IT 6740: Edmodo

Our assignment was to choice a topic relevant to e-Learning and learning processes and write an essay.  We were asked to turn in our topic and then begin research…my topic was “using twitter and text messaging in the high school setting.”  I wanted to do Twitter, because I can see so many benefits to it and can see how to use it, but a few security/logistical things were hooking me up in how to use it in the high school setting.  That’s when I ran into Edmodo….which I have fallen in love with and want so badly a class to use it with.  Ah…to be a teacher again.   As a result, I decided researching Edmodo would be a better use of my time, as I knew nothing about it previously.

What is Edmodo and what is it used for?

Edmodo has been described as the Twitter of the education world.  I think it is so much more than that.  It’s a free service that creates a “virtual classroom.”   It was designed to have security features that allow teachers as much control over content and participation as they have in the classroom.   Students and teachers can communicate and exchange ideas outside of the classroom. Edmodo has two different types of accounts: teacher and student.

Teachers can create “groups” or classes that students can then join.  The only way to join these groups, is with a code that is given only to the teacher.  Within the group, teachers can create assignments, grade assignments, add events to a calendar, post files, links and notifications.  These updates show up in a feed view within the group.

Students can join multiple groups with a group code.  They can post “status,” questions, notes, links, and assignments.

Why are you interested in Edmodo?

When I taught high school (and when I teach it again), I designed a website and used an online community to keep students up-to-date when they missed a class, to ask questions about assignments and have a way of reviewing what we learned.  I found that having the two sites that were not designed for what I wanted created a big challenge…I was constantly developing work arounds to make the two do what I wanted.

Edmodo has it all.  It’s a simplified version of a course shell that is used in the college world crossed with the social networks.  After working so long with high schoolers, two challenges I had when I tried to get them to do things on the computer.  First, if they were required to have an email address, creating a account was a challenge.  Second, if they didn’t have to log in or go to the site they would forget about it.  And, third, assignments were easily forgotten.  Edmodo has fixes for these problems:

1. Students do not need email addresses to create accounts, only the group code from a teacher.
2. Requiring assignments be turned into Edmodo, requires the students to get use to the site.
3. Students can choose to be notified of different types of notes via email, Twitter or text message.

How to use Edmodo

Click here to view video.

Has Edmodo been used in educational applications? How? Is it effective?

Edmodo was only launched in September 2008, so it is still new.  The developers are making changes, fixing bugs and updating the site to be more user friendly.  The jury is still out as far as if it will prove to be effective and beneficial in the classroom, but it was developed for educational purposes.  Although it’s application seems more directed towards middle and high school students, than elementary.

The immediate popular opinion seems to be that Edmodo is effective, because it allows quick, easy communication between students and teachers.  The interface is simple and easy to use.  It provides a way for both student and teachers to access course ideas at times that work for them, as well as keeping them organized.

What learning processes are involved.

Students love to learn together.  In fact, students learn best when they are part of a group.  Why does that group have to be just in the classroom?  What about student that are taking the same class, but are in different periods?  Edmodo provides students will the ability to communicate, question and reason through ideas with each other.  Some students may even find themselves interacting more than in the classroom because their voice is always heard and they are not interputed.

Student also learn better with repetition and time to think about things.  As this is a secondary way of getting assignments and sharing information about certain ideas, the information is being reviewed several times, which strengthens the connections.

Speaking of connections, using Edmodo to conduct coversations about topics, allows the students more flexibilty to direct the conversation and make connections to other information they have.  They feel more in control of their learning.

Conclusion:

Overall, I believe Edmodo is a great new Web 2.0 application.  The easy of use and organization for both students and teachers make it very exciting.  I would love to see it at work in a classroom environment, but that will have to wait until I have a classroom again.

Resources:

Edmodo

Edmodo: Twitter DESIGNED for the classroom.

Edmodo: What Students think

IT 6740: Podcast Take #2

IT 6740: Podcast Take #1

Peril of Indiffernce

As part of our assignment this week, I put together this presentation with some audio clips from Elie Wiesel’s Perils of Indifference Speech delivered in 1999 at the White House to President and Mrs. Clinton.

Goals drive learning

Two main encounters have influenced my thinking this week:

1. A conversation with a teacher I taught with.  We started teaching the same year, she is still teaching at the same school.  Our first year there, the district was really pushing a program called Readers-Writers Workshop.  Most of the teacher, including this one, were resistent to the program because it moves the control from the teacher to the learner.
2. An article I read for school.
   McCombs, B. L., & Vakili, D. (2005). A learner-centered framework for e-learning. Teachers College Record, 107 (8), 1582-1600.
   This article outlines the main, important aspects of the “why” of the Readers-Writers Workshop even though it never mentions the Workshop.

While my conversation surrounded the classroom environment and the article pertains to the e-Learning environment, they are both closely related because they are both learner-centered programs.

My friend was complaining that the students are bored with the workshop and so are the teachers.  And that there is no way to make it rigorious and engaging for the students.  I didn’t agree with her statement, but I didn’t know how to counter-act it.

A few days later I was reading this article and it hit me.  The students (learners) must create goals, the teacher is there to make sure those goals are set high and to keep the student accountable.  Those goals become the measure of success.

