Edmodo (discontinued) vs. LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com)

Well, Edmodo is the best e-learning platform. Even you do not have to meet your audience face to face. And there are tons of free courses in different subjects. Now everyone can join them easily and increase their general knowledge or in specific subjects. I am individually using Edmodo for creating groups for my students and our staff members. There are plenty of tools for doing different kinds of work. If you are working with pupils, then you can add their parents to the group and they can only view their child's grades. You can create assignments for your members and you can grade them using Edmodo.

Incentivized

I've learned hundreds of software applications over the last several decades, and trained teams in offices and one-on-one. At one point, books and trade magazines were a great way to get up to speed with an application, but they've become less and less effective for getting started. Video lessons have some strengths; you can get a rapid overview of a program's capabilities and watch an experienced user using its tools efficiently. On rare occasions they'll even point out bugs that could trip you up, but I wish instructors shared more of those issues. However, it takes a very self-motivated learner to sit through training sessions. Most people don't fit that category, and a subscription may end up gathering dust like a pandemic gym membership. My account is sometimes dormant for months, but then I'll be watching lessons continually the following month. I've often wondered if it was worth it for that reason. I have some friends that voraciously devoured class after Lynda.com class, and built successful careers on that training. But many others never use their account. It's helpful to consider whether you're a self-motivated learner. If not, it may not be the best format for you. More complicated software often can't be adequately introduced in a several-hour-long series of videos. I found Final Cut Pro (7) hard to learn online, also Logic Pro. Other somewhat complicated programs like DVD Pro were a snap to learn, and I learned a lot about PHP and Actionscript programming from Lynda.com. Some web and graphics software is exceptionally explained by real experts, such as Lynda's Photoshop classes, which are the best I've seen on that subject. Many of her web production courses will take you every step along the way to creating your own website, even if you haven't coded before. Adobe and Apple have both published similar project-based tutorial classes in book form, and I think they're a bit more polished, but the video instructor can help move you along through all the content more easily. Learning software seems to work better from an online video than a book these days; it's helpful to already be sitting at the computer where you're able to try everything out as it's explained. Most people don't seem to retain software principles unless they're trying them while learning. A bad instructor can make it difficult to sit through a video class. Lynda.com and others generally have a large variety of content creators, so you're not as limited with instructors as you might be at a University, where the same instructor may teach several related applications. Departmental faculty may have much more targeted and creative applications for your software though, while paid corporate software training can be mind-numbingly bad. Continuing ed classes that I've taken usually seemed to just focus on learning the tools in a software product. They often don't or even can't show you how to apply the software for your purposes as full time faculty at a University might. Some Lynda.com instructors weren't great, but most seemed a cut above the continuing ed and corporate software trainers I've learned from or contracted. The majority of the classes seemed to apply the software for an impressive final project. Redundancy is a real drawback among the online lessons. Often the advanced classes repeat many of the concepts from the introductory "Essentials" courses. If you know an earlier version of an application and just want to learn new features, a book may be a faster route to your goal. I originally suggested the "New Features" lessons that Lynda began to offer for updated releases, and I think they're especially helpful. It's much harder to skim through a video than a page of text, so I'd anticipate having to complement your Lynda.com lessons with other instructional materials. Lynda.com didn't have as many of the "fluff" courses that LinkedIn is now offering. These titles read like articles from Cosmo. They might be better served to offer "How to respond to a connection request from a recruiter who works in a field completely unrelated to you."

• Edmodo syncs with my Google Drive, making the sharing of assignments, handouts, pictures, and videos incredibly easy. Because I can store often-used materials in my Edmodo library, I can find them easily for the next time I am working on that unit.
• The quizzes are easy to set up and they can be used again, so if I need to do a check for understanding on a particular topic in multiple classrooms, or use the same baseline data collection quiz for more than one semester, I need only create the quiz once.
• The calendar feature for Edmodo allows me to plan my lessons days, even weeks ahead. I can keep assignments hidden until the day I plan to teach them, and if I need extra time for a lesson within a unit, adjusting the due dates is a simple drag-and-drop operation.

Incentivized

• Industry expert authors/instructors - you're learning from people with pedigree.
• Breadth and depth of catalog - not only is there a wide range of topics and disciplines, but there are frequently several levels of depth within each (eg. Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced).
• Time needed to complete each course AND each section of a course are included - you know what you're getting into from the first click.

