Teaching Social Media Through Edmodo
February 11, 2014

Teaching Social Media Through Edmodo

Barbara Boksz, Ph.D. | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

2014

Modules Used

  • Edmodo home page, small groups, gradebook, storage locker, quizzes, assignments, profile,

Overall Satisfaction

Edmodo is being widely used in Education. My school district has approved its use throughout the district for all grade levels as on online communication platform particularly for students to receive assignments and share their projects, reflections, etc. My professional use of it started with using it in my own classroom for the students to be able to share their projects with their classmates, and reflect on their work. This process has expanded to use Edmodo with 3 other schools in my district. The students in each of the three schools are put into groups with students from the other schools. They then share projects with relative strangers who give them feedback from peers similar to what they would get by sharing on Social Media. This gives the 4 teachers involved a chance to teach them how to properly protect themselves and use Social Media. It also gives the teachers control of their interactions, so netiquette and cybersafety can be taught. In addition, using Edmodo helped the teachers figure out how to give the students an "authentic" audience in a safe environment. The project has helped the teachers improve their teaching skills as well by co-teaching virtually.
  • Teachers have control of who can be in the virtual classroom, yet does not limit attendees to just one school, but others from around the world can be invited to join the classroom.
  • The gradebook feature allows quizzes and surveys to be served to students and gives immediate feedback to students with their results.
  • The use of the small group function lets unlimited groups be created, so you can divide students for working together.
  • The function of uploading documents to posts allows students to share their work. They can upload many types of files, or link to a common website for discussion.
  • The library function allows teachers to share documents with each other and students.
  • The turn in button allows students to communicate with just the teacher.
  • It would be wonderful if the gradebook function of Edmodo could be linked to Grade Quick which is our official grading software. At the present time when quizzes and graded assignments are completed in Edmodo, teachers have to transfer the grades manually. If the digital link could be created, it would automatically go to the official gradebook, thus saving teachers some time.
  • Sharing files in the library should be made easier between teachers. At the present time, if I've created an assignment for my classes with other teachers, I have to be the one posting them all the time. If I could share ownership of the assignments/quizzes, etc. the other teachers could share in serving the assignments to the students.
  • Being able to bulk delete or move posts would be an awesome function. Sometimes kids post in the wrong group, and it messes up the classroom front page. To move them, the teacher has to get each student to copy and paste the post to the correct area, or do that themselves. However, if a teacher could move all 30 posts herself, it would help with instruction time.
  • Use of Edmodo has assisted me in training 3 other teachers how to teach their students in an online environment. Through the process of co-teaching online, the other teachers have learned the benefits of online learning, and I've been able to fine tune my own teaching practices.
  • Because of Edmodo, the project we've completed received a Curriculum Award from our district, and will be published in Learning & Leading magazine in March/April 2014.
  • Hopefully through the use of Edmodo, the final ROI is that over a thousand students (per year) are receiving realistic training in proper online etiquette and learning to collaborate in a virtual environment.... 21st century skills they will need in their future world of work.
I have utilized Blackboard, WebCt, and proprietary software from 3 different virtual schools. One of the biggest benefits is that Edmodo is free for schools, thus avoiding the big financial ticket of Blackboard or the proprietary software packages. The caveat though, is that the gradebook and delivery system for discussions and assignments can become a little more cumbersome than with the proprietary systems. However, the learning curve in Edmodo is smaller than the others. The main reason Edmodo was chosen by my district is the financial concerns.
The fact that it has the district approval and support is priceless. In addition, the kid friendly interface makes it attractive to the students. They call it the "Facebook for Schools". It is also easy for teachers to learn to use, and can be adapted to any discipline or grade level.
The main challenge we had at first was that our district used Internet Explorer as its default browser and Google Chrome was utilized by Edmodo. When Edmodo updated its software, we had to fight our district to change to Google Chrome. We eventually got that done. However, checking for compatibility of software and browsers needs to be done before depending on it.

Also, currently I use Edline for some discussions and quizzes because it sends grades right to my gradebook, where Edmodo grades need to be transferred over.

On the flip side, if I want communication with an authentic audience outside my classroom, I use Edmodo for activities because it can be accessed world wide.