First post...
So, if blogging is a way to improve your professional practice, it's also a way to gain expertise in a tool that fits 21st century learners. I've used blogger as my school website (daily updates to parents), but this time, just blogging to collaborate with my PLN, share ideas, and work out my ideas about education.
Let's start with Edmodo. Now that I've had one year of using this phenomenal tool under my belt, it's time to stretch out the wings as see how this baby really flies.
Things we know...
1) Edmodo is an educational social networking platform that is safe and secure that doubles as a content storage site. It take the best of Delicious or Diigo, Gradebook, Facebook and Twitter, and rolls them up into a nice neat package that gives teachers total control to monitor and engage students as they see fit. (Facebook could stand to learn a thing or two from Edmodo about privacy controls.)
2) Because Edmodo has spruced up its mobile version for Android and the iPhone, it truly has broken down the classroom walls and extended learning into students' every day lives. (Ex: I had a student message one of my Edmodo groups while visiting D.C. with family. The student exclaimed that the government buildings were clearly modeled after Greek and Roman architecture just like we had learned in class. Many times, students used Edmodo to ask me or their peers for HW they missed before they come back to school the next day!)
3) Edmodo's help and blog are top notch. Last year, I learned that the "Mr. O'Hara" who was trouble-shooting my help questions with real-time posts to questions was none other than founder Jeff O'Hara, a former public school IT specialist from Chicago, Illinois. Their help team, which has since grown in numbers, are always positive and quick to respond. And the Edmodo blog has many tips and tricks for using the site, integration ideas, best practices, plus resources, like a sample parent letter, guidelines for student use, and a code of conduct. (Again, the post office and my phone and cable company could take a page out of Edmodo's customer service manual.)
Things we (or at least I) don't know...
1) Will Edmodo become for teachers as powerful a social network as Twitter is for growing their PLN and learning from peers? Right now, I consider my PLN to include primarily all those I follow and who follow me on Twitter. Some of those same people overlap on Edmodo. For examples you can find great educators and technology wizards like Jesstern Rays here on Twitter or here in Edmodo, but I have far more connections on Twitter than I do Edmodo. My connections with educators in Edmodo don't yield lots of conversations via the connections themselves, but rather the groups Edmodo has developed, like Social Studies, Math, Professional Development, etc. These groups are like little chat rooms where we post specific questions to that group, share answers, and trade resources with Edmodo's fantastic "Library" button. It's a relatively new feature (added late last year) where you can simply click "Library" next to any link that a colleague has shared and it automatically adds that site to your personal Edmodo library.
2) Will Edmodo be fully integrated into districts or specific departments as part of the curriculum requirements? The Common Core purports to be more relevant and useful than NCLB, I suppose, in driving public schools to prepare students for the future. (Read its mission statement here.) To do so, it should require fluency in 21st century literacies (social media, visual media, effective mobile communication, file tagging and online folder storage). That doesn't just imply facility with web tools and communication, but also the ethical use of these platforms. Edmodo, as an educationally safe social networking tool, is the standard-bearer for teaching students to use these tools safely and effectively. How many districts recognize this and have already implemented Edmodo across the board in all of their schools? How soon will this happen in your district?
3) Will higher-ups like Principals, Superintendents, School Board members, University Professors, and others who don't currently have a direct functional connection to classrooms begin creating Edmodo accounts to connect with teachers and maybe interact with classes? (Some of these types of folks are on Twitter and Google+. They are experts and fantastic advocates of connected learning, leadership, and edu best practices, like Eric Sheninger, Pam Moran, and Todd Whitaker.) These edu leaders communicate with classroom educators like myself on open networks, whereas Edmodo is closed--and rightfully so to ensure a safe atmosphere for students to interact with their groups and their teachers. How could Edmodo maintain their security but also leverage this great tool for students and teachers to connect with field experts and edu leaders?
Just some questions I have.
Anyway, enough of the Edmodo commercial. Just sayin' that I've tried many ways of communicating with students and parents (such as Schoolnotes.com, Classjump.com, e-mail blasts, etc.) and Edmodo easily trumps them all.
Go check it out...
