Edmodo Overview
What is Edmodo?
Edmodo is a free online community with over 47 million users designed to provide students and educators with a social learning platform. It provides students with a closed and private community to interact with their classmates in synchronous or asynchronous discussions, collaborative projects, online polls, as well as interact with other classrooms from around the world (Dobler, 2012). Edmodo provides teachers with a platform to “send out quizzes and assignments, give feedback, receive completed assignments, assign grades, store and share content in the form of both files and links, maintain a class calendar, conduct polls, as well as send notes and text (SMS) alerts to individual students or to the entire class” (Al-Kathiri, 2014). It also allows parents to stay connected with their child’s learning by offering them an account to view assignments and calendar items. Can outside resources be used within Edmodo? The ability to add different types of resources within Edmodo provides teachers with an easy to use feature that can add variety, interactivity, and expandability to Edmodo. One such valuable addition is the ability to embed and interact with outside resources such as Google Drive. Google Drive allows a collaborative Google Document to be placed onto a page inside Edmodo. Once embedded, an object can easily be viewed and interacted with by students. Where else can I find Edmodo support? Edmodo.com, and many sites online already have the necessary documents available to teachers, and administrators to launch Edmodo. The documents that are available range from information regarding privacy policies, acceptable use (student code of conduct), general help and support, and parent permission forms. These support documents can be adapted to meet the needs of your school or division to assist with your Edmodo start-up. From the official support and blog pages of Edmodo, to classroom teachers blogs and instructional videos found online, there is an every expanding and vast collection of resources available online. |
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Edmodo Rationale
How do the various learning theories support the use of Edmodo in the classroom?
Current science teaching and learning practices emphasize collaborative, student-centered, authentic, inquiry-based environments in order to build on prior knowledge, explore misconceptions, and support higher-order learning (Wendt & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2014). Vygotsky’s theory of Social Constructivism began in the 1960’s and still remains one of the most effective ways in learning under the guidance of a teacher. A more recent theory, the Connectivism Theory, combines Vygotsky’s social learning with social media technologies (Al-Kathiri, 2014). Web-based learning has drastically increased the learning opportunities for students and communication opportunities between students and teachers (Balasubramanian, 2014), and supports the collaborative learning and active engagement necessary for a successful learning environment (Wendt & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2014).
How does Edmodo enhance learning environments?
Edmodo is a social networking site (SMS) that is designed specifically for teaching and learning (Balasubramanian, 2014) in that it provides learners “with a frame to assist them in structuring and coordinating acts of knowledge construction” (Turkmen, 2012, in Al-Kathiri, 2014). Studies have shown that SMS can “better student’s general learning performance, and strengthen their learning motivation and autonomy” (Balasubramanian, 2014, p.417).
Current science teaching and learning practices emphasize collaborative, student-centered, authentic, inquiry-based environments in order to build on prior knowledge, explore misconceptions, and support higher-order learning (Wendt & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2014). Vygotsky’s theory of Social Constructivism began in the 1960’s and still remains one of the most effective ways in learning under the guidance of a teacher. A more recent theory, the Connectivism Theory, combines Vygotsky’s social learning with social media technologies (Al-Kathiri, 2014). Web-based learning has drastically increased the learning opportunities for students and communication opportunities between students and teachers (Balasubramanian, 2014), and supports the collaborative learning and active engagement necessary for a successful learning environment (Wendt & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2014).
How does Edmodo enhance learning environments?
Edmodo is a social networking site (SMS) that is designed specifically for teaching and learning (Balasubramanian, 2014) in that it provides learners “with a frame to assist them in structuring and coordinating acts of knowledge construction” (Turkmen, 2012, in Al-Kathiri, 2014). Studies have shown that SMS can “better student’s general learning performance, and strengthen their learning motivation and autonomy” (Balasubramanian, 2014, p.417).
The RASE Model for Teaching
Edmodo follows the RASE model for teaching using an online learning platform:
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