Edmodo Anne Stocks ITEC 7445 Edmodo Co Founders

Edmodo Anne Stocks ITEC 7445

Edmodo Co. Founders Nic Borg and Jeff O’Hara

What is Edmodo? Two school district employees founded Edmodo in 2008 to connect education and 21 st century learning. (Edmodo , 2016) Edmodo is a safe and private community where the teacher creates an account and give students and parents a unique code to join a group. Edmodo is a “social network site with learning purposes” (Thibaut, 2015, p. 83). “Edmodo is a collaborative social learning platform website teachers and students can use to manage events, course assignments or study groups” (Gan, Menkhoff, Smith, 2015, p. 655).

What is Edmodo? continued Teachers, students and parents can view the postings. The teacher can delete inappropriate comments and address them with the class (Dobler, 2012). Edmodo , 2016, shares “We’re now the number one K-12 social learning network in the world, dedicated to connecting all learners with the people and resources they need to reach their full potential. ”

Welcome to Edmodo

The Technology Vision of Clayton County Public Schools The vision of Clayton County Public Schools' Department of Technology is to become a recognized model school district both in the state of Georgia and nationally for the access and utilization of innovative technology and cutting edge strategies to ensure that students are prepared to compete globally in an ever-changing society. http: //www. clayton. k 12. ga. us/departments/technology/new/

How Does Edmodo Support the Vision for Technology Use in Clayton County? Edmodo can complement your teaching and allows you to improve methods of communication with your students outside the classroom. (Clayton County Professional Learning) Clayton County Public Schools offer instructional technology professional development courses for teachers to learn how to implement Edmodo effectively in class. Edmodo provides an opportunity for students to communicate globally with other classrooms. Edmodo is a tool that reaches all learning styles and extends beyond the classroom into the global society.

Key Benefits Edmodo is committed to user privacy. https: //www. edmodo. com/privacy Students become actively engaged and responsible for their learning in an instructional technology environment. The use of Edmodo shifts the role from a traditional teacher to a facilitator of student learning. Edmodo provides blended learning across subjects.

Target Population Harper Elementary School is a Title 1 school and receives financial assistance from the US Department of Education due to the high percentage of children from low income families. The school attendance area includes mobile homes, apartment complexes, residential hotel, and single family residences. The community is transient and the student enrollment reflects this mobility. The school qualifies for 100% free breakfast and lunch. Harper Elementary demographics are approximately 70% African American, 20% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 5% Caucasian

Target Population continued Due to the low socioeconomic status, students may not have access to technology at home. Each classroom at Harper Elementary has a Smartboard installed and available for teaching. Our school has four computers in each classroom, eight laptop carts, two i. Pod carts, and a computer lab for teachers and students to incorporate technology into their learning. Teachers are capable of using the technology tools of Smartboard and laptops. Elementary, Middle School, High School, and college students can use Edmodo. This presentation focuses on Kindergarten through fifth grade.

Equipment and Software Edmodo is a free Web 2. 0 tool. “Edmodo is accessible online through any device with internet capabilities” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p. 267). Wi-Fi is necessary to access Edmodo. Students and teachers can access Edmodo using laptops or in the computer lab. Headphones are suggested, because it allows students to focus on their learning.

Technical Support Clayton County Public Schools Technology Department is accessible and provides any needed support. A Technology Coach is frequently in Harper Elementary working with teachers. Edmodo provides a “Help Center” and support through “Contact Us. ”

Limitations Due to the low socioeconomic status, students may not have access to technology at home. Dependable Wi-Fi network is needed for Edmodo access. Every class cannot access Edmodo on the same day, because the laptop carts are reserved in advance by teachers. Edmodo is a safe environment and respects privacy, so students only post by their first name and last initial.

Cost of Technology Edmodo is free. If Edmodo is successful in a pilot program, additional devices will need to be purchased. More laptops or tablets would be beneficial, because more classes can access Edmodo.

