CV

Cherie V.

Senior Instructional Developer

Higher Education

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

9/3/2015

"Softchalk cloud lesson building review"

4.5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

The fact that faculty can edit from anywhere an ALL places where the module exists is updated is a plus. With multiple sections of a class this feature is crucial to quick updates. I also like the widget feature. In particular the timeline widget and Quick self checks. These are extremely helpful. Being able to embed a video and then stop to self check can be helpful for a student to make sure they understand the concept prior to continuing on with the lesson. The quick and easy interface seems easy to use and learn. We trained about 4 faculty who were interested in using it. it went well and they said it wasn't too hard to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

The only thing we had issues with was the LTI integration with Moodle. We did struggle a bit with getting that to work on our new fall server. Once we went through the help materials in more depth and looked at our settings we were able to get it up and running smoothly. The quizzing feature took a bi to get to go into the gradebook, but we eventually got it to work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SoftChalk:

Make sure if you plan to use LTI integration that you have the proper support information. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SoftChalk solving and how is that benefiting you?

The problem we are solving is how to interact and create lessons for students that are easy to update, interactive, and easily integrate within our systems. We want to do more flipped classroom and blended learning environments. Softchalk seems to be a good solution for faculty who want to see how their students progress and to create self-contained lessons for students to view OUTSIDE class and then they come into class and actually engage more in depth wit the content as a class. So far we are in the early stages and have not gauged any measurable benefits yet. After this fall semester we will be able to get some feedback from our faculty who are using it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

BB

Brenda B.

Director of Professional Development

Education Management

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

7/30/2015

"SoftChalk Cloud makes it easy to maintain consistency"

5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

We are able to maintain consistency across our professional development workshops and courses by using SoftChalk Cloud for our lessons. When we update one lesson, all sessions are updated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

There is not much to dislike about SoftChalk Cloud. The Creative Commons licensing features are not useful when all content is copyrighted, but the "CC" licensing can be turned off. The linear construction doesn't allow for "branching" but there are work-arounds for being able to structure lessons to branch in different directions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SoftChalk:

SoftChalk Cloud provides a centralized repository for our lessons. We've been very happy with the ease of getting up to speed and the support provided by the cracker jack support team at SoftChalk! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SoftChalk solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are solving the problem of having to manage updates across many individual sessions that are short in duration by using SoftChalk Cloud which has increased efficiency and brings our participants the latest information in a timely fashion. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

NT

Nathan T.

Senior Systems Specialist; Research & Development Coordinator

E-Learning

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

7/29/2015

"SoftChalk Cloud for use as a content and lesson repository"

4.5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

I like that it allows the for content to be updated seamless while it is shared in multiple systems( LMSs, Websites, email flyers). These update are done once while all your systems will receive the updated content without you having to request it or perform duplicate work (this is the real treasure of Softchalk cloud). Softchalk is also HTML5 based so as long as the content you put into it is as well it will work on multiple platforms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

There are still some limitations in the development environment. It requires a java based client app to design the content. Although, this offers some strength in some areas of development it truly limits the product for its dependency on a 3rd party tool and it would just be nice to develop most of the content online. Having both as option would make the product great. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SoftChalk:

Definitely consider carefully the private cloud option as this make administering users easier. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SoftChalk solving and how is that benefiting you?

I work for a Virtual School and we are developing a great deal of our content in Softchalk Cloud because it offers us LMS independence and the flexibility to share our content with whoever we want. The single point of update to the content is vital to us as we offer multiple section of many courses and often will share lesson across these sections. So, having the ability to perform quick fixes content is paramount and saves us time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UH

Verified User in Higher Education

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

7/30/2015

"My experience with SoftChalk Cloud has been fantastic with all the activities that are available."

5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

It is easy to access for the students. The students have interactive activities and quizzes to practice and the instructor receives immediate feedback. You can also upload a video within your lesson and ask questions about the video using the quizzes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

There is not anything to dislike with SoftChalk Cloud. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SoftChalk:

As an educator one can use SoftChalk Cloud in a variety of ways. You can organize your lessons and present them in class. You can use the lessons as tutorials for the students. You can use the quizzes and activities as assessments with immediate feedback. As a SoftChalk Cloud user you can look through all the other lessons that have been submitted and use them as needed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SoftChalk solving and how is that benefiting you?

As a teacher I use SoftChalk Cloud for professional development. I have received the benefits of being recognized as a SoftChalk user, and I do presentations to introduce others to SoftChalk Cloud. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

DD

Danielle "Marcy" D.

Director of Faculty Studio - Title III

Higher Education

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/3/2015

"Works well with different learning management systems"

3.5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

How easy it can be to use with different learning management systems, and how they are working to ensure Web accessibility (which is something that most products are struggling with). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

How it can be cumbersome to training instructors on how to use it, but really I don't have very much that I don't like about SoftChalk Cloud. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UH

Verified User in Higher Education

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

7/29/2015

"Excellent tool for entry-level content authoring"

3.5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

It is an excellent tool for those (in particular teachers) who are new to content authoring and would like to move away from "dumping content" into their LMS Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

In their effort of keeping things simple, stupid, they are neglecting the more advanced/proficient who would want some of the functionality that other competitive tools have. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SoftChalk:

If you are looking for any easy to use authoring tool for your learning materials then SoftChalk is the way to go. Not sure about the price-value for money ratio as the institution has previously paid for the license but it's definitely worth considering it as an entry-level solution compared to the some of the more complex solutions like Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate.

Consider SoftChalk as an important stepping stone towards making your content more engaging, structured, taking it beyond the "repository" status. Easy enough to use, complex enough to cope with your basic needs, it will become a good companion for you until you decide it's time to move on to something better (although I have found that many teachers are happy with it and have been using it for the past couple of years).

Definitely recommend using the trial version and make the most of it! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SoftChalk solving and how is that benefiting you?

SoftChalk has been useful in authoring content for courses that have a weekly structure and due to the simple navigation menus and tools it makes it easy for students to find out what they need, helps them get into the rhythm of things and gives them a sense of structure for each weekly activities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

CE

Verified User in Education Management

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

8/6/2015

"A Cloud-Based Solution that WORKS"

5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

Excellent service and support, the ease with which users are able to navigate the system and access content. The smoothness of the interface, its clean look and overall good UX. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

The rare outage, though they're so infrequent as to be almost nonexistent. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SoftChalk:

Connect with other users considering a cloud-based course design solution. Take advantage of SoftChalk's resources, review the case studies and take a look at the testimonials. Attend information sessions and visit company representatives at meetings, conferences and other events where they display. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SoftChalk solving and how is that benefiting you?

We sought to leverage our existing subscribers to attend targeted information sessions leading up to one of our national events. SoftChalk partnered with us every step of the way to ensure a seamless experience. We saw an increase in positive impressions and improved relationships with attendees. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AH

Verified User in Higher Education

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/2/2015

"SoftChalk"

4.5/5

What do you like best about SoftChalk?

Easy to set up and to use. There are a lot of functions that might need high skills in JAVASCRIPT or HTML Language but Softchalk made it easy to create those learning objects without such knowledge. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SoftChalk?

The trial period is too short and the software itself still need minimum knowledge of HTML. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.