At eight o’clock on a Wednesday night in mid-May, I sat at my computer, trying to figure out what homework I had due the next day. I spent at least 25 minutes scrolling through each course page on Moodle, locating the class week I was in, and recording what homework I had to do on a piece of paper. Then I spent another 20 minutes flipping from page to page, going into the assignments, downloading readings, following links, and trying to submit any writing I had done into a submission box that for whatever reason failed half the time.
These tasks consumed a lot of my time each night, and contributed to my disorganization because Moodle was inherently disorganized. Assignments were hard to find, the calendar was hard to use, and class pages were hard to navigate.
In June Seattle Academy made a decision that would positively impact the lives of Seattle Academy students. The school decided to leave Moodle behind and switch to Schoology.
My senior year will be my 7th year attending Seattle Academy, and ever since I was in the sixth grade I have been using Moodle for all my classes. When I received that fateful email announcing our platform switch from Moodle to Schoology, I was scared, and for good reason.
I have never considered myself a tech-savvy person. In fact I would say I am horrible with technology. So when I discovered I would have to learn how to navigate a new site to keep track of my work, I was very concerned that the switch would take a toll on my organization, and potentially my grades. However, it did not take long after opening Schoology for the first time in early August to realize that making the switch would be incredibly beneficial.
Schoology has helped me immensely this year. The site offers many features that Moodle failed to provide, and contains improved versions of features that Moodle did offer. Schoology allows for easier access and more user-friendly versions of viewing grades, keeping track of due dates, uploading documents, and opening reading assignment.
Schoology also provides more ways for teachers to organize projects and materials into folders. I can now access a full calendar right on my dashboard after login and easily add personal events to that calendar. I can also view reading assignments directly on the Schoology website, resulting in my not have to spend time every night downloading reading selections.
Schoology offers a free app, which enables me to access it through my phone, and keep track of what I need to do even during busy days when I may not be able to sit down on my laptop until later at night. Not only does Schoology have many new helpful features, but all of them are easy to use, and the site did not take me long to figure out because it is laid out well, nothing is hard to find, and everything is clearly labeled.
Through Schoology I have been able to improve my organization and cut down on the amount of time I have to spend locating assignments, downloading documents, and attempting to upload assignments to the teacher for grading.
Thank you, Seattle Academy, for switching to Schoology!