Edmodo for Professional Development

Last fall I ran a workshop on Google Apps. The workshop lasted for six weeks and the participants learned several new ways to take advantage of Google Docs and other related apps. What I learned was how to use Edmodo as a delivery platform for professional development. As a tool, Edmodo was not quite perfect, but it was wonderfully easy to use and it was a great way to introduce other teachers to the platform.

Currently, I am teaching an eight week course entitled The 21st Century Classroom. Not only am I using Edmodo as the delivery platform, I am also teaching others how to use Edmodo as one of their many tools for creating a 21st Century Classroom.

How I use Edmodo for Professional Develoment
To manage the online classroom for professional development through Edmodo, I begin by creating an Edmodo group and then within that group I create one 'small group' for each week of the course.

How to create small groups in Edmodo

Using the small group feature makes managing the course much easier. Here is the process I use:

• I create a small group for each week of the course (Week 1, Week 2, etc.) 
• Then, at the beginning of each new week I add the entire class into that week's small group
• Finally, I begin the new weekly discussion within the small group, allowing each weekly discussion to be less cluttered and appear more focused.

Once the groups are all set, I then use the Google Docs feature of the Edmodo library (video tutorial) to open access to all of the Google Docs I use for professional development. I can add these to specific library folders and share the folders with the PD group. Documents I use include:

• Course Syllabus
• Course Resources
• Weekly documents to describe the goals, readings, and assignments for the week

Once I have Edmodo setup and Google Docs integrated, I am ready to roll. I use the group home page on Edmodo for course introductions, to feed in certain Twitter hashtags, and to post occasional important Edmodo tips.

Things are working well so far. I am even considering changing my high school discussions over to a similar format. At the end of each term I can archive individual small groups, creating a fresh set of small groups for the new term.

This experiment is ongoing. I will come back and update this post when I have some results and reflections that are worth sharing. I would also appreciate your ideas below on how to better utilize Edmodo for delivering professional development. Please email me or leave a comment.