Edmodo: a social network that works in the classroom #mace2010

By Wesley Fryer On March 5, 2010 · · 2 Comments

These are my notes from Janet Sauber’s presentation “Edmodo: a social network that works in the classroom” at the 2010 MACE (Mid-America Association for Computers in Education) Conference in Manhattan, Kansas. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. I am recording this session with audio and may podcast it later. Janet is a technology integration facilitator in Salina, Kansas. All resources for this session are available on mace2010edmodo.pbworks.com

Edmodo is online at www.edmodo.com

Edmodo has made me rethink how I give assignments. It has made my classroom close to paperless, given my students access to their assignments 24/7, and made my grading much more efficient since it can be done online. I cannot imagine my classroom without it now. (a Salina English teacher who works with Janet Sauber)

This has also caused the teacher to rethink how she grades student work. Assignments go back to kids via Edmodo. She still “bleeds” on larger / longer student work, but keeping everything electronic makes it so much more convenient to grade at home

Edmodo provides a way for students to collaborate with each other outside of school.

Anyone can sign up as a teacher on Edmodo
– students could theoretically sign up for their own Edmodo area/account
– you do want to monitor their account, you can contact Edmodo support
– Mr O’Hara is the owner and creator of Edmodo and he will delete those accounts for you if you want

When you sign up, Edmodo does ask how you would like to be addressed. Email is not required for teachers or students, but highly recommended for teachers especially
– once you setup a class you get a “group code” as a key to get into your class

I serve 800 students and about 200 teachers
– my goal is every student would have an account, and each teacher would use their account
– to join another teacher’s account, the students don’t need to create another account, they just need the GROUP code

For student usernames
– say “only put in your real name if you want credit for the work you do”
– this is important

For passwords in our school, we are trying to get kids to use the same password that is associated with their student ID

Teachers who sign up can join other teachers’ groups using that group code

I recommend you also create a “fake” student account, so you can go in and check what the students see (the student view)
– you can use that as a demo account to use with students
– also I recommend you setup a test class

When you create a class, click the pencil icon beside the class icon and change the color for that entire class
– THIS LOOKS VERY SIMILAR TO THE WAY YOU CHANGE THE COLOR

Be aware: kids CAN/COULD join this class with different accounts, and sabotage the class…. posting as an anonymous user
– after you give that code to students, I recommend you reset the code so kids can’t join with different IDs

THIS IS A GREAT TIP

Edmodo has setup some nice FAQs and tutorials on edmodo.pbworks.com
– Edmodo just changed the opening screen, so things have changed a bit

Edmodo Video Tutorial

How to create your own Avatar image to use online

Under settings you can change your Avatar: can be symbol, doesn’t have to be their face, there are available options provided too if they don’t want to upload an Avatar

Big issue: You cannot moderate what students post
– you can delete something but not

I have found, esp with Seniors, they tend to really monitor themselves
– you as the teacher tell them they’ll be grounded from Edmodo for a week
– because there are individual accounts, there is accountability

Students CANNOT message each other privately in Edmodo, everything either goes into everyone in the class, a group a student is a member of,

Give kids time for some chatty socializing
– the teacher I work with just has 1 class of sophomores that are still doing that mindless chatting
– the more content you have, the further it moves down and harder it is to ‘mine’ for it

There are different filters you can apply
– an ALERT just has a color flag

Teachers can create groups, student accounts can’t
– again if a student creates an Edmodo account as a teacher, they could create groups from that account

INTERESTING DISCSUSSION HERE AMONG PARTICIPANTS, CONCERNED ABOUT STUDENTS BEING ABLE TO CREATE ‘NON-SANCTIONED’ GROUPS… SOMEONE SAID, IF THEY DO THIS THEY “JUST CREATED ANOTHER FACEBOOK….”
– THIS RAISES THE SANDBOX ISSUE: WE NEED TO HAVE SPACES LIKE THIS FOR STUDENTS TO USE AND CREATE / INTERACT IN
– MY THOUGHT: WITHOUT CONTENT CREATION, THERE IS NO CREATIVITY

You can create a Note or a Link, or send a File – create assignments and send polls too!

I AM THINKING IT WOULD BE GREAT TO CREATE AN EDMODO CLASS FOR MY “TECHNOLOGY 4 TEACHERS” CLASS NEXT WEEK! WHAT A GREAT SANDBOX TO USE AND EXPERIENCE WITHIN A CLASS

There is a 100 MB file size limit for Edmodo currently
– you can upload videos

Making an assignment is a GREAT feature, you can also put a date that goes onto their calendar

For a smaller response, it is better to NOT upload files as an assignment, but instead just have them reply

We have “ELO” (extended learning opportunity) twice per week
– the teacher I work with has a “stall” for her “computer on wheels” (COW)

When you grade the assignment, you specify how many points out of how many, and can share a comment

I AM WONDERING ABOUT THE DYNAMICS OF USING EDMODO VERSUS A MORE ROBUST LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM LIKE MOODLE? CERTAINLY THIS IS MUCH EASIER TO GET INTO…
– I AM ALSO WONDERING ABOUT THE GROWTH OF THIS SITE, THE SPEED OF THE SERVER, THEIR PLANS FOR MONETIZATION, HOW LIKELY IT IS THIS WILL CONTINUE TO BE AVAILABLE, ETC….

When you create an assignment, it shows red bars for students who have not turned it in, green bars for those who have
– you can have this on your screen when students come in for class, it does not disclose grades or confidential information

There is no interface to automatically put these scores into your student information system
– you can view all your grades in a tabular format
– also permits downloading as a CSV

Participant noted there is a new state requirement to teach students social networking and ethics, it looks like this dovetails with that mandate well

Remember all session links are on: mace2010edmodo.pbworks.com

GREAT SESSION!

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#mace2010, edtech, learning, mace2010, school, edmodo, social, networking, collaborate

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On this day..

2 Responses to Edmodo: a social network that works in the classroom #mace2010

Bob G. says:

March 5, 2010 at 11:16 am

Wes,

The creator of Edmodo, Jeff O’Hara is on Twitter @zemote. He is very active on Twitter and I am sure would be willing to answer those questions for you.
Daily Links 03/05/2010 « EduEyeView says:

March 5, 2010 at 12:30 pm

[…] Edmodo: a social network that works in the classroom #mace2010 « Moving at the Speed of Creativity […]