Devin
So, if blogging is a way to improve your professional practice, it's also a way to gain expertise in a tool that fits 21st century learners. I've used blogger as my school website (daily updates to parents), but this time, just blogging to collaborate with my PLN, share ideas, and work out my ideas about education.
Let's start with Edmodo. Now that I've had one year of using this phenomenal tool under my belt, it's time to stretch out the wings as see how this baby really flies.
Things we know...
1) Edmodo is an educational social networking platform that is safe and secure that doubles as a content storage site. It take the best of Delicious or Diigo, Gradebook, Facebook and Twitter, and rolls them up into a nice neat package that gives teachers total control to monitor and engage students as they see fit. (Facebook could stand to learn a thing or two from Edmodo about privacy controls.)
2) Because Edmodo has spruced up its mobile version for Android and the iPhone, it truly has broken down the classroom walls and extended learning into students' every day lives. (Ex: I had a student message one of my Edmodo groups while visiting D.C. with family. The student exclaimed that the government buildings were clearly modeled after Greek and Roman architecture just like we had learned in class. Many times, students used Edmodo to ask me or their peers for HW they missed before they come back to school the next day!)
3) Edmodo's help and blog are top notch. Last year, I learned that the "Mr. O'Hara" who was trouble-shooting my help questions with real-time posts to questions was none other than founder Jeff O'Hara, a former public school IT specialist from Chicago, Illinois. Their help team, which has since grown in numbers, are always positive and quick to respond. And the Edmodo blog has many tips and tricks for using the site, integration ideas, best practices, plus resources, like a sample parent letter, guidelines for student use, and a code of conduct. (Again, the post office and my phone and cable company could take a page out of Edmodo's customer service manual.)
Things we (or at least I) don't know...
1) Will Edmodo become for teachers as powerful a social network as Twitter is for growing their PLN and learning from peers? Right now, I consider my PLN to include primarily all those I follow and who follow me on Twitter. Some of those same people overlap on Edmodo. For examples you can find great educators and technology wizards like Jesstern Rays here on Twitter or here in Edmodo, but I have far more connections on Twitter than I do Edmodo. My connections with educators in Edmodo don't yield lots of conversations via the connections themselves, but rather the groups Edmodo has developed, like Social Studies, Math, Professional Development, etc. These groups are like little chat rooms where we post specific questions to that group, share answers, and trade resources with Edmodo's fantastic "Library" button. It's a relatively new feature (added late last year) where you can simply click "Library" next to any link that a colleague has shared and it automatically adds that site to your personal Edmodo library.
2) Will Edmodo be fully integrated into districts or specific departments as part of the curriculum requirements? The Common Core purports to be more relevant and useful than NCLB, I suppose, in driving public schools to prepare students for the future. (Read its mission statement here.) To do so, it should require fluency in 21st century literacies (social media, visual media, effective mobile communication, file tagging and online folder storage). That doesn't just imply facility with web tools and communication, but also the ethical use of these platforms. Edmodo, as an educationally safe social networking tool, is the standard-bearer for teaching students to use these tools safely and effectively. How many districts recognize this and have already implemented Edmodo across the board in all of their schools? How soon will this happen in your district?
3) Will higher-ups like Principals, Superintendents, School Board members, University Professors, and others who don't currently have a direct functional connection to classrooms begin creating Edmodo accounts to connect with teachers and maybe interact with classes? (Some of these types of folks are on Twitter and Google+. They are experts and fantastic advocates of connected learning, leadership, and edu best practices, like Eric Sheninger, Pam Moran, and Todd Whitaker.) These edu leaders communicate with classroom educators like myself on open networks, whereas Edmodo is closed--and rightfully so to ensure a safe atmosphere for students to interact with their groups and their teachers. How could Edmodo maintain their security but also leverage this great tool for students and teachers to connect with field experts and edu leaders?
Just some questions I have.
Anyway, enough of the Edmodo commercial. Just sayin' that I've tried many ways of communicating with students and parents (such as Schoolnotes.com, Classjump.com, e-mail blasts, etc.) and Edmodo easily trumps them all.
Go check it out...
Devin
