various programs, web site and apps into this one LMS platform. This makes if very easy to customize.
• Improvements and modifications are constantly being made. The company stays ahead of current trends.
• Organization of courses and groups is easy, with many an endless amount of possibilities available for creation.

• I sometimes have a hard time viewing both the meeting screen and chat window at the same time.
• There have been times when someone in a meeting will totally lose their connection.
• At times the sound quality is not what it should be which makes it hard to hear each other.

• The test banks in the personal resources need to be more functional. The ability to be able to create folders for a course and insert multiple test banks within that folder for different units of the same course would be more efficient. Being able to add colors to different folders would also make it easier to identify which course teachers were looking for and separate test and quizzes from the unit and final exams. It would be nice if the tracking of the test banks could be turned on and off so that graphs, charts, political cartoons, and other images could be changed without the need to necessarily change the question. For example, using red for US History, blue for World History, green for Economics, black for Government then within each folder quizzes could be orange, unit exams could be yellow, and finals exams could be purple under each course, or whatever color made sense to the teacher.
• The graphing capabilities in assessments need to be more functional outside of math. It would be nice if geography students could create population graphs that would include inverted x and y-axis charts to the left of a regular x and y-axis chart with the ability to add age ranges in between them and then have bar graphs going both directions. Economic students need to be able to create dot line charts that curve to demonstrate supply, demand, and equilibrium charts. These also need both the x and y-axis so that price and quantity can be included. Bar graphs need to be able to have multiple bars in groupings so that students can compare the different measurements of GDP across multiple countries. Graphing isn't only for math.

Microsoft Teams is included with our Office 365 subscription and we have no intention of migrating off of Office 365 and Microsoft products. Since Microsoft Teams is included for free with our Office 365 subscription, and since we enjoy all the features, benefits, and functionality, there is no question that our team will continue to use the product

Incentivized

While we have taken time to re-evaluate our selected 1:1 devices, Schoology's impact on student learning is unquestioned. Students are able to connect with other learners, create and share products of their learning, and develop their digital fluency through their use of Schoology.

The overall functionality of the product is incredible in that it provides a one-stop solution for organization and communication. The product is also very well integrated into Microsoft Outlook and other Office apps. Visually pleasing and very easy to use interface. New features are constantly being added to enhance the user experience.

It's very easy to use Schoology. As with any LMS, it helps to learn some tips and tricks prior to getting started. But, each item is clearly indicated within the platform. If I want to add materials, it is right at the top of my screen. If I want to view the calendar, it is indicated to the right of my screen. Navigating a course and the platform is quite straightforward. Additionally, the benefit of Schoology's help center and user community makes asking and answering questions quick and easy.

Rare, but outages do happen

Incentivized

Generally good, but issue self-reporting has become a problem. When there are issues, it can be 20 minutes to an hour before it gets noted on the status page

Sometimes about once a week I get a message that says "Sorry, there seems to be something wrong". But it goes away in a few minutes.

Incentivized

Course saves or transfers can take several minutes and up to an hour

I think Microsoft Team is overall good application for communication, track Project work inter the teams and also intra teams. I have 7 out of 10 because it needs improvements in certain features like video sharing call, call drop, audio quality and connecting problems even after having good internet connection.

We have county-level support and district-level support, but their HELP page offers everything that is needed to answer questions and to find "how-to" information for staff. This includes video and written directions for every available feature. Schoology has also worked with our district to improve their product.

Too surface level with no follow-up. A

Sit and get with very little hands-on time. 5 minutes to try out a feature/question type, etc. is not enough time. Once your training is done, there is no option for new employees to get that training without having to rebook and pay for the training again. If you pay for basic training, that should be available to a district to use in the future.

I find everything I need for my day-to-day work.

Incentivized

We chose primarily because of the promised integration with the Microsoft Business Suite - which it mostly delivers on. That does give Teams an obvious advantage over competitors. IMHO Teams has a richer, more mature feature set, and the experience is more reliable and stable. Although like any of there there is room for imporvement.

Incentivized

As mentioned before, Schoology has a lot more capabilities than Google Classroom. Granted that Schoology is an actual LMS and Google Classroom is not. Assessments are better; guardian views and information; communication with our Student Information System; Better organization of files and assignments. I find Canvas & Blackboard difficult to navigate and understand

Incentivized

It does not appear to have a limit to how many teams and employees we can have using it

Incentivized

We use it 5-12 so scalability is not an issue but sharing materials between departments including common assessments is difficult without paying for add-on features

• User experience has been much better than the previous Skype for Business app. It has an easy-to-use interface with persistent chats. The search feature is very fast and useful.
• MS Teams has mostly focused on Collaboration and team building features which are very useful for organisational communications. This in turn has a positive impact on the overall business outcome.
• Scheduling meetings have never been so easy in the past. We can schedule meetings on the go without any hassles
• Since Teams is accessible from multiple platforms like Laptop, Desktop, Mobile phones, etc it has been very convenient from a Mobility perspective.

Incentivized

• Schoology has had a positive impact on my classroom because it allows me to easily organize content as well as assign content based on the specific needs/wants of my students.
• Schoology has had a positive impact on my classroom management because it allows me to easily embed everything my students need with no reason for them to leave the LMS and venture out on the wider internet.

Incentivized