Tool Review

Edmodo – Where Education Meets Innovation.

A. GENERAL OVERVIEW -

Edmodo is an educational website that takes the ideas of social media and makes it appropriate for the classroom. Teachers are able to create groups for classes and invite students to join.  Students can connect with the teacher, share ideas and collaborate on projects.  The tagline is, “Edmodo helps connect all learners with the people and resources they need to reach their full potential.”   

In their own words – “Technology is creating a whole new set of rules. We believe principles should never change.”

Visually similar to Facebook, Edmodo includes a main feed with posts and assignments down the middle of the page.  Off to the sides, specific group pages and apps can be accessed.

 Screen shot of sample student’s home page:

Edmodo is a completely free platform for teachers, students and parents.  There is a cost for schools that would like to have a district account.  I did not see a benefit to this for the cost associated with the Premium level. There are also apps for purchase, but most have a free counter part.  Overall, I would say Edmodo is a free tool for education.

B. TOOL REVIEW -

I chose to review Edmodo because my 6^th grade team tested it last year with a couple of students who struggled with material organization.  This school year, we decided to extend the platform to all of our 6^th graders as a pilot for 5^th and 4^th graders.  Therefore, I was already familiar with the basics but wanted a chance to delve deeper into its capabilities and evaluate its application.  I created a test student so I was able to view Edmodo from both a teacher’s and student’s perspective.

My rubric (which can be found here) included 10 criteria on which were important to me as well as the ones I knew my administrators would be curious about. 

1. The first was credibility.  With so much being created and generated on Web 2.0, I wanted to know where and why Edmodo came from.  I found that two teachers from Chicago fashioned the idea and then moved the company to California to gain support from the technology world.  For me, the mixture of education and technology knowledge gave Edmodo a solid sense of credibility.

2. The second category was content because I always want to know what is available for my students to read on the websites I use.  Yes, there are ways to find additional information, but the classes are comprised of material and content placed there by students and teachers; no ads or links to other websites exist. This exceeded my set expectation. 

3.  The third category was design and usability.  I wanted to ensure that the website could be easily navigable and the design did not impact a student’s management of the site.  I found, from a teacher’s and student’s perspective, the home page was easy to navigate a lot like Facebook.  Moving from group to group was easily done by using the home icon

and students can access documents through their backpack, which is on the top navigation bar. I loved that it was so similar to Facebook, which I use as do some of my kids. 

Home icon                                                  Student Backpack

4.The ability to customize, my fourth criteria, was important to me not for the ability to change and individualize the website, but for the opposite reason.  I wanted a discussion board that could link to documents and assignments, but I did not want students to be able to adjust font, color scheme, layout, etc.  Because my students respond well to routine and uniformity, the inability to make those changes ensures that everyone’s homepage looks the same.  This may be evaluated differently by teachers with different student needs.

5. Because Edmodo is promoted as a place for collaboration and communication, it was important for me to evaluate the capability for discussion and interaction.  The main feature of the home page is the discussion thread.  This can become overwhelming when looking at the posts for all groups, but can be sorted by clicking on a group.  You can also sort posts by a number of categories.  I really like that their isn’t a private messaging option.  I feel that students on an education platform do not need the ability to talk to one another outside of the class’s view.  The small group function allows for more private discussion, but it is still able to be monitored by the teacher.

Example of discussion thread:

6. Sharing information and ideas is a critical piece of online networking.  Edmodo allows users to upload links and files (word documents and audio) easily to any post. Students can save these attachments to their backpack while teachers can save them to a library, which can both be organized into folders. In addition, Edmodo can link directly to Google Docs.  So you can back up your back up!

My Library Folders:

7. I wanted to ensure that my students’ identities and work would remain private and secure.  Students create a login and their own passwords.  I really liked that they did not have to provide an email because an email is another way people can “find” you.  Also, the group codes can be locked once all your approved members have joined.  Anyone else who tries to join has to be approved by the teacher.

8.  With students always being on go, I thought it was important that Edmodo have a mobile app.  They do for phones and tablets.  I did not have a chance to use this, but a student reported that it was also very usable and good for posts, but not when accessing and working on documents.

9. Cost is always an issue with education because teachers and schools don’t have disposable income.  Edmodo is free for teachers, students and parents, but I was surprised to find some costly packages.  If a district wanted to have a contract with Edmodo fees are involved.  As I researched this, I couldn’t find a justification for paying for the website.

10.  I am comfortable with technology, but it was still important to me that help be accessible.  Edmodo provides tutorials from their home page (pre-login) as well as a help desk and customer service.  A quick YouTube search also unveiled other helpful videos on how to set up, use and navigate Edmodo.

