Design Experiment 2 - Edmodo and Other CMSs

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Edmodo was the first management system I used in my classroom.  I was very impressed with the ease of use and application of the software.  I remember how much the students loved using it because it reminded them so much of Facebook.  It was a huge learning experience for all of us which we welcomed with open arms.  I used Edmodo for about two years before I started to look at other learning management systems.  One that caught my interest was Schoology and I had planned to use it with my students because I thought the overall functionality was better in some ways than Edmodo.  However, it lacked in some aspects when it came to the online community, support and resources available.  Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to use Schoology with my students due to the release of Google Classroom.  With the release of Google Classroom, my district wanted us to use and support this learning system instead of anything else we were using at the time since we were a Google Apps for Education campus.  As a result, this is the platform I have used for the last two years.

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I was excited to learn this Design Experiment would provide an opportunity for me to go back and see what changes have taken place over the last two years with Edmodo.  For the most part, the layout looks similar to what I recall.  You still have to have a code in order to join, either  as a student or as a parent. The parent code provides a way for parents to observe their child’s activities in class online. Any classes you create can be located in Groups or if you join an existing group or class it will appear there also.  Edmodo still allows you to create announcements, assignments, polls and quizzes for immediate use or schedule for later as well as attach files, share links, and add resources from your library.  I noticed that they have several new features added such as the Ask Our Teacher Network section located at the top of the Home page which allows you to post questions easily to communicate with other educators. Another feature that I really like is the integration of Office Online which provides access to basic features and tools of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. This is very useful for students that may not have access to Microsoft Office products at home or school. There is also a way now to link your Office 365 account and integrate them into Edmodo as well.  A few other things I noticed that I had not seen before were Edmodo Spotlight and Snapshot.  Edmodo Spotlight is still in beta mode but from what I can tell it lets you explore and use previously created lessons and other materials.  Edmodo Snapshot looks like they are creating snapshot bundles for English and Math TEKS for Texas.  This is still in the beginning stages but it allows you to access and preview a few of the ones that have been created.

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In my opinion, Edmodo has more to offer than Google Classroom but I believe that is mostly because it is still pretty new.  As I stated in my previous post, I have been using Google Classroom for the last two years and in the last month or so they were finally able to add the ability to schedule posts which was one of the features I personally sent in a request to have added.  Some of the features I wish Google Classroom had which are found in Edmodo are the parent code, the ability to create small groups for differentiated learning opportunities and group assignments, and access to an online community of educators within the LMS. Some features that Google Classroom has that I prefer over Edmodo are the layout because it has a cleaner look, the ability to attach a variety of Google Apps and share, edit or make copies for students, how it automatically creates a folder in Google Drive when you create a new class and stores all assignments in this folder, the way students names are automatically attached to files you send them, and how much easier it is to use.

Thinking about how the technology can support specific pedagogical approaches reminded me of a Thinglink I had seen before by Susan Oxnaved (see image below).  I thought it was a great visual breakdown of how different technologies can be used in the learning process.  The approach that comes to mind for me is Problem Based Learning, a student is basically given a task or problem to solve.  With a learning management system, the student would be able to have the majority of tools necessary to complete the task immediately available to them online.  The teacher could create the assignment in a LMS by attaching resources pertaining to the learning objective to help direct and get the student started.  Using other online tools such as Google Drive would allow students to create documents they can work on alone or share among others.  They could also generate a Google Form to conduct surveys and collect data. All of their research and work can be stored in a folder connected to the LMS.  Later the student presents what they learned by completing a final presentation or project that can be uploaded to the LMS.  There are several evaluation ideas that come to mind like peer evaluation as a way to give feedback to the student, quiz or test created by the student about their topic, or a written reflection.  There are many approaches to implementing a LMS. I believe that the technology should provide students with flexible learning paths to meet their unique learning styles and achieve the learning goals or objectives for the course.

Note: The image below is powered by Thinglink. Click on any smaller image to jump to the interactive version and find resources.