Potential Funding Sources Clayton County Public Schools qualifies for funding by the Department of Education’s Enhancing Education Through Technology program “to improve student achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools. ” Teachers can write a proposal and submit it on Donors. Choose. org Clayton County Public Schools provides a list of grant opportunities for teachers.

How Can Teachers use Edmodo? “Edmodo is a free and secure educational learning network used to provide a simple way for teachers to create and manage an online classroom community as well as enables students to connect and work with their classmates teachers anywhere and anytime” (Balasubramanian et al. , 2014, p. 416).

How Can Teachers use Edmodo? continued Clayton County teachers must create Edmodo accounts and implement Edmodo in their instruction. Clayton County emphasizes the implementation of Edmodo based on Common Core Standards. Edmodo is a learning platform where teachers can incorporate ISTE Student Standards: creativity, communication and collaboration, research, critical thinking skills, digital citizenship, technology use. Teachers can set up a class and small groups for content areas.

Communicate and Collaborate “Groups make it easy for the teacher to distribute notes, assignments, and quizzes, and provide a way for students to communicate and collaborate” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p. 271).

Communicate and Collaborate continued “The biggest advantage of Edmodo compared to other SNSs is that it has the inbuilt academic requirement for assessment such as Quiz, Assignment, Poll, etc. These features really support learning and communication between lecturers and students even when they are away from the campus” (Balasubramanian et al. , 2014, p. 417).

Differentiation Teachers can differentiate content for their classroom by setting up small groups and differentiating student activities. Teachers can design activities for different learning styles. English teachers differentiated Edmodo homework and class activities for Taiwanese students on three levels to meet their learners’ needs (Chin-Wen, 2015).

How Does Edmodo Promote Learning Goals? Edmodo fits in the evaluating stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy according to The Pedagogy Wheel V 4. 1. “Analysis of discourse occurring through the Edmodo chat feed provided a wealth of examples showing how youth share ideas, articulate new knowledge, and provide advice to others for collaborative purposes” (Won et al. , 2015, p. 390). Students become active in their learning when they find information and share their knowledge on Edmodo (Dobler, 2012).

How Does Edmodo Promote Learning Goals? continued The following slides are how my Kindergarteners used Edmodo to meet their project-based learning goals. Culminating Performance Task - Students will create a poster that will answer who, what, when, where, and why questions about their favorite animal and the habitat in which it lives, in order to convince other students that this animal should be Animal of the Month. The assignment was for students to create a traditional poster about their favorite animal and the habitat in which it lives. I decided to use Edmodo in an unconventional way to create digital animal posters instead of traditional posters.

How Does Edmodo Promote Learning Goals? continued Students used their username and password to log in to Edmodo.

How Does Edmodo Promote Learning Goals? continued Students transferred their traditional handwriting paper to the keyboard. The challenges were capitalization and spelling, but I did not count that against their posting.

How Does Edmodo Promote Learning Goals? continued Kindergarteners would access the folder, select an image, and add it to their backpack.

How Does Edmodo Promote Learning Goals? continued Students post their digital animal poster on Edmodo.

Research on Edmodo was founded in 2008 and numerous research has been conducted. “The advantages lie in that Edmodo can foster the combined knowledge creation of a group better than individuals diaries and discussion, because Edmodo facilitates sharing ideas beyond the classroom via an online platform that allows readily available access at random times to continue such discussion, online quiz, sharing folder options and mainly connection to the global experts of various disciplines” (Balasubramanian et al. , 2014, p 421).

Research on Edmodo continued The majority of teachers rated Edmodo’s features (assignments, postings, quizzes) and interactions as excellent for an e-learning environment (Batsila et al. 2014). The disadvantages of Edmodo are that learners may spend an excessive amount of time on Edmodo, which results in overlooking other school responsibilities. (Batsila et al. 2014).

