BP3_edmodo

For my Web 2.0 tool, I have chosen to try edmodo. Edmodo (stylized edmodo) is a social learning network for teachers, students, and parents. It allows teachers, students and parents a secure space for the class to connect and collaborate. When using edmodo, teachers can post grades and assign homework to students. Students are able to submit their homework and see their grade. It is a closed and protected environment for the student. It is built on a micro blogging model.

There are many things that you can do. Edmodo has webinars that you can view on the how-tos of getting started, as well as professional development and other subjects. In the teacher rollout resource center there are a variety of content materials. These were created by educators and shared in the edmodo communities. They are; sample code of conduct; sample guidelines; letter to parents of what edmodo is and an invitation letter for parents; guides for parents, teachers and students; and most importantly, how to set up a student account. Thus, making getting started a guided and easy thing to do.

A recent addition is the ability to post quizzes, which I found when connecting to other social networks. As I explored edmodo, I went out to cyberspace and viewed Facebook, Twitter, itbabble, edjudo, blog edmodo, appappeal.com, and New Learning Institute among others. These are links, hopefully they work here in the blog, if you want to learn more.

There are many features that edmodo provides. The teacher has full control over who joins their online class groups. The teacher sends out an invitation with a specific code. Once all students in that class or section have joined, the teacher can close the class. It is a private space. The interface and actions are similar to Facebook, so students and teachers find using edmodo intuitive and easy to use.

Teachers can post notes, alerts, and assignments, generate polls, and create quizzes. The tools available are many including news feeds, a calendar that allows the teacher to create events, list due dates. A grade book is automatically generated for every different group. Teachers are also able to create an online information warehouse using the library tool that benefits the teacher as well as the student. Document and web resources can be organized into folders that later can be shared with the entire community.

There are communities within edmodo. Here I can have a safe place to ask questions, share experiences, have honest discussions, and learn from others. Students can’t view the communities, so my learning or opinions are not available outside of the community. I am protected, which sounds good and reassuring.

Students cannot have private chats with each other. They can’t cyberbully and they can’t invite their friends. The teacher is the Head Educator In Charge (HEIC). The students can post only to the teacher or the class and the HEIC monitors all of this activity. The teacher is also able to add hyperlinks, embed YouTube, videos, PDFs, document, images and just about anything. The students are able to do this also.

This is my page that I have created. I am just starting my journey on edmodo.

All images are my own screen shots.

This is a simple web 2.0 tool, but it does a lot and can be utilized in many ways. It will take a bit of playing with it to master it. Learning does take time. I look forward to using this in my classroom. I see a benefit to the parents so that they might get a better insight into what we do in class all day. The benefit to the students is that they already live in an instant communication world and this let’s school become involved in their world. We are not running away from this, but acknowledging it and embracing it, finally. I hope the students will appreciate our real involvement and attempt to join their world.