Reflections on Edmodo

                                                                 Edmodo

          Edmodo is an online learning platform where teachers can connect with their students using a course management system.  Course Management Systems (CMS) are online tools that allow teachers/instructors to create and management online class content.  Edmodo will allow teachers to setup an online classroom, have their students join the class online, and develop activities and lessons including group activities for the class.  Teachers can also use Edmodo to develop and administer quizzes for the class, track who has taken the quiz, score the quizzes, and track student progress.  In addition Edmodo has a snapshot feature that assist teachers/instructors in accessing what the students know before class and what they have learned after class.

I actually used Edmodo in a previous TAMUC ETEC class for a project.  I was able to setup a 5^th grade, three week lesson that was titled, The Water Cycle.  In this online classwork, the student would author a book on how the earth’s water cycle goes from falling rain, in to lakes and reservoir, in to drinking water and all points in between.  The learning outcomes for the class were:

 Students will learn about the water cycle.

Students will learn to incorporate science and language arts concepts.

Students will become authors of a children's book about the water cycle.

Students will learn to consider the concept of perspective as they write their story.

            As someone who is not presently teaching at an academic level (I occasionally teach a software class on a corporate level), I found Edmodo to be very easy tool to use.  Some of the affordances that I found with Edmodo were prewritten rubrics, a teacher’s guide, a children’s project guide, and the ability to imbed videos from YouTube for instructional purposes. There were also prewritten student guides for different phases of the project, such as a guide that explained the character element, the plot, and the theme.   There were prewritten student guides for brainstorming, how to write a rough draft, and other prewritten student guides.  I found these affordances to be very useful, especially for a novice teacher such as I would be.

          As far as comparing Edmodo to other class management systems, I can only compare the other systems from a student stand point.  I have experienced how my instructors from Texas A&M University-Commerce and Dallas County Community College District have been able to use similar affordances with Learning Studio and Blackboard.  However, I believe Edmodo is a K-12 CMS which makes it’s affordances to be a great tool for K-12 teachers.  Overall, considering my lack of K-12 teaching experience, I think Edmodo is a very good CMS and teaching tool.

David