Trello and Monday are both very big players in the productivity niche. As project management software solutions go, Trello and Monday.com look to make this process fun and easy. Both tools are highly customizable, visually appealing, and an absolute breeze to use.
However, both can’t occupy the same space, and since they are competitors, it’s only natural that users ask themselves which one is better when talking about Trello vs Monday.
This is going to be a comparison between Trello and Monday. We will look at what you would like each solution to do for you as a teacher and what other types of value you can get from each one of them.
Why Use Trello for Teaching?
As far as project management software solutions go, Trello is probably the simplest project management tool to use. This is mostly because it’s image-oriented and easier to customize.
This makes it ideal for teachers who focus on design, decoration, and any other subject matter that requires and values visualization.
Although it’s slightly more expensive than Monday, it does offer a free version to help you get your sea legs before you decide to go all in and buy one of the plans or try out a basic plan for managing projects.
Why Use Monday for Teaching?
While Trello might have more users (prompting you to think that it must be simpler to use and therefore better), the truth is that between the two, Monday is the most flexible. It comes with more features, views, and customization options.
What’s more, it grows with your team and offers you the capability of handling more complex projects, making it perfect for teachers who work with more complex and less visual-oriented subject matters. Furthermore, it’s a bit cheaper than Trello, depending on the number of users you have on it.
Trello for Teaching – What Can You Do with It?
What Trello does very well for teachers is it offers them a single platform where they can organize all of their work processes. A very good example is the “Education Templates” that allow you to organize your board in various ways.
While you can name and organize the board how you see fit, the most common and straightforward ways include:
- Creating a “To Do” list where you mention everything that needs to be done on that day, week, or even semester.
- Creating a “Doing” list where you can keep track of all the on-going class and personal projects.
- Creating a “Done” list where you can archive everything that has been already accomplished for the day, week, or even semester.
The beauty of Trello is that you can clearly categorize and label everything.
- If you have assignments for your students, use the “Due Dates” function when you assign tasks to put a timer on when they are supposed to be handed to you.
- You can also use the filter function (a good keyboard shortcut) to hover your mouse over the board and press the “F” button to get the filter function). This function allows you to sift through all the different tasks by name, due date, and a host of other parameters.
- Trello Homeschool Planner: Trello is an excellent tool for people who homeschool. You can create a public board with a list of everything that the child or children have to do at any given time.
- Set Staff Meeting Agenda: This function comes in particularly handy for headteachers who need to set staff meeting agendas, create action items, and assign roles for every teacher during the meeting.
You could also use it to stay in touch with parents by adding them to your classroom board on Trello; keep your student assessment data organized by grouping them all on one board with each student getting their own card. You could also coordinate with other teachers by simply adding them to the specific boards on which team collaboration is needed.
Monday for Teaching – What Can You Do with It?
Just like Trello has the “Education Template,” Monday has a “Student Organizer Template.” This project template does exactly what you would expect it to do: it allows you to organize your duties and keep track of your progress and that of your students. It’s your own personal educator planner online.
Here are some of the things you can do with the Student Organizer Template:
Export and Import Your Data
Every teacher knows how important it is to keep close track of your data from test scores, assignments handed out and in, teacher/parent meeting dates, teacher/parent meeting notes, and so on. The problem with most organizers is that you can only group this data in one place from which you can access it.
What happens when you want to export that data or import data from other sources without distorting or mixing up your own information log? That’s where Monday comes in. Within the “Student Organizer Template,” you can import or export your Excel spreadsheets and easily turn them into boards on the platform.
Clearly Record Details
You can easily keep your notes, attach source materials, and even link to every other document you might need for a particular assignment or teaching material.
Collaborate with Others
Whether you want to stay in touch with your students over assignments and classwork, communicate with parents about their child’s educational progress, or even homeschool your own kids, you can do that and more. By simply giving any concerned party access to your template, you can allow them to add items or talk to you directly on the board.
You can use this Student Organizer Template to plan your entire semester as a teacher without needing to leave the board or platform at all.
On the surface, it seems as though the Trello vs Monday battle goes to Trello. This isn’t a very fair comparison considering that both platforms are designed for a slightly different kind of user.
Trello favors teachers who focus on more visual-oriented teaching, while Monday is designed for teachers who focus on more technical and complicated subject matters. From a strictly organizational standpoint, Trello is much easier to use and more visually appealing.
