Edmodo

Edmodo:

What is it:

Edmodo is a website that I have very recently checked out on my own, but many of my classmates have been talking about. I am still very new to all of its features, but it seems to me like it is a place for students and teachers to connect and collaborate, and share ideas and resources. I have played around with the teacher account and I was able to set up a news feed of topics that are of interest to me. What comes up are questions and suggestions other teachers have been posting about that same topic. Since I am a teacher who has not set-up my class, all of my posts are coming from teachers who offer their suggestions and ideas for different ways to approach a theme within the curriculum. I have found that you are able to create multiple groups for classrooms and students which would be beneficial for teachers who have different language arts and math classes, or secondary teachers who have many sections or periods. It also has a section called “posts” where you can actually post things that you would like to share, either with a group or with the larger network. In order for students to be able to use this, both the students and parents need to read and agree to the terms of service and privacy policy. There is no email address required for students; however a school group code is necessary to create a username and password to be able to join networks.

What to do with it:

Once the time has been taken to actually create the accounts, I think this would be a great tool to check for students understanding, especially after a math lesson. It would be easy to create a new note or post with a question to have students respond to. There are also options that can be used to create quizzes so that students can have additional practice or a quick assessment. I think in a school with a lot of computer access, or mobile device access this would be a great tool to use in the classroom. Especially since they have an app to “go mobile” so that students can access them any time.