Next year all of our classes at Barnstable High School may begin using only the Schoology program, even though the majority of classes this year use Google Classroom. This makes zero sense, and they are choosing the worst of the two options. Schoology is so confusing to me, while Google Classroom is a beautiful thing. For example, when you turn something in on Schoology, it will still show up in the right hand column labeled ‘Upcoming’ regardless of if it’s completed or not. This is not how it should be; once you turn something in it shouldn’t show up any more. This just prompts students to panic and even do the assignment all over again. I should know, because it has happened to me. Whereas in Google Classroom, when you do an assignment and turn it in you can no longer see the assignment in the little left hand box labeled ‘Upcoming.’ 

If you bookmark your tabs on your computer, that’s great for using Google Classroom because it takes you directly to all of your classes. But if you bookmark Schoology that means you have to log in, it takes you to your profile. At your Schoology profile, there is a right hand column that displays all of your classes and you have to choose one to see your assignments for that class. In Google classroom, however, when you are at the home page where it shows all your classes, you can just see the assignments from that spot without having to make any additional clicks. If you just click on the assignment it will bring you right to it. 

There are so many different columns and places you have to go to get to your assignments on Schoology,  and it becomes frustrating after a while. I don’t understand why the school wants to make life more difficult for its students by switching programs. Google Classroom is much easier to use and makes students’ lives easier, not to mention, we’ve been using this application since middle school and it is what we are used to. The students that transfer or will be in eighth grade will have no idea how to use Schoology, and they will have to learn how to use it. Most students agree with these opinions. A lot of students do not like Schoology, and they feel that it is too confusing. The school should just get rid of Schoology and only use Google Classroom.