Comparison of different online teaching platforms

1. Bottom Line
Google Classroom stands out as a convenient, full-featured learning management platform, but if
you're looking to manage student work with an emphasis on sharing and feedback, then Seesaw is
the tool for you.
1. Assignments and Student Work
With Google Classroom, teachers can post assignments in the class stream and add media, like
YouTube videos or materials from Google Drive. There's also an option to schedule assignments
ahead of time. Using the Classroom mobile app, students can annotate their work to more easily
express an idea or concept. Seesaw allows teachers to push out assignments with the option to add
voice instructions and an example in the form of a video, photo, drawing, or text. Kids can use the
same built-in creative tools to demonstrate learning with videos, photos, text, or drawings, as well as
import files directly from Google apps and others. Teachers will need to upgrade to Seesaw Plus to
schedule assignments in advance. Although Google Classroom's free scheduling feature is a nice-to-
have, Seesaw's creative tools for assigning and submitting work set it apart.
Winner: Seesaw
2. Differentiation
Seesaw makes it easy for teachers to assign differentiated activities to individual students, and
teachers have the option to view whole-class or individual student work feeds. Similarly, Google
Classroom allows teachers to assign work and post announcements to individual students or to a
group of students within a class. This functionality allows teachers to differentiate instruction as
needed, as well as support collaborative group work.
Winner: It's a tie.

2. 3. Sharing with Parents
With Google Classroom, teachers can invite parents to sign up for a daily or weekly email summary
about what's going on in their kids' classes. The emails include a student's upcoming or missing work,
as well as announcements and questions posted in the class stream. Using Seesaw, teachers can
invite parents to receive class announcements and individual messages, as well as view their kid's
work along with the teacher's feedback. Parents have the option to add their own words of
encouragement directly to the student's work. Google Classroom keeps parents in the loop, but
Seesaw takes the home-school connection a step further by encouraging parent feedback.
Winner: Seesaw
4. Feedback and Assessment
Seesaw allows teachers to customize which feedback options are available in their classes: In
addition to teacher comments, parents and peers can provide feedback on student work. There are
even options to share student work on a public class blog or connect with other classrooms around
the world. All commenting must be approved by the teacher moderator. Seesaw doesn't have a free,
built-in tool for grading, but with the paid membership, teachers can track student progress toward
key, customizable skills. Google Classroom allows teachers to easily assign grades within the
platform. Teachers can provide comments and edit student work in real time. They can also give
visual feedback by annotating student work in the Google Classroom app. Although Seesaw has
impressive feedback options and a great assessment feature for a price, Google Classroom offers
easy feedback options and built-in grading -- all for free.
Winner: Google Classroom
5. Special Features
Seesaw's parent app offers built-in translation tools, making the app accessible for families with
language barriers. Accessibility is a crucial component of any edtech app, and Google Classroom may
likely incorporate translation tools in future updates. Google Classroom connects and shares
information with hundreds of apps and websites, including popular tools like Pear Deck, Actively
Learn, Newsela, and many more. Also, the Classroom Share button makes it easy to share content
from an app or website directly into your Google Classroom. It's hard to ignore the incredible
convenience of using an app that seamlessly integrates with hundreds of other great edtech tools.
Winner: Google Classroom

3. Edmodo
Edmodo is another social network for e-Learning that brings all stakeholders together in a friendly
educational environment. It’s a classroom, an assignment collection point, a quiz-maker, a gradebook
and all you could hope for in a learning management system. Edmodo is mobile-ready and built with
responsive design in mind.
As we mentioned, it offers all the standard functionality that coincides with Schoology and
overpowers Google Classroom:
User-friendly, familiar interface of a social site;
Rich opportunities for sharing assignments, handouts, papers and worksheets;
Online circulation of assignments along with smart annotation;
Assignments with a due date and convenient task sheets;
Interactive quizzes employing a wealth of options and question types, etc.
What makes Edmodo special? Here are a few differentiators I came up with:
Teachers are invited to communicate with other teachers with the aid of Edmondo’s collaboration
features;
Edmodo’s Note allows students to shoot a quick question, share what we commonly know as a
‘status’ in social networks, or submit an exit slip, e.g. “One new thing I learned today.”;
Well-organized storage for documents. Fast, secure, with personally sharable files and folders;
The ability to create smaller student groups within a class (Schoology lacks this particular feature).
Now, more about the drawbacks:
Free apps in the store are only available to teachers from the US, UK, Canada and Australia;
As with Schoology, the instructor needs to make sure the students self-enroll before unveiling the
course;
The iPad app has been criticized as confusing. A simple operation like file uploading may take a
number of seemingly redundant steps;
News announcements and postings can only be displayed in chronological order. As a result, the
dashboard may look fairly cluttered;
Quizzes offer fewer options and types than the competition;

4. Like in Schoology, there is no messaging between learners.
All in all, Edmodo is a great fit for schoolteachers. From a budgetary perspective, it’s free, but only up
to a point. Some nice extras would set you back about $2,500/year per school. Check out Edmodo’s
website for a trial. You can sign up with your Office 365 or Google account, or just type in the
registration data.

5. Schoology
Schoology is a globally acknowledged tool that enables teachers to share e-Learning courses,
administrate classes, keep gradebooks up to date or just chat with fellow instructors or students. It
has a great deal of collaboration tools; in fact, it’s a social network that magically adds “serious stuff”
such as standards-based course building and detailed analytics.
What really sets Schoology apart is an impressive community of contributors. There is a huge
database of guidelines, instructions and best practices from experienced teachers all over the globe.
The Resource Center and Groups are a great opportunity to connect with other educators and
exchange knowledge and ideas.
Insights into student performance. Elaborate reports and stats on learners’ performance and
improvement scenarios. Students’ progress can be evaluated against existing standards (Common
Core, NGSS and other) or specific instructor-defined objectives.
Native apps. Schoology offers mobile apps that largely duplicate its web functionality.
On the plus side:
Great social tools: discussion boards, blog posts, announcements;
Advanced configuration for assessment and quizzes (such as time limitation, retakes, etc.);
Granular targeting for specific workgroups or classes;
Cloud-based functionality for sharing assignments (similar to DropBox);
Notifications by email and texting to keep the audience engaged;
Synchronized with Google Docs;
Online distribution and submission of assignments;
Web-based gradebook and attendance monitoring;
Top-notch paper grading and annotation feature. Schoology makes it easy to navigate between
multiple versions, deliver feedback in various formats and, naturally, store grades safely in the
framework;
Schoology addresses the global market and offers customizable solutions for US and non-US
schools.

6. Setbacks:
Many users report a rather steep learning curve compared with the competition;
Students have to enroll themselves in the system in order to start receiving assignments and
checking up on their own performance;
Sadly, there is no messenger for students. More features that entice open discussion between
peers would do a lot of good.
Schoology is aimed at K12 schools and colleges as well as enterprises. The corporate plan adds
unrestricted data storage, web conferencing and other nice pro perks. Feel free to sign up for a free
trial, and check whether you are satisfied with the standard functionality or prefer an extension.