Skolera

Skolera is a cloud-based learning management and school management platform for K-12 schools. Its site describes a comprehensive system with separate interfaces for heads of department, teachers, students, parents and the school's IT staff, and it is sold to schools only: the demo form states that Skolera "is a learning management system that allocated for school use only, and it's not suitable for individual use." The company lists sales offices in Massachusetts in the USA, London in the UK, Cairo (its MEA office), and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and the site is available in English and Arabic. One landing page invites all international and private schools in Egypt to try it.

The platform as a whole

A company blog post calls the full product Skolera ULP, a Unified Learning Platform, and lists its modules: a School Management System (SMS), the Learning Management System (LMS), a School Resource Planning System (SRPS), a Content Management System (CMS) for teachers, a Communication Platform, Virtual Sessions, a Business Intelligence reporting and analysis engine, and a mobile application for Android and iOS. The home page menu groups these as the LMS, the school management system and integrated add-ons. The point of the design, as the company presents it, is that teaching, administration and parent communication run in one system instead of several.

For heads of department

The head of department gets a course planner that the home page says structures the curriculum teaching schedule "in a matter of minutes". From the same view, a department head tracks teachers' performance and monitors students' progress. The Egypt page stresses reporting: Skolera generates the academic and evaluation reports that accreditation authorities require, plus reports on teacher performance and interaction and on student grades and behavior. The blog post adds that the system can produce end-of-year academic reports and reports on each student's strengths and weaknesses from assignment, quiz and class-participation grades.

For teachers

Teachers work from a dashboard that displays academic progress and a centralized course view for content, assignments and quizzes. Smart Course Control lets a teacher create curriculum content, assignments and quizzes once and assign them "to all classes in the same course in one step", which saves repeating the work for each section. A content management tool is meant for building curriculum, assignments and quizzes quickly. The gradebook records grades and produces instant progress and performance reports. Teachers post class questions, run polls and upload materials, and the communication platform's instant messaging links teachers, students and parents. Teacher testimonials single out the gradebook, assignments and quizzing.

For students

Students collect points and receive badges that, in the page's words, they can "show off to your family and friends", and an in-class hall of fame recognizes top performers. A workload view and to-do lists help them plan time for quizzes and homework, and notifications keep them on schedule. They can contact teachers anytime and take part in class discussions with peers. The blog post describes the learning side in more general terms: self-paced study, access to lessons and resources at any time, and collaborative work through group tasks, peer evaluation, discussions and debates.

For parents

Parents get a native mobile app to follow their children at any time, and live feeds with progress, school activities, announcements and notifications. They see the school calendar, take part in school events and activities, and message school staff directly. The home page says parents have supervisory access to their children's work and academic progress.

School management

The school management system covers the administrative side, and the home page lists its parts:

• Student affairs: registering students, keeping academic and behavior records, and managing tuition and fees.
• Finance: collecting fees and tuition, recording and paying salaries and expenses, and producing financial documents and reports.
• School services: transportation, the school library and inventory.
• Timetable management: building the school timetable within minutes.
• Human resources: teacher and employee performance, leaves, pay slips and attendance.

The blog post adds admin tools for usage data and user activity on a dashboard, updating class, department and school profile information, account setup and troubleshooting, user assignment and employee data, course registration and assignment, a notification center, cloud storage for materials and a shared calendar for deadlines, events and holidays.

Recognition and testimonials

The Egypt page calls Skolera an "AWARD WINNING LMS" and says elearningindustry.com placed it among 20 LMSs worldwide. The site quotes named school staff. Dr. Suad Fateem, an educational consultant at Winners International School, says the platform "helps school to generate efficient reports on teachers and students" and praises its technical support. Mrs. Gihan Holayel, principal of Riada American School, says Skolera "was created and developed in a real educational environment". Shaimaa Mousa, a head of department at Glory American School, calls it an "Excellent system and excellent design", and Mr. Sherif Genidy, a senior English teacher at Glory American School, writes that "The gradebook, assignments, and quizzing are some of the highlights in Skolera". The home page adds that the interface was designed by professionals in education and psychology.

Pricing, demo and support

The site publishes no prices. Schools fill in a form with their name, school, job title, school type (international, private, public or other) and city, and the page says the company will get in touch within one business day to arrange a free live demo at the school. The blog post says Skolera has teams of developers, trainers and customer success staff who support schools after the sale, and the menu lists technical support, an FAQ, educational resources and a partner and distributor program. Each office has its own sales email address.

Who it suits

Skolera suits a private or international K-12 school that wants one system for teaching, grading, timetables, HR, fees, transport and parent communication, and that has to produce reports for accreditation bodies. Its gamified badges and hall of fame suit schools that want visible rewards for younger students, and the parent app suits schools where families expect to follow homework and grades closely. Schools in Egypt and Saudi Arabia have local offices to deal with, and the site has an Arabic version. It is not for an individual tutor, a course creator or a corporate training team, since the company itself says it is for school use only.