After looking at my findings, rubric, and screen time with Edmodo, I discovered more pros than cons. As my rubric shows, none of my criteria fell below expectation.  My students have been excited to use Edmodo in school and outside of it. I have not run across a problem other than worrying about becoming a 24 hour teacher.  Because students can post questions at any point, at first, I was constantly checking my email (as Edmodo alerts me when a post is made by a student) to see if a student needed help.  It was slightly maddening, yet, after setting a time frame as to when I would last check, students became more adept at posting true questions and not just anything that came to mind. 

If digital literacy is the ability to use information and communicate with  technology to sharpen and evaluate skills, Edmodo develops some of these skills but also just replaces pencil and paper tasks like keeping a homework agenda or a binder of notes.  The students don’t have the ability to create new and different ways of expression that other apps do.  Where Edmodo does foster the skills of digital literacy is in the area of communication.  The discussion threads are a great way for students to collaborate and share information in a digital space. The social aspect makes Edmodo a better fit for 6^th grade and up.  Julie Cunningham’s blog post provides an interesting look at why Edmodo may not work for your school.

I don’t have much experience with comparable resources, but found information to compare Moodle and Schoology to Edmodo.   Moodle is an online learning management system (like eLearning Commons), but began in universities and is customizable for your school.  Users note that it is “chunky” and requires more technical knowledge.  Here is a sample page of Moodle for high school.  For me, it appears best used by high schools or colleges that want to have students participate in modular activities.  Unlike Edmodo, it can be downloaded to your school’s network.  Schoology is also a learning management system but has a social media component like Edmodo. Also similar to Edmodo classes can be created, and an analytic function allows teachers to track student’s participation in discussions and assignments. “Schoology is well designed and fills the middle-ground between Edmodo and Moodle. Best suited to upper Primary/Elementary or Secondary students, though I still find the Edmodo interface more intuitive for both teachers and students” (McCullough, 2012).

(Citation for information on Moodle and Schoology: McCullough, W. (2012). “Edmodo v Moodle v Schoology.” The Staffroom; Thoughts and Discussion from around the lunch table. 22 07 2012. Accessed: 03 10 2014. http://wazmac.com/discussion/edmodo-v-moodle-schoology/)

C. GETTING STARTED – CLASSROOM APPLICATION

Signing up for an Edmodo account is easy and only requires a couple of steps.  Teachers enter an email address and create a password. They then choose a school to connect with.  A short profile includes name, subject(s) taught, grade level and a customizable url. The final step for teachers is to set up a class.  This video is a short tutorial on setting up a group.

Students create an account by inputting their name and group code (others can be added later) and creating a username and password. Parents can also join to have access to class information with a separate parent code, name, username, email and password.  My co-teacher is also a parent who uses Edmodo to track his 4^th grade daughter’s class.  He says, “"As a parent, I feel that it is a great tool to be able to connect to their teacher outside of school. For younger kids it may be a distraction because it affords them an opportunity to communicate socially. So it needs to be closely monitored or clear expectations set with how they communicate with each other." But he feels, “"As a teacher, I hate paper materials. It helps keep me organized. Like a central location online."

Edmodo snapshot provides teachers an easy way to connect material and assessments to Common Core Standards for ELA and Math.  Here is Edmodo’s page on Snapshot and this is one from a tech blog.  I believe a teacher could use Edmodo to satisfy a number of Common Core Standards. Due to its discussion boards and posts, I feel Edmodo would be helpful in developing student’s ability to analyze, respond, craft and integrate knowledge.  I focused on the ELA standards for middle school. Those are as follows:

ELACC RL5: Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

ELACC RI6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

ELACC RL7: Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.

ELACC RI7: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

ELACC W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

ELACC W6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

ELACC SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

ELACC SL5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.

ELACC SL6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Because Edmodo satisfies a number of standards, I feel it can be integrated in multiple ways in the classroom.  Below are some of my ideas and links to others:

·      Because you can form small groups within a class, I have used Edmodo for Lit Circles.  Students can read and post discussion questions and answers.

·      Posting homework for students.  Many of my students struggle with executive functioning and Edmodo allows for a central location for assignments and materials.  If a child leaves a worksheet at school, he can download it at home.

·      The Poll feature (picture below) allows for quick, exit ticket, comprehension checks.

·      20 ways to use Edmodo from Edmodo - https://support.edmodo.com/home#entries/21720784-20-ways-to-use-edmodo-teacher

Sample Ideas from the article  “Free Tools Challenge #5: Edmodo in the Web 2.0 Classroom”

§  Pen Pals (go to the Community site to connect with other teachers)

§  Make up work for when students are absent

§  Video commentary – can post a video on line and have students write comments about the video

§  Peer editing

§  Book clubs

§  Daily feedback

§  Students can turn in assignments via Edmodo (documents, glogs, etc.)

§  Enter comments on assignments, give positive feedback to students, give grades to students

§  Writing vocabulary sentences and having conversations about them

·      A YouTube video of 20 Ways to Use Edmodo