Teamie will replace Schoology as the primary learning management system next school year, according to an email from Tech Coordinator Mark Scharen March 28.
Scharen said it is routine to reassess the school’s LMS platform every three years. However, due to COVID-19 and changes in the High School鈥檚 leadership, the evaluation process was delayed in 2021.
Scharen said feedback from members of the community showed that Schoology did not meet the school’s requirements.
鈥淚t was determined two years ago that Schoology wasn’t meeting our needs,鈥� Scharen said. 鈥淭hat was through information we collected from students, teachers and leadership. We’ve also had some technical challenges with it consistently.鈥�
In August 2023, the search process for a new LMS began. Scharen said the tech coordinators used an evaluation sheet to find the system that aligned best with the school.
鈥淥ne of the biggest challenges for this whole process is that there’s not one perfect system out there,鈥� Sharen said. 鈥淚t’s rather ‘Is there a system that works best with us as a school, our culture and where we’re headed?’鈥�
Moreover, Scharen said one significant concern highlighted by teachers was Schoology’s lack of versatility.
鈥淲e had received feedback from teachers saying that they didn’t find Schoology very flexible,鈥� Sharen said. 鈥淭hey couldn’t design the courses they wanted to write them and they couldn’t present the information they wanted to present it.鈥�
Similarly, World Language and Culture Teacher Annie Yousey said she has experienced challenges with Schoology’s grade book inflexibility.
鈥淸果冻传媒s-based grading] is one of the main reasons we are switching to Teamie,鈥� Yousey said. 鈥淥ur admin team gathered feedback from everyone, but they ultimately decided on Teamie because of its flexibility with the gradebook. They have a lot of options that we can choose from. And if they don’t have it, they will build it for us.鈥�
Yousey also said Teamie is more effective at integrating media and easier to navigate.
鈥淲ith Teamie, you can upload and integrate videos, and they actually have a lot more types of questions and answers and things that you can integrate more easily,鈥� Yousey said. 鈥淭he document integration is also easier as far as fewer clicks than Schoology.鈥�
During the 2023-24 school year, teachers across different departments volunteered to pilot Teamie for one month. Yousey was among the volunteers and said the platform provided during that time.
鈥淣one of the companies gave us full access like Teamie did where they let both our teachers and students have access to try it out,鈥� Yousey said. 鈥淎nd even midstream, they changed things if we needed it.鈥�
Additionally, Scharen said since Teamie prefers serving fewer schools to focus on quality, its customer service is very strong.
鈥淪omething that really stood out to us was that their customer service was pretty fantastic,鈥� Scharen said. 鈥淪o, even during the pilot, we would go to them with some suggestions like, ‘Could you set this up this certain way?’ They actually listened to us and we tried to implement it.鈥�
However, Yousey said while the pilot was informative, she encountered challenges as students struggled to adapt to the new system.
鈥淚 had to keep both pages up to date, which was a lot of extra work,鈥� Yousey said. 鈥淩egarding the student experience, I’m not sure if it had to do with the unfamiliarity of the platform, but a lot of students said they liked Schoology better.鈥�
Ethan Agne (鈥�25), who was in the pilot class, said he found Teamie challenging to use.
鈥淸Teamie] was super difficult to use,鈥� Agne said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if it was because no one had taught us how to use it, but it was very counterintuitive and took many clicks to access things.鈥�
In response to students struggling to initially navigate Teamie, Yousey said different departments have made an effort to standardize how they present content.
鈥淚 hope [Teamie] will enhance the learning experience,鈥� Yousey said. 鈥淎s we roll it out the school is working on standardizing how teachers post everything so that it will be easier and straightforward for students.鈥�
Furthermore, Agne said the school intends to provide students with the necessary tools to navigate the platform effectively.
鈥淚 heard that teachers are going to start these tutorials in the fall to show students how to use Teamie,鈥� Agne said. 鈥淚 think it’s a good idea to keep everyone on the same page and make sure we know how to use it properly.鈥�
Ultimately, Scharen said the school chose an adaptable system to accommodate its evolving assessment standards.
鈥淲e went with a system that could adapt with us as a school as we grow, particularly as we look at like changes in our assessment practices two, three, four or five years down the road,鈥� Scharen said. 鈥淲e want it to be sustainable and adapted to our needs.鈥�
by zoe_karibian