Professional Learning Professional development courses are designed to help teachers develop knowledge and skills in using instruction and communication technology, thus allowing them to use their knowledge of strategies to promote higher order thinking and cognitive skills among the students (Wang et. al. , 2014). Clayton County Public Schools offer instructional technology professional development courses for teachers to learn how to implement Edmodo effectively in class. Edmodo has professional learning communities where “teachers can join these communities, post comments, ask questions, or just sit back and read the discussion of others” (Dobler, 2012, p. 13).

Reflection 2014 -2015, I was selected as one of nine teachers in Clayton County to be a pilot teacher for the Technology Integration program. This program inspires students to use technology in unconventional ways, while a mentor works shoulder to shoulder with the teacher. I was trained on Edmodo and began using Edmodo as a learning platform for my Kindergarten students. Edmodo has been used to create groups, libraries, assignments, postings, polls, and folders for different classes. Harper Elementary teachers and other Clayton County teachers contact me when they have questions about Edmodo.

Reflection continued To this date, I have presented my 2014 -2015 Kindergarten Edmodo projects in three technology conferences. Although I have been using Edmodo since 2014 -2015, I am still learning and discovering new techniques to effectively integrate Edmodo in my teaching. I continue to search for professional development courses and training on Edmodo.

References Balasubramanian, K. , Jaykumar, V. , & Fukey, L. N. (2014). A study on “Student preference towards the use of Edmodo as a learning platform to create responsible learning environment. ” Procedia – Social And Behavioral Sciences, 144 (5 th Asia-Euro Conference 2014 in Tourism, Hospitality & Gastronomy), 416 -422. doi: 10. 1016/j. sbspro. 2014. 07. 311 Batsila, M. , Tsihouridis, Ch. , Vavougios, D. (2014) Entering the Web-2 Edmodo world to support learning: tracing teachers’ opinion after using it in their classes, i. JET 9(1), 53 -60. Borg, N. , O’Hara, J. (2016). Edmodo Cofounder Nic Borg and Jeff O’Hara retrieved from https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=_6 q. XIM 0_tis

References continued Chin-Wen, C. (2015). Influence of Differentiated Instruction Workshop on Taiwanese Elementary School English Teachers' Activity Design. Theory & Practice In Language Studies, 5(2), 270. doi: 10. 17507/tpls. 0502. 06 Clayton County Public Schools Professional Learning (2016) retrieved from: http: //www. clayton. k 12. ga. us/departments/proflearn/extragoodies. asp Dobler, E. (2012). Flattening classroom walls: Edmodo takes teaching learning across the globe. Reading Today, (4), 12 -13. and

References continued Gan, B. , Menkhoff, T. , & Smith, R. (2015). Enhancing students’ learning process through interactive digital media: New opportunities for collaborative learning. Computers In Human Behavior, 51(Part B), 652 -663. doi: 10. 1016/j. chb. 2014. 12. 048 Solomon, G. , Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2. 0 How-to for educators, second edition United States of America Standards • S © (2007) International Society for Technology in Education. Thibaut, P. (2015). Social network sites with learning purposes: Exploring new spaces for literacy and learning in the primary classroom. Australian Journal Of Language & Literacy, 38(2), 83 -94.

References continued United States Department of Education (2014) retrieved from: http: //www 2. ed. gov/programs/edtech/index. html Wang, S. , Hsu, H. , Reeves, T. C. & Coster, D. C. (2014). Professional development to enhance teachers’ practices in using information and communication technologies (ICTs) as cognitive tools: Lessons learned from a designed-based research study. Computers & Education. 79101115. doi: 10. 1016/j. compedu. 2014. 07. 006

References continued Won, S. G. , Evans, M. A. , Carey, C. , & Schnittka, C. G. (2015). Youth appropriation of social media for collaborative and facilitated -based learning. Computers In Human Behavior, 50385 -391. doi: 10. 1016/j. chb. 2015. 04. 017 You. Tube. (2016). Welcome to Edmodo retrieved from https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Uqu. Zid_LHIQ design