Exploring New Tools: Twitter

What is Twitter? Twitter has taken the most simple aspect of other social networking sites (or maybe they stole it from Twitter) and made it a stand-alone.  Twitter is used to keep friends/family/co-workers (or in our case, classmate) up-to-date with what you doing at that moment.  You can respond to others status or even send private message.  Twitter works with IM, Text Messages, the web and a variety of add-ons to web-browsers, phones and more.

I have had a Twitter account for a while, but didn’t really have any “friends” in the Twitter world, so it seemed useless and pointless and I never logged in.  Now, that I have a wide variety of classmates and a few other friends that I’m following, it’s a lot more fun.  In general, I just copy my status from other sites, but, as I know a majority of my followers are fellow ILTer’s sometimes I make some extra posts that have more relation to school.

As with all social networking sites, you have to have know others that are using it in order for it to be any use and make it fun and beneficial to use.

Exploring New Tools: Pownce

What is Pownce?  Pownce seems to be a cross between e-mail, IM and some features of other social networking sites.  They site is setup nicely and is easy to use. But the trick is to get your friends/family/co-workers to sign-up, which even if it is a better site, is easier said than done.

Exploring New Tools: Ning

What is Ning? Ning is a “create-your-own” social network. You know, like those create-your-own adventure books kids used to read (and maybe still do) in school? In the social network revolution, Facebook and Myspace are at the forefront, but besides creating your own profile they are standard. What if you could create a network of just your relatives or maybe a place for all the teachers in a school to connect? Although, this can be done at various levels using Facebook and Myspace, I’m wondering if Ning allows a bit more privacy and customability.

I think teachers like the idea of social networks and could benefit from the community, but many stay away from the web due to the fact that students and parents, really everyone, can find out what they post. Without a Ning site idea that I could get going, I decided to search our teachers communities and found several that you couldn’t access without your user ID and password and you had to be invited to the group. What a great way to build a community of a 100+ teachers in a high school…or even a school district.

Blogs & RSS Feeds

This week we read an article about incorporating blogs and RSS feeds into a class.  In the first paragraph or so, I was excited.  They started talking about how teachers (and really any one) learns best by reflection and discussion with others.  I think the same thing, and while blogs are out there for the world to read, they also feel a little more private because you control how much people know about you and you can have discussions with people all over the world.

Last year, when I was teaching, I joined an online blogging community for English teachers and one for first year teachers.  It was wonderful to have a community of people that were struggling with the same things I was and it also provided me a place to seek advice without feeling judgement.  I tried to share this wonderful community with the other new teachers around me, but they were resistent.  I find I’m easy to jump on board with new technology.  I’ve been  blogging for years and find it soothing and reassuring.  For me it was perfectly normal to log in, check what others had written, respond to a few people and move on.  In fact, it was like reading the newspaper at morning breakfast for me.  But others I shared this with didn’t understand how I had the time and in all actuality didn’t really care that there were others out there that might have insightful feedback for something that no one around them had answers for.  Or maybe a project or classroom management technique that was much needed.

Just like the authors of this article found that 1) there was a learning curve using blogs and 2) students didn’t understand how blogs could enrich there learning, I found the same thing with my fellow teachers.  To me, the online community was a great resource, for them it was a waste of time.

Let me back up to explain that this online community was a blog that people were allowed to join and post to.  Each person also had their own blog for the more personal stuff or thing that didn’t pertain to the topic of the community.  But all these people found the community on there own.  They wanted to be there.  There was no requirement that they post, no requirement that they respond.  In fact, I’m pretty sure there were a lot of people that didn’t post or respond, they just watch and absorbed.

Would I incorporate blogs and RSS feeds into my high school classroom?  And if so, how?

In the last school I taught in, we had two computer labs for the school and most students did not have computer and/or internet access at home.  This makes it hard to incorporate blogs into the everyday life of the classroom (and I do believe that for them to be most effective, they have do be part of the daily routine).  But I think this can be worked around, as long as you work with the students.

In my classroom, students were able to choose their own books and no student had to read what another student was reading.  Once a week the student had to write a letter to another student in the class, a character in the book, the author or me reflecting on what they read that week.  If they wrote to another student, that student was expected to respond, if they wrote to the author, character or me, I would respond.  I think this assignment would easily work as an intro blogging assignment for the first semester or so, to get the students use to the idea and medium of blogging.  Other students could then log in and post responses (comments) to others and maybe find out about a book they might want to read.

In high school, it would be about baby steps.  Most of my students didn’t have the technology skills that you’d expect a high school today to have.  They didn’t even know how to check their email, so becoming familiar with how to log in and post a blog and a comment would be key.

RSS Feeds have little value if you don’t check in everyday.  And most that I’ve used have come with a huge learning curve as well.  How can you share the benefit with students if they don’t have anything to check on everyday.  I think I’d suggest that each student find a “fun” RSS feed.  Maybe the blog of their favorite artist or band, something that is interesting to them.  This could help with what it’s good for.  Really RSS feeds and readers allow you one-stop shopping for your daily online reading.  But student need some online reading before they are of use. 

Brain Rules

In reading the chapters on Brain Rules, I was particularly stuck by the comment that we, as humans, canNOT multitask.  Now, anytime I see or hear the word multitask, I think of this.  Maybe we just need a better definition of multitasking.