While I am unsure if this is the most correct method to reach out and contact the PowerSchool and Schoology teams, I believe it was important to openly post my concerns in hopes that it might be passed along to the appropriate parties as I believe I am not the only long-time Schoology user with the concerns listed below.
My name is Daniel Talvi and I have been a long-time advocate and user of the Schoology LMS for over 8 years. I began using Schoology long before the influx of users due to COVID-related hybrid and remote learning and was a proponent and leader for many other instructors in my school who migrated to this system when teachers were forced to find a new method for delivering content to students when in-person learning was not an option. When I first began using Schoology, this platform was innovative and an amazing resource for educators in all areas of education— from vocational technology (CTE — like my program) to special education.
As I'm sure you are well aware, many school districts across the nation have seen an unprecedented influx of new instructors, including (but not limited to) teachers, assistants, aides, and integrated staff since schools have returned to normal operation post-COVID. As such, many new teachers are still in search of a platform that they may be able to use to manage their own instructional materials, collaborate with others within their departments or districts, and rely on other teachers/professionals in their content areas through a singular, unified platform. Many districts have already begun to adopt unified, district-wide platforms such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and (in some cases) Schoology Premium— but that is not the case for all districts and organizations.
There is a vast number of instructors (such as myself) who do not have the benefit of a district-wide LMS that is as robust as Schoology, nor do they have the influence to persuade their districts to spend the prohibitive costs to implements the Schoology LMS, nor do they have the individual budget to upgrade to the cost-prohibitive Premium tier for a single classroom or department— just to have access to basic LMS features. Furthermore, as stated before, Schoology was ripe with innovation upon it's launch with fantastic support and impementation of new features, such as Badges, Student Completion rules, and a proficient quiz/test and assessment feature. That said, the innovative side of Schoology has come to a halt, with many popular feature requests (such as automated badges, automatic "missing" grade filters upon due dates, better grade reporting/layouts, etc) beign ignored or stuck in development limbo without any updates or new information.
In summary— will Schoology ever re-open the ability for new users to register for a Basic (free) account? Will Schoology provide more clear communication to users (both instructors, admins, and parents) regarding feature development and improvements? Or, should I as an instructor who relies heavily on inter-department collaboration with a need for other instructors to be able to access my courses, start looking at alternative LMS systems?
With Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams becoming more prevalently used, with many of their features quickly matching and surpassing those available on the Schoology platform (with Google Apps for Education being 100% free for non-profit educational institutions with an easier user interface), I am finding it incredibly hard to justify and advocate for using the Schoology platform. The lack of development and restriction of access to a platform that has been free to use for years behind a payway is deeply concerning. I have spent near the past decade building curriculum around this platform with the hope of continuing to do so for the next 30+ years I have left of teaching before I retire.
While it would be an unfortunate and tedious process to migrate elsewhere, I believe I am not alone in my frustrations regarding the state of the Schoology platform and are anxiously awaiting PowerSchool's next steps so that we as the frontline instructors can determine ours.
