Edsby is a K-12 learning and analytics platform that includes a wide range of features and integrations in order to meet the needs of students, teachers, administrators, and parents. It is one of the few learning and analytics platforms that was designed specifically for the K-12 market, and is completely customizable to district needs and use cases.
In short, Edsby offers universal integrations across district tools, and provides a hub where K-12 stakeholders can connect and collaborate.
In short, Edsby offers universal integrations across district tools, and provides a hub where K-12 stakeholders can connect and collaborate.
Before jumping into the review, here’s an introductory video from the Edsby team that discusses what the platform is all about:
Overall, Edsby is meant to cover a wide range of classroom, school, and district needs. It can be accessed by students, teachers, administrators, and parents, and we will touch on all four of these perspectives over the course of the review.
The Teacher Side of Edsby
Edsby is designed to integrate with whatever systems the school district already has. This means that once Edsby is setup by the district, it can pull and push data from the district’s student information system (SIS), gradebook, attendance system, or whatever you might need. These integrations make setting up classes, rosters, clubs, and anything else you might need incredibly simple.
To begin, the teacher side of Edsby opens with your home screen where teachers can see their classes, access their calendar, check out school or district news, take attendance, or jump into any groups that they are a part of.
To begin, the teacher side of Edsby opens with your home screen where teachers can see their classes, access their calendar, check out school or district news, take attendance, or jump into any groups that they are a part of.
Most of these sections are pretty self-explanatory, but it should be noted that the “My Groups” section can be things like clubs that teachers sponsor, or it can be PLC groups as well. These groups can be created by teachers, without any IT or admin request needed, and make for an easy way for teachers to organize and share information around a particular topic or need.
While the “My Groups” section is incredibly beneficial, the “Classes” section is where teachers will probably spend most of their time.
As mentioned above, teachers don’t have to spend time creating classes or importing students and parents at all. This is all managed automatically through Edsby’s integration with district software and systems.
When teachers open a class, they’ll see a familiar, social media style feed, where they can post updates, assignments, files, polls, and anything else they might want to share. Teachers can also add pinned items, for quick access, as well as have access to any file folders through school/district drives.
Overall, it’s an incredibly friendly and simple system to navigate, but one that offers a ton of customizability and potential, given how integrated Edsby is with other district systems.
Teachers also have quick access to a gradebook (which can be points or standards-based), seating charts, a planner, attendance taking, and a wide variety of other tools that could come in handy. Plus, teachers have a journal for each class (which can be visible to students and parents if they’d like) where they can keep a log of everything that’s happened with each class.
For those looking for a more in-depth exploration of the Teacher side of Edsby, this page from their team is an excellent place to visit next.
The Student Side of Edsby
When students login to Edsby, they will see a similar setup to what teachers experience, except they’ll be able to access the classes they are enrolled in, rather than the ones they’re teaching.
One thing that’s important to mention is that across all roles (teachers, students, parents, and admins), users get red notifications for the classes or groups where activity has occurred that they haven’t seen yet. This makes it really easy to see where you need to check on things once you have signed in.
One thing that’s important to mention is that across all roles (teachers, students, parents, and admins), users get red notifications for the classes or groups where activity has occurred that they haven’t seen yet. This makes it really easy to see where you need to check on things once you have signed in.
Students will get notifications of new assignments and postings, and within each class, can check out the teacher’s journal to get a reminder of class activity.
Students (as well as parents, teachers, and administrators) can also send messages to their teachers if they run into questions, without needing to know the teacher’s often cryptic email address. This messaging system is incredibly beneficial for all K-12 stakeholders, and makes communication a more easily manageable process.
More information on Edsby for students can be found here as well as in the video below:
The Parent Side of Edsby
Parents have access to data on all of their children that are enrolled in the district. They can quickly see assignments, notifications, send messages, and even let the office know if their child has an excused absence coming up. Overall, their view is very similar to what the students see, except they’re be able to see information across all their children.
This guide from Edsby on the Parents side is helpful for anyone interested in learning more about what this looks like. Plus, you can check out the Edsby for Parents video below for more information:
The Admin Side of Edsby
Finally, administrators logging into Edsby have additional analytics and reports they can access from within the system.
Administrators can easily search for and filter teachers, students, parents, staff, and then run reports on that data for whatever they might need.
Administrators can easily search for and filter teachers, students, parents, staff, and then run reports on that data for whatever they might need.
Administrators can use the Edsby system to quickly find at-risk students, and get a real-time view on exactly what is happening with each student and within each classroom.
Edsby can also be used to quickly distribute news, memos, and other forms of communication that might need to be sent out to certain groups, or an entire school.
This page offers more information on Edsby for administrators for those interested.
Wrapping Up…
Overall, Edsby is an excellent LMS for K-12 schools. It’s clear that the tool has been purpose-built for K-12, as opposed to many of the other LMS options (e.g., Canvas & Moodle) that were built for higher education, and have just been retrofitted to serve K-12 populations.
Edsby is easy and friendly to use, but still offers an enormous range of features and data, particularly given its integration across all district tools.
In terms of pricing, Edsby is comparable to other LMSs, and available at the district-wide level. You can contact their team for more information on pricing if you’re interested in receiving a quote.
Regardless of grade level, if you’re looking for an LMS that was designed with K-12 students, parents, teachers, and administrators in mind, I absolutely recommend considering Edsby.
Edsby is easy and friendly to use, but still offers an enormous range of features and data, particularly given its integration across all district tools.
In terms of pricing, Edsby is comparable to other LMSs, and available at the district-wide level. You can contact their team for more information on pricing if you’re interested in receiving a quote.
Regardless of grade level, if you’re looking for an LMS that was designed with K-12 students, parents, teachers, and administrators in mind, I absolutely recommend considering Edsby.
The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.
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