Edsby vs. Top K-12 LMS Platforms: Features & Benefits

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Classroom management
Automatic setup of classes & students from SIS
Async blended learning social areas per class
Simple polls, complex surveys
Class files library
Per-teacher personal resources areas
Wiki-like knowledge base for every classroom
Facilitate student collaboration on assignments
Virus checking of uploads
Printable class rosters
Seating plan
Google Workspace and O365 integration
Integrated closed, secure email system
Teachers can unsend messages

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Synchronous learning
Realtime video
Breakout rooms
Whiteboarding
Screensharing
Realtime text chat

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Course content
Author course content in platform
Organize content by unit, arrange, i.e. planner
Teacher-managed course models
District-managed course models slaved to SIS
Copy & paste content from previous courses
See progress through content by learner
Mastery/personalized, self-paced paths
Import SCORM
Import Common Cartridge
Import ePub
Import Moodle
Enable LTI applications
Tag to expectations, standards, outcomes (ESOCs)
Curriculum collaboration with teachers across district
Learning Object Repositories (LORs)
Bulk import into LORs
LOR object meta data, tagging, assigning to ESOCs
LOR management
LOR sharing between schools, districts
Math equation editor
Music notation support
Easily view changes made to course content

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Attendance
Record attendance in classes
Late slip management, planned absence mgmt
Customize to district’s attendance workflow & terms
Export attendance
Sync attendance to SIS
Display attendance in system if taken in SIS
Teacher can take attendance on mobile
Integration with official district notification systems
Attendance in groups

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Assessment
Comprehensive K-12 optimized gradebook
Support for advanced K-12 grading schemes
Assessment weighting
Gradebook history change tracking
Rubric support, incl. re-use
Create new assessment in multiple courses at once
Electronic submissions via file uploads
Built-in online testing
Wide variety of online test question types
Randomize order of multiple choice questions
Draw questions from a question bank
Auto grading of online tests, gradebook insertion
Record audio or video as answer submissions
Originality checking w/popular services (e.g. TurnItIn)
Assess by expectations, standards, outcomes (ESOCs)
Measure interim class progress against ESOCs
Leave video or audio commentary when grading
Formative assessment support
Override calculated grades, professional judgment
Built in subjective performance indicators
Import into gradebook
Capture learning evidence, incl. audio & video
Dedicated app for collection of classroom evidence

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Reporting
Tag learning evidence by ESOCs
Report on rolled up ESOCs
Tag, categorize & annotate evidence
Data wall-like drag & drop evidence for analysis
Share select evidence with students & their parents
Portfolios
Student reflections on work in portfolio
Categorize portfolio entries by folder or tag
Student-determined visibility of items in ePortfolio
Export from portfolio in non-proprietary format
Badges, certifications
Export from gradebook
Sync grades with SIS automatically
Publish official progress reports & report cards
Formal report card workflow with principals, admins
Report card worksheets populated by gradebook
Report card comment banks
Enforce unique report card comments
Report card printing on district/school template
Print report cards from application
Export report card data for printing elsewhere
Current and previous report cards securely online

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Group collaboration
Class-level groups
School-level groups
District-wide groups
Region-wide groups
Auto-assign users to groups from SIS info
Mandatory staff moderator(s)
Multi-level group privileges and permissions
District-wide study groups spanning schools
Monitor groups for actioning at risk students
Special features for teacher PLCs/PD
Private groups by invitation only
Files libraries in groups
Wiki-like knowledge bases in groups
Group events appear on user calendars

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Timetable & calendar
Show student & faculty’s daily timetables
Share student timetable with parents
Show realtime student attendance in timetable
Indicate where student should be at current time
Support for esoteric K-12 day & period schedules
Consolidated calendar of all course events
Filter calendar by event types and/or courses
Printable calendar view
Include sports team & school club calendars
Export calendar events to other calendars
Create recurring calendar events

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Parent engagement
Native support for parents by design
Parents provisioned without pairing codes
Teacher and parent 1:1 emailing in platform
Teachers can easily email some or all parents
Teachers don’t need to know parent email addresses
Parents don’t need to know teacher email address
Teachers can view as a parent
Teachers don’t manage parent access to records
Parent self-serve registration
Parent import from CSVs
Manage parent authentication via LDAP
Manage parent authentication via AD/Azure AD
Sync parent accounts with SIS
Parents don’t need email address for accounts
Parent sees children’s academic progress
Show overdue assignments to parents
Parent visibility into classes if allowed by teacher
Parent can comment with voice/video in portfolio
Content translated to language of parents’ device
Participation in groups as allowed by staff
All children visible from single parent account
Permission forms
Parents can report planned absences
Parent digest emails and/or instant notifications

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Registrations & workflows
School registrations (e.g. kindergarten, IB)
Parent-teacher interview booking
Electronic field trip approvals
Credit recovery
Community service hour tracking
Substitute teacher & duty management
Open-ended workflow capability

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
News distribution
Class-level announcements
School-level news
District-level news
Region-level news
User news determined by orgs & role
Staff or students can suggest items
Administrators with privs can approve
News items can be viewable before login

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Analytics
System usage reports
Learner analytics, i.e. grades, attendance, behavior
Teacher realtime visuaizations of their students’ data
Principal realtime analytics of their school
Principal full view of student when a parent calls
Data visualization integrated, i.e. same product
Incorporate all historical academic information
Accept non-LMS data, e.g. standardized test scores
Regional staff realtime analytics of their region
See room, resource, teacher utilization
Learning Record Store (LRS)

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Universal integration
Large number of SIS integrations
Direct SIS integrations
AD, Azure AD, LDAP user authentication
Support for flexible user IDs, incl. non-email addresses
Single Sign On capability (incl. O365, Google, Clever)
Robust set of fields pulled/pushed to SIS
Integration with HR systems for staff rostering
Integration with payment processing

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Data consolidation
Connect to n heterogenous SISes
Normalize data from multiple sources

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Other architectural
Mobile app capabilities & user popularity
All functionality on platform-independent browser
Accessibility support (Section 508, WCAG, JAWS)
Customize with regional terms, hide features
Customize to regional personal information policies
International language support
Configurable roles-based permissions across product
Ability to launch other non-integrated applications
Impersonate any specific user & see system as them
Guaranteed data residency in customer locale
Themable
White label-able
Own API
Sandbox available
Data privacy policies (Common Sense® evaluation)
Logging of all system activity enabling forensics
Year-end rollover and archiving
Restore selected information from archive

		Instructure Canvas	D2L Brightspace	PowerSchool Schoology	Moodle	Google Classroom	Microsoft Teams	Seesaw
Extended product elements
Ease of use, positive user experience
Quick to learn
Vendor willing & able to partner with customers
Onboarding services
Migration services
Training services
Training materials
Customization services
Support from vendor (e.g. 24/7, forums, email)
Help files, videos and online user community
Security controls protecting private info
ISO 27001 certification of data practices
Known, trusted brand

Comparison analysis last refreshed September 4th-24th, 2024. Sources included then-current publicly available vendor websites, product documentation, support knowledge bases, vendors’ user community discussion boards and customer-generated videos and documentation illustrating products’ capabilities and intended use in their schools or districts. Customer commentary was also reviewed on public enterprise software review sites such as G2, Capterra, Software Advice, SourceForge and Gartner Peer Insights. While many criteria might suggest only a binary yes or no, subjective ratings of 0-4 were used throughout this analysis to convey nuances such as, but not limited to, a capability not being available across all user platforms, dependency on a third party product, requiring end-teacher set up, or having been added only recently via acquisition.