Opinions

Hear the voices and opinions of Justice HS students.

The switch to schoology: Helpful or harmful?

by REEM AZIZ

Online editor

Google Classroom has been the trusted educational tool for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) for the past several years but that is about to change. For the 2021-2022 school year, FCPS has made the decision to implement Schoology as the divisionwide learning management system. Schoology is “a learning space that enhances face-to-face and distance learning through communication, collaboration, and personalized learning.

During the fall of 2020, 17 schools piloted Schoology in order to provide feedback for the division wide use of Schoology during the upcoming school year. These schools were advised to use the new platform for student assignments and classroom communication in order to comment on Schoology’s effectiveness.

FCPS states that the three top reasons for choosing Schoology as the new platform is that it is “easy for PreK-12 teachers and students to use, integrated with Google Drive, and it has mobile management and grading.” Schoology is stated to benefit teachers, students, and parents by catering to each of their needs. It makes communication easier between the three groups, provides contemporary digital tools for students, and grants parents “more in-depth access to classroom activities.”

While there are pros to this switch, many high school students are not supportive of the transition. After a year of navigating various online platforms (Google Meets, Zoom, BBCU, etc.), many are reluctant to be introduced to the hassle of managing a new one.

Junior Pilar Zapien said “I’m against the switch to Schoology because Google Classroom is easy to use and very functional.”

“I’m against the FCPS switching from Google Classroom as the main platform to Schoology because the transition is such a big thing that all students would have to make, just like how we had to switch from in person to online. There were many complications during virtual school, and I don’t want to experience it again in person when using schoology. We’ve gotten used to Google Classroom for years, so why change it now?” said sophomore Richard Do.

In addition to school courses switching platforms, clubs and other extracurriculars that have been established and organized on Google Classroom platform will also have to transition to Schoology. This creates a hassle for both the students who are club members and the sponsors.

There seems to be a consensus among students: there is no need for a new platform to be added. Google Classroom has received little to no complaints from students and has been a reliable educational source.

Next school year, we will have the opportunity to see the first hand effects of Schoology and how students and staff will navigate the transition.