Holy Schoology! Just give us one portal

Ella Gourley, Staff Writer

Constantly adding pages to bookmarks and switching back and forth from multiple tabs is irritating.

But it is not uncommon.

Students use wide range of online portals that teachers require in their classes. From Google Classroom to Schoology to Quia to Quizlet, there are several ways teachers handout assignments or give tests online.

The school should limit the hassle and confusion of multiple portals by choosing one platform to be used throughout the school. The best option for the widespread use of one website would be Google Classroom.

Schools have entered an age where classrooms are almost paperless, and teachers are more likely to use websites as part of their classes. However, because of the ease of doing things online students are having to use many different websites in their classes.

Many problems arise with the use of multiple portals. Students waste a large portion of time in class logging in and out of the different websites, and many have trouble remembering the username and passwords for each site. The use multiple portals can also be overwhelming for students because it can be hard to remember what homework goes on what site.

It would be much easier for students if all of their online work was on one site. This way students could conveniently see all of their classes on one page and efficiently get to their work for each class.

Even though teachers may have preferences on what platforms they use for their class, switching over to a different portal would be beneficial to the students, and the school could help each teacher get comfortable with the chosen platform. The teachers would be able to collaborate with each other on the best ways to use the chosen platform, and the students would find ease when getting online assignments because they would have practice using the platform in multiple classes. The students would not have to go through the hassle of figuring out how to use the format of each website.

Considering the range of options for online platforms the school could use, Google Classroom would be the best choice. The school provides a Google account for each student, and almost everyone already uses Google Docs for writing documents, creating spreadsheets, and crafting slideshows.  The widespread use of Google Docs would allow students to easily turn in their documents because they  are already on Google.

There are countless benefits from using a single learning tool. Students and teachers would save time logging in and out and would also be more familiar with the website. The school should start focusing on using one online portal.