Edmodo: It’s Facebook for Education

  • If you don’t know what Edmodo is, or haven’t used Edmodo in your classroom, the easiest way to think about it is Facebook for teachers. And even if the thought of using Facebook – either personally or professionally – makes you cringe, chances are your students and their parents like it. 

    Is social media a good teaching tool?

    It has been proven that social media can be used to engage students. Edmodo is simply a secure social learning platform for classrooms that teachers are embracing. It allows teachers to create groups, assign classwork and homework, differentiate learning, facilitate online discussions and foster communication.  

    So a secure, social learning platform for teachers, students, schools and districts can prove handy in terms of providing an easy way for students, teachers and parents to connect and collaborate, share content and access homework, grades and school notices. Instead of dismissing social media as a distraction – which it can be – teachers can harness the power of social media to customize the classroom for each and every learner. 

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    Teachers can also connect with a global K-12 community of educators to share resources across all grade levels and subject areas. 

    How does Edmodo work?

    According to Nic Borg, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer for Edmodo: “We’re moving to a world where you can look at specific experiences and specific students and understand what’s working for particular types of learners. Empowering teachers is the only path to getting better outcomes.”  

    To accomplish this goal, the social network is tightly integrated with Google Apps for Education and Microsoft OneNote & Office. In some ways it is similar to Celly, which uses a Twitter-based platform to keep students and parents engaged in assignments and class discussion. 

    Edmodo for parents

    The Edmodo parent mobile apps also make sure whatever is taught during the day gets reinforced at night by getting entire families involved in learning. Teachers can share assignments and due dates, classroom announcements, events, set up reminders and more. 

    Teachers can also use the tool to find educational content from all over the web. Teachers can search and discover free and premium tools, apps, games, and create collections of your favorite resources or even upload, share, or sell original educational content. 

    Educators interested in this approach can learn how to get started setting up profiles, assignments, quizzes, polls and other applications quickly with an online course. 

    20 ways to use Edmodo

    Courtesy of Edmodo 

    Assessments

    Utilize the Edmodo quiz builder or poll feature to assess students’ learning during or after a unit of study.

    Role Playing

    Help students understand key historical and literacy events by reenacting them through role playing activities in Edmodo. 

    Peer Reviews & Critiques 

    Place students in small groups and have them post their work to their group for peer review and feedback. 

    Writing Projects

    Enable students to tap into individualism and build self-esteem by sharing their writing projects with each other in Edmodo. 

    Build Digital Citizenship Skills

    Enforce online etiquette guidelines for students when using Edmodo to help them build digital citizenship skills. 

    Foreign Language Practice

    Encourage students to practice their language skills, as well as spelling and grammar, through conversations in Edmodo.  

    Book Clubs

    Organize a book group in Edmodo to encourage students to read and discuss novels with each other. 

    Professional Development Workshops

    Set up an Edmodo group for your next PD workshop to enable teachers within your school to discuss ideas and share content before, during and after the workshop. 

    Cultural Exchange Projects

    Give students the opportunity to learn about other world cultures by connecting your classroom with classrooms around the globe via an Edmodo group. 

    Sub-Hub

    Use Edmodo to communicate with your students when you’re out of the classroom, or provide updates to students who are absent from class. 

    Back channel Discussions

    Inspire real-time discussions and extend learning beyond the classroom walls by hosting a backchannel in Edmodo. 

    Science Probes

    Promote discussions and bring more interaction to your science class by engaging your students with science probes in Edmodo. 

    Mobile Learning

    Integrate the Edmodo mobile app into classroom curriculum to make learning interactive anytime, anywhere. 

    Planning Committees

    If you’re planning a school play, the annual fundraiser or next year’s curriculum, create an Edmodo group to help committee members collaborate. 

    Gamification

    Use Edmodo Badges to help motivate Students to push their learning and increase their practice time on new topics. Badges let Students show off their accomplishments.  

    Project-Based Learning

    Facilitate project-based learning in your classroom by leveraging Edmodo’s small-group feature. 

    Differentiated Instruction

    Deliver differentiated content in your classroom through the use of small groups and shared folders.

    Professional Learning

    Join an Edmodo Community to connect with other educators around the globe and share resources, exchange ideas or get advice. 

    School Clubs

    If you’re part of a school club or sports team, create an Edmodo group to coordinate meets, practices and games, as well as post results.  

    Alumni Groups

    After the school year ends, keep in touch with students and help them stay connected with each other by creating an Edmodo Alumni group.