In the past, I found it to be most beneficial for collaboration with faculty and staff at the school level. I don't know about you, but when people send me emails during the school day, I don't typically have time to give them my full attention, and they get buried. I probably need to spend time figuring out how to flag them or color code them for better efficiency. So, instead of sharing great ideas, blogs, websites, and projects with my co-workers via email, I started up a group for my faculty and staff. I posted the links in our group, lobbied with administration to use the group more often, and I organized the shared links in the library in categorized file folders to make the group user-friendly.
This system made me feel so much more organized. Our staff now has the ability to document the completion of certain school-wide requirements in the files, in addition to collaborating within the group setting.
Being a teacher in a private school, collaboration opportunities with other teachers in my grade level were extremely limited. Our Diocese did catch on to the Edmodo opportunity for collaboration, yet participation was limited. Hopefully over time, more teachers will see the positive benefits of group collaboration.
This summer I am learning more about the apps offered within Edmodo. I stumbled upon them just by clicking various buttons on the tool bars within my groups. I started using Twitter for professional development, and stumbled upon a tweet inviting users to apply to become an Edmodo Ambassador. https://blog.edmodo.com/2014/06/30/calling-all-aspiring-edmodo-ambassadors/comment-page-1/#comment-184972 Because I wanted to learn as much as possible about how I can best use all the features, I signed up right away. I was put into an 8-module webinar series, and I HIGHLY recommend every teacher who wants to be more aware of the options to follow the link and get started!
The look and feel of the group section of Edmodo is very similar to Facebook. When using the groups with students, however, there are some key differences:
*Parents can see all direct one-on-one communications between teacher and student. Parents can also see grades and assignments, plus the status of assignments that are turned in or still outstanding.
*Students cannot send direct private messages to each other.
*Groups are closed, which means they are not open to the public. The audience is limited to the teacher, classmates, and administration. I personally like this for my fifth graders, as they are learning how to positively interact in digital situations.
These are great safety features, and any teacher using the groups for classroom assignments and collaboration will certainly want to add digital citizenship lessons at the start of using Edmodo or any other blog space, and ongoing as needed. There are moderation features available. This means that new students or students who might have made unfortunate choices in their collaboration can be moderated, and posts will not be published until the teacher approves them.
I am looking forward to creating quizzes and assignments within my student groups. I can create small groups within my classes for language arts and social studies projects and discussions.
If you are a veteran Edmodo user, I would love to hear from you with project ideas!
Good for you for starting something up. Getting staff on board and liking it is one of the most difficult things to make happen!
ReplyDeleteVery true! Thanks for reading my post. :)
DeleteEnjoy seeing what others are doing with Edmodo. I'm by myself and have not had the push to explore it fully. Limited time is spent on other programs that are more appropriate to my small child care.
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