Authors: Bob Smitka & Kieth Jaynes




Introduction:

Today's students are virtually connected. They strive to communicate digitally, using mobile devices and social media such as Facebook, mySpace, and Twitter, sharing photos, messages, and information about their daily lives. The problem that many school districts have faced with social media sites such as these, is the online safety of the students. Questions arise such as, "Who actually sees the photos they publish?", "Who reads their posts?", and , "How can we be sure that our students are using these sites safely?" Edmodo helps to ease the mind of district administrators by providing the first safe and private microblogging platform (click here to read more about microblogging) designed specifically for the teacher, students and their parents. Allowing the teacher to set up classroom specific groups and offering private and safe passwords for the students and parents to join, makes this an incredibly useful tool to keep your students and their parents constantly updated on what is going on in your classroom.

Getting Started with Edmodo:

Two short videos about getting you started with Edmodo...

Examples of Class Communication with Edmodo:

Edmodo allows the teacher to post a variety of updates to their students through the microblogging platform...

• Class Notes
• This feature allows the teacher to post general notes to the class, reminding them about homework, re-enforcing ideas, classroom updates, or perhaps just sharing their thoughts about something to the class.

• Class Assignments
• This allows the teacher to post upcoming assignments such as homework, tests, quizzes, labs, or other assignments that will be due in class. Once the due date is entered, this assignment will be automatically added to the classroom calendar within the group page.

• Class Web Links
• Edmodo also allows both the teacher and the student share useful links with each other within the group. Links are easily posted via copy/paste with a short description of the link. Once complete, it will post for all in the group to see.

• Class Alerts
• Class alerts are yet another useful function found in Edmodo. Using this, the teacher can send important reminders that will show up on the home page of all users within the group.

• Class Files
• Lastly, Edmodo allows both the teacher and students to upload files to the group. With this, the teacher may be able to post actual homework assignments, notes, or outlines to the entire class, letting them download them at home to work on. On the other hand, this also allows students to turn in assignments, allowing the teacher to digtally collect and grade assignements, giving the student instant feedback.
  

Additional Resources:

Articles Supporting Edmodo's Use in Educational Settings:

• ZDNet's Education Page - Christopher Dawson
  
• Edmodo in the Classroom Slideshare - Eldon Germann
  
• Enhancing Education with Edmodo - MrWarner.com
  
• Bright Ideas Blog - School Library Assiciation of Victoria
  

Similar Services:
The key concept helping to cater Edmodo to the classroom environment is the safety of the users involved. By allowing for private user groups, it helps to control who belongs to your Edmodo account. Other microblogging sites do exist out there, yet none are as customized for classroom use as Edmodo. Some of the most popular microblogging sites available are...

Twitter

• The most familiar microblogging site used by millions worldwide.
  

Plurk

• A slightly different approach to the microblogging platform. Users watch a live timeline showing both friend and user updates, making it easy to view your friend's thoughts and add comments.
  

Ping.fm

• Online service allowing you to update a variety of microblogging platforms, as well as social media sites such as mySpace and Facebook at the same time without having to visit each one.
  

Tumblr

• Letting users set up and update their own "Tumbleblogs", it does away with the 140 character limit and it simplifies the blogging experience letting anyone post updates, pictures and links.
  

More similar microblogging platforms can be found here.


References/Acknowledgements

• Edmodo tutorial courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/user/anamariacult
• Edmodo screencast courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/user/edmodo1