Schoology


Schoology is a social networking service and virtual learning environment for K-12 school and higher education institutions that allows users to create, manage, and share academic content. Also known as a learning management system or course management system, the cloud-based platform provides tools needed to manage an online classroom. Schoology can help teachers contact students with homework and more. They can post daily reminders or updates. They can message students, manage the assignment calendar and put new assignments.

Services

The service includes attendance records, online gradebook, tests and quizzes, and homework dropboxes. The social media features facilitate collaboration among a class, a group, or a school. The system can be integrated with existing school reporting and information systems and also provides the security, filters and support that school districts require.
The basic product is offered to individuals, schools and districts free of charge. Revenue comes from premium add-ons such as customized branding, support packages, increased storage, single sign on, and data integration with existing student information systems.
Schoology has partnered with other learning services such as McGraw-Hill Education and National Geographic Society Cengage.

History

The Schoology platform was founded by Jeremy Friedman, Ryan Hwang and Tim Trinidad while still undergraduates at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Originally designed for sharing notes, Schoology was released commercially in August 2009.
Schoology secured its first institutional round of venture capital funding of $1.25M from Meakem Becker Venture Capital in June, 2010, following an angel investment in 2009 from an unnamed investor. As of October 2010 the service had more than 2,400 schools nationwide in its system and had plans to build out interactive content that teachers can use to support course materials and provide more access to parents. Enhancements have included text message notifications, mobile apps for iOS and Android, integration with Google Drive and other services, a shared resources library, and a question importer for tests and quizzes. As of October 2019 it was reported that the service is used in over 60,000 schools.