Social Media & Learning through Edmodo
Almost all of us today probably have at least one social media account. We use it to connect to one another, engage with the news content, share information, and of course for entertainment purposes. Facebook is the most-widely used of the major social media platforms along with Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter (Dreamgrow.com, February 2017).
Social Media has introduced radical innovations that offer students new ways to research, create, and learn. For example in Facebook, we are allowed to create an exclusive groups to which we could post discussions, upload photos or files, etc. Social media is so popular, most especially among young people, that it allows us to personalize the way we experience and interact with the Web. With today's tech-savvy students, as teachers, we should embrace networking and learn how to use it to improve our teaching strategy.
However, Facebook seemed overrated and somehow not a really student-friendly tool. Why? because if you know what I mean... Of course, we don't want them [students] loose on line to exposure to real-life threats, child predators, inappropriate content, and increased vulnerability to being involved in cyber bullying.
There are many online platforms that are child-friendly and highly recommended for educational purposes. EDMODO is the one I discovered!
Edmodo is the safest and easiest way for educators to connect and collaborate with students, as well as parents, and each other.
BASIC FEATURES
2. Collaborative Discussion - Simply add a note explaining the topic of the discussion, which can include images, videos, embedded links to other web tools, links to other sites, click Add and the discussion begins. All it takes is to hit the Reply button and the discussion is in full swing.
3. Assignments and Gradebook - Using the assignment feature, children can send their work directly to you for feedback and assessment. The feedback is only seen by you and the student and the child can resubmit their work as a response to your feedback. Each assignment is linked to a student’s Gradebook where a teacher can store grades and comments.
4. File Sharing - as I mentioned in the Collaborative Discussion section, sharing files is very easy with Edmodo. While you can do this effectively in blogs through widgets and links, the Facebook-like nature of Edmodo makes sharing a link to another site quickly more timely than blogs.
Social Media has introduced radical innovations that offer students new ways to research, create, and learn. For example in Facebook, we are allowed to create an exclusive groups to which we could post discussions, upload photos or files, etc. Social media is so popular, most especially among young people, that it allows us to personalize the way we experience and interact with the Web. With today's tech-savvy students, as teachers, we should embrace networking and learn how to use it to improve our teaching strategy.
However, Facebook seemed overrated and somehow not a really student-friendly tool. Why? because if you know what I mean... Of course, we don't want them [students] loose on line to exposure to real-life threats, child predators, inappropriate content, and increased vulnerability to being involved in cyber bullying.
There are many online platforms that are child-friendly and highly recommended for educational purposes. EDMODO is the one I discovered!
BASIC FEATURES
1. Groups - I use this feature to organize my
lessons with different small groups. I appreciate the convenience and ease of
creating groups for different subjects or smaller groups within that group so
that specific groups of children can collaborate and discuss.It takes no time
to set the groups up and they can be altered at any time.
2. Collaborative Discussion - Simply add a note explaining the topic of the discussion, which can include images, videos, embedded links to other web tools, links to other sites, click Add and the discussion begins. All it takes is to hit the Reply button and the discussion is in full swing.
3. Assignments and Gradebook - Using the assignment feature, children can send their work directly to you for feedback and assessment. The feedback is only seen by you and the student and the child can resubmit their work as a response to your feedback. Each assignment is linked to a student’s Gradebook where a teacher can store grades and comments.
4. File Sharing - as I mentioned in the Collaborative Discussion section, sharing files is very easy with Edmodo. While you can do this effectively in blogs through widgets and links, the Facebook-like nature of Edmodo makes sharing a link to another site quickly more timely than blogs.
5. Folders and Tags - Tagging is an easy way to
group posts around the same topic so you can access then from your tag list
later on when they disappear of the front page of posts. Folders can also be
set up to store specific posts on a common topic. Both tags and folders can be
shared, although only the creator can add to them.
6. Polls and Quizzes - while more advanced polls
and quizzes can be created by dedicated web tools and embedded on blogs, the
polls and quizzes on Edmodo can be created much more quickly. Quizzes can
be multiple choice, written answer or fill in the blank and can be useful in
collecting data for a range of subjects.
7. Calendar - the Edmodo calendar is a effective
way to help your students manage their time. Teachers can add daily events to
the calendar and all assignments are automatically added as well. You can post
events for specific groups as well so only those who need to see the event do.
It adds or the class management capabilities of Edmodo that is simpler to use
than blog calendars.
With Edmodo, social media no longer has to be an obstacle to
studying; it can help students create and manage a study community, make the
best use of study time, and find new resources to help them learn and retain
knowledge.
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