Edsby Reviews

It has everything in one: class lists, marking, calculating, parent communication, groups for student communication, at a glance information.

I kept may marks on Edsby and had a student move away out of province. His profile immediately disappeared. When there were questions and issues about his marks from the new school, I was unable to provide history. When I wrote for support, I received no response.

I like the fact that I can communicate with students and parents in terms of due dates, test dates, missed work (I post what I do in class everyday and attach any assignments), as well as progress in the course (missing assignments, marked assignments, etc.).

I don't like how I can't enter multiple mark sets at time. I also wish there were attendance sheets with dates at the top (not the blank mark sheets). I also wish we could make our own names for what goes in the mark bucket (the drop-down list is good, but I wish I could choose the names of some of my items - example: "Fitness" for phys ed class). I wish there was a save function for report carding because I've had it happen where I've lost my internet connection and therefore, lost my recent comments for students.

The ability to make online quizzes/tests that auto-grade and enter into the gradebook

Where to begin...
I'm amazed that any LMS software does not have an import/export feature for it's test bank.
I've had numerous times that multiple choice test questions had blank answers when the students took the test - although this should be 'impossible' since when MANUALLY typing in each question and answr choices, it will not let you save a blank answer.
When cross-posting assignments, some propagate when edited and some do not. But nothing on the entry screen tells which ones.
There is no way to enter in a test/quiz grade manually for students that require alternative testing methods - unless you change the online submission type to 'none' - which then deletes the info for all of the students that took the online test.
and there are NO UNDO options.
On many screens where an information bubble pops up - it remains there no matter what is clicked on and you have to reload the page to make it go away.
For assignments with a letter grade - there is no option to give a ZERO - and a U does not calculate in as a zero.
New pinned items go at the bottom when they should show at the top - or at least give an option without having to manually drag it.
Anytime I have opened a ticket with support - I either get no answer, an answer that is later contradicted when I ask for more detail, or a "working as designed" with absolutely no offer to consider that ALL of our teachers would logistically prefer a feature to function differently

As the School IT Admin, Edsby takes care of many details that I do not have to. This frees me to deal with local on-site concerns.
As a teacher, I absolutely love the Gradebook, the Classroom Journal, and the Library. These features allow me to have all of my materials in one place. I can go online just about anywhere and access my work. The journal also allows students to stay up-to-date if they are away, and they can have access to any work that was covered that day.

As a teacher, I really appreciate integration of student work and the Gradebook. Unfortunately, I have had too many experiences when students are unable to submit their work from their Google Drive.

I like that 'everything" is in one place.
I like that communication with parents (theoretically) is streamlined.

I hate the gradebook. It is inflexible and does not give me the information I want.
I don't like that every change is communicated so precisely to parents (for example if I change a grade, it adds a comment - isn't changing the grade enough? I can add a comment if I want to.)
I don't like that each item gives parents the percent it is worth out of the total. It takes away from my professional judgement and allows parents and students to calculate their overall percent which is something our board has opted NOT to tell parent.s

What I like most about Edsby is the ease of use for teachers and students. This year, I've been working to save time and money with limiting photocopies. By posting work on Edsby, the students can view the assignment without printing. The students can complete the assignments and submit it online without any additional system. This software works great and it is a great communication tool.

It is difficult to modify grades on a mobile device. In addition, I've request a gradebook filter so that teachers do not have to view the entire gradebook. It would be nice to have a filter for each grading period.

The best part about Edsby is all the amazing features it includes. You can store students grade and share them with students and parents, it's a means of collaboration space for the teacher, student, and parent to stay connected and up to date on student learning and progress. It also allows teachers to create test that can be assigned to students and the grade automatically populates in the grade book.

I have no complaints about this software it is awesome!!

Layout is standard across the board for every subjects for students.

Every time, when you move a unit, the assignments due date within the unit change to a default time due at 12:00 am. Best if the assignments due time default to at the end of the school date (3:45 pm or 4 pm) make more sense.

When updating entries in "Planner" the screen does not stay at the date that was updated. Instead, it moves to the beginning of the school year. Very annoying that I have to scroll back down.

VERY Student Friendly. Kids can easily navigate and find work

I wish the weighting of assignments and not just the points that could be scored.

It's pretty easy to use. Similar layout to Facebook, which most parents are familiar with. Students can login pretty easily and get around.

Tech glitches: signing on via iphone app, parents being able to post replies to posts, parents getting personal messages sent, etc.

I like that parents have the ability to be as involved as they want in what is happening at their child's school. It is easy to use, from an administrative perspective, and also from a parent perspective. Students have the ability to stay up to date on all their work, even if they are away. They are able to communicate with their teachers and the administrators of their school.

I had a few issues with the classes not having room numbers last year, but that was quickly resolved! As of this moment, there isn't anything I would change.

I enjoy the way a class is organized in different subjects and how teachers can be co-administrators.

There is no way to set up a post to be published in the future or to pin it to the top of the conversation.

Communication with parents, students, and staff is easy. I use the calendar daily in order to make note of due dates and provide message reminders regularly. Having an outlet to post important documents is also highly valued.

Seeing student marks is challenging; the print versions are poor as printing marks are not visible and print templates lack space to write information. Viewing data could also be more user friendly. It would be nice for learning skills from Report 1 to remain in place for Report 2 as well.

Teachers can take attendance and send it to the office easily. I like being able to send messages to students and parents.

It is hard to find a thread of conversation in messages and I am not able to forward a message to someone or add a person to the conversation thread. It is sometimes difficult to maneuver from student to student when comparing or updating information. The same for parents.

I like the features that allow me and my students to communicate feedback and check progress of activiites. Students and I can record multimple evidences of learning and create conversations based on the evidence gathered.

Sometimes uploading times and response of server is slow.

Love the ability to:
- connect with teachers
- see homework & due dates
- see extra learning materials
- child being able to hand homework in

I find navigation not always easy to do to find teachers or materials.
I've tried to message a teacher to ask a question but had to look for an old email to reply to it instead of starting a new thread of conversation
I'd appreciate it being very easy for my child to look up their schedule and what school day they are on for the upcoming dates
Practice materials would be SO awesome to have sinc KPDSB doesn't like their students having homework in the Primary grades - afraid of parents doing the homework -- understandable but then my child comes home with results less than their capability without having some practice to help understand the materials. Thanks

Easy to use and helps meet the needs of classroom teachers.

Messaging system should be more like email. Deleting and forwarding messages. Report card functions not reliable. Must have folders to store and retrieve comments.

It's so easy to use when monitoring a school of 650 students and thousands of parents. It's also easy to explain to parents, some of whom do not have a lot of computer experience. It's user-friendly and effective.

I sometimes have a hard time searching student names. I'll type in a name that I know is there, but it won't pop up. Mostly it works great.

Gradebook is a game changer. The fact that it self-populates at report card time is amazing.

There are frequent problems with sending attachments to students.

The wide range of features available for K-12. There is something of value for everyone in our organization. Ease of use when communicating to parents is an added benefit.

I wish they had more people on the support line. It is difficult to bring on new customers, add new features, and still provide the same level of support.