Skool provides an ad-free, educational space with tools like live streams and discussion forums. It is also a platform for creators to create content that resonates with their audience and promotes growth in areas that matter.
Moreover, Skool uses gamification to encourage community engagement and reward members. The levels they earn can be seen on their profiles, which fosters accountability and consistency.
Purpose & Design
Skool is an online learning community platform that blurs the line between education and networking. It is designed to encourage learners to engage with others in an online community while fostering the knowledge they need to succeed. Unlike other platforms that focus on one-sided lectures, Skool brings topics to life through interactive discussions and collaborative projects. The gamification features of Skool also give users a reason to return to the site as they can earn points and rise up leaderboards.
Skool has been around for a while now and has been steadily building up a solid feature set that makes it a compelling solution for course creators who want to build a vibrant community around their content. The platform is especially useful for coaches, consultants, and folks who own information businesses who often have group calls or other events with their audience. Skool helps them to manage their community easily without having to use multiple tools for different functions like organizing events, scheduling meetings, and creating online trainings.
Besides the usual social networking and content management features that most learning communities offer, Skool also includes several unique ones such as a comprehensive mobile app that allows members to connect and communicate on the go. It has a well-designed search functionality that reduces the time needed to find relevant resources. It also supports a multidimensional feedback process that involves both peer reviews and instructor feedback so that learners can get a holistic view of their understanding.
Another important feature that Skool has is its event calendar that allows members to view, add, and share scheduled events with their peers in the community. The calendar also automatically converts the event times to the member’s local time zone. It also has a clickable event highlight at the top of the community feed that directs members to the event details.
While Skool’s features are impressive, it does have its shortcomings. One major drawback is the lack of a live stream feature that is vital for running cohort-based courses or other types of events in an online learning community. Skool also does not allow members to assign member roles which could be a problem for community managers who need to monitor activity in the community. Another limitation is that it does not support third-party integrations which limits its functionalities.
User Experience
Skool is a social learning platform that places community at the heart of learning, members can connect, share knowledge, and grow together. This can lead to higher course completion rates and more success for customers.
Skool features an easy-to-use interface with a Facebook-like profile and feed layout. It also includes an intuitive search functionality for posts, comments, and courses, making content discovery effortless. In addition, users can follow intriguing posts and receive in-app and email notifications to stay updated on new developments.
For creators, Skool offers a powerful back-end menu with simple steps to upload courses and create communities. A built-in media editor allows you to add rich multimedia content to your courses, including video, links, images, GIFs, polls, and actions. You can also embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, or Loom. Additionally, you can customize your group and course settings to ensure a seamless user experience.
Gamification is another feature that makes Skool stand out from the competition, encouraging learners to participate in the community with personalized rewards and badges. Additionally, a daily visual activity chart helps creators stay on top of their community’s engagement.
While Skool has a lot to offer, it isn’t without its drawbacks. The platform doesn’t include a sales funnel builder or quizzes and assessments, but it is working to bring these features in the future. Additionally, it does not offer native video hosting for courses, meaning you’ll need to host your videos elsewhere.
Despite its limitations, Skool is still worth considering for those looking to create an online training environment for their students. The platform is transparent in its pricing and has a 14-day free trial, which allows you to explore the software before making any commitments.
However, it does not come with the ability to integrate with a payment solution like Thrivecart or webhooks support, which could make it difficult for people who sell courses through their platform to accept payments. Nevertheless, Skool is an excellent option for those who want to leverage the power of social learning and create an online teaching environment.
Support & Resources
Skool offers a robust platform designed to support vibrant group discussions. It supports posts, comments, categories, likes, mentions, photos, videos, polls, and real-time interactions. It also integrates courses with the community, offering modules, videos, resources, searchable transcripts, and progress tracking to boost course completion rates. Skool also provides a calendar feature to keep members updated on events and webinars, as well as one-click email broadcast for all member profiles.
The platform is simple and intuitive to navigate, so users can spend less time learning how to use it and more time engaging with the community and content. Its streamlined features help to reduce barriers to entry for new members, boosting engagement and retention rates. Skool also enables creators to create content that is aligned with client growth, which further fosters engagement and retention rates.
However, despite the many positives, Skool does have its drawbacks. For example, it lacks assessment tools like quizzes and assignments. These are necessary to evaluate student performance and learning impact. It also does not offer segmentation or group chats. It is worth noting that these are minor concerns, given the overall positive experience of using Skool.
Nevertheless, the platform offers excellent value for the price. Its simplicity, great user experience, and gamification are all compelling reasons to consider it. The fact that it allows you to run unlimited courses and have an unlimited number of members is also a major selling point.
Skool is a fantastic tool for coaches, consultants, and information entrepreneurs who want to foster an interactive community, promote their business, and build strong relationships with clients. Its features are designed to enhance client growth and development, providing a valuable educational experience that can rival traditional on-campus learning. Its streamlined interface and affordability make it an ideal option for online education. Moreover, its gamification and community-based learning approach are conducive to the needs of modern learners who are looking for more than just academic knowledge. The future of online learning looks bright, with Skool leading the way.
Pricing
Skool is a more focused platform in comparison to Kajabi which has a bit of a multi-tool approach. This is good for users who want to host their courses and community in a single place but don’t necessarily need the full suite of features that Kajabi offers. This could also be a good fit for businesses that want to keep their costs low or have a subscription-based pricing model.
With Skool, users can expect to pay a flat $99 per month which includes unlimited courses and community members. This is a clear price point that can be easily communicated to your customers.
One of the key things that distinguishes Skool from other platforms is the fact that it blurs the line between learning and networking. While learning online can be a solitary experience, Skool allows users to connect with other like-minded individuals and form communities that encourage and support them in their growth. This leads to higher course completion rates and greater success for your students.
Other key features of Skool include engaging gamification which can incentivize user engagement through points, levels and rewards. Skool also provides a robust mobile app and unified calendar that makes it easy for members to find out when Zoom meetings, YouTube livestreams or other events are happening in their time zone.
Lastly, Skool’s streamlined and intuitive design helps users get up to speed quickly, so they can spend less time on the platform and more on the content and community that matters most to them. The platform also boasts a powerful search functionality, making it easy for members to find content and resources that align with their needs and goals.
However, Skool does have some limitations worth mentioning. The lack of native video hosting means that you will have to use external platforms like YouTube or Loom for videos which can add up in cost and effort. The platform also lacks a central community library for resources such as PDFs and media which can make it difficult to organize content in a centralized location. The final limitation is that Skool requires consistent and active participation from your community members in order to reap the full benefits of the platform.