Incentivized

• Although Edmodo has a nice online assessment feature, it lacks in critical areas. It is difficult to attach diagrams or charts to questions. This can be done, but they are displayed in a module which pops up in front of the question. This thus hides the questions when looking at the diagram, picture, etc.
• Questions can be randomized in Edmodo when students take an assessment, which is a nice feature. Answer choices, however, cannot be randomized.
• Edmodo could use a much better WYSIWYG editor. It can be difficult to incorporate equations or subscript for instance.
• The analytical data offered in assessments is decent, but it would be good if the following was added: it would be good to see which answers where most commonly missed by students; it would be good if more class data was given, such as average, median, low scores.
• Other LMS platforms do a much nicer job of incorporating these feature directly into the question.
• You are unable to add attachments to Calendar postings. This would be a very useful feature.
• Updates can get lost after a while, and are difficult to search for. Once you have a large numbers of postings, finding older postings, which very well could be assignments or assessments, can be tedious for both students and parents. Even with using the built in filter feature, this is certainly an area I could see improvement being made.
• Although Edmodo has a nice Folder feature to store your materials as a teacher, it is painstaking to use once you have a large number of items in a folder. The drop and drag feature is slow, and doesn't always stick. There is no subfolder feature as well. So, although you can organize materials, other LMS platforms make it much easier to organize and share you materials with students, parents, and other colleagues.

Incentivized

• LinkedIn Learning provides learning paths, but it's left much to be desired. Not enough direction about the why, or learning outcomes.
• Some courses provide exercises/quizzes. Others do not. There's definitely a missing piece to test comprehension.
• The library is so large, it's difficult to really build your own learning. I find it better for just-in-time learning.

Incentivized

Edmodo is a LEARNING tool. Not "one more thing" I have to use or integrate. It was my one stop shop for everything for my classes. More importantly, I was able to watch my students grow. My students who were timid, and quiet, became my discussion leaders. Students who didn't do their homework, never missed an assignment once I started doing "e-tickets" and discussion groups. Everyone felt they had a voice, which made our classroom community that much stronger.

It can help all employees learn to strengthen current skills or to learn new skills and then can learn to excel in their current department or they learn a new skills in a new department creating interconnection and cross-departmental value in a company.

Incentivized

When I was given 100 studnets it was no problem. When I was given another 60 it was still no problem. I didn't really have much more work to do. I definately didn't have to make copies or look for old assignments for students who joined a school later than traditional one's. When students missed or were sent home, they could still be part of the learning community.

The platform is very easy to use and navigate, the content is clearly itemised via the Contents section and the video playback speed can be adjusted. It's also useful to have optional captions (I always use them) and a transcript for accessibility purposes.

Incentivized

Support through Edmodo is excellent. The communities are a really great way to get fast help because they are actively monitored, and responses are posted by other community members and the support staff. Users can also email Edmodo with suggestions, and in my experience, an Edmodo support person will respond with additional information or, at the very least, with an acknowledgement of the suggestion.

The technical team behind LinkedIn Learning (or Lynda.com) knows their job, and they usually solve problems very quickly. While I haven't had many run-ins with them (thus the low rating), I do find that when we call them, the problem gets resolved in a reasonable amount of time. The flip-side of this comment is that we never have needed to call them with a high-priority issue.

Incentivized

Plan a little extra time to let them play with the platform with fun assignments. This made them comfortable submitting work, finding items, communicating with me or each other

By implementation we are able to achieve 1.Skill improvement 2.Reduced burden on training staff 3.Learning new market leading technologies like Generative AI.

Incentivized

I actually utilize Google Classroom over Edmodo in most of my school functions. I still use Edmodo as a coach and club adviser but prefer Google Classroom as a classroom teacher. Google Classroom offers everything that Edmodo does but seems to be more efficient, particularly for our school as our district has paid for Google apps and each student has their own Gmail account. Additionally, Google Classroom allows students to access Google Docs and edit in real time where Edmodo has some limitations in that regard. Finally, students generally have stated that they prefer Google Classroom as the smartphone application is easier and more dynamic.

Incentivized

Our organization has used different webinars, including ones on LinkedIn, to provide similar insight. But it's a totally different ballgame. Lynda.com offers in-depth tutorials rather than just a 2-hour video broadcast. With lynda.com there are more information and experts, as well as so many different courses fit for every need/want. There is also a lot more flexibility with lynda. You can take it on the go, watch on mobile and at anytime, rather than being tied to a certain time slot.

Incentivized

• Definitely better customer service! Once the parents figured out the tool and students were proficient with it. It was an excellent way to communicate student's strengths and weaknesses in their learning.
• Increased employee efficiency. Especially since teachers can share assignments easily too. And, as I've referred to many times, the grading feature is a huge time saver!
• A negative impact is we have had some cyberbulling. But, used the blocking features and handled it with face-to-face interaction with the students in question and their families.

Incentivized

• I can't think of a negative impact that Lynda.com has when it relates to the extensive library of training software that is available to subscribers. I'm lucky that my job provides a free subscription for instructors. I use Lynda.com to hone in on my technical skills.

Incentivized