Schoology and Edmodo Part 2

In the first post on free blended learning platforms, I focused on the value of a quality Discussion tool within the platform (read that post here!). This week I will breakdown the features that help organize the online learning environment.

Managing a hybrid/blended course is relatively straightforward when your content is kept to a minimum. Do you just want to post homework? How about weekly discussions? Interested in posting only assignments? What if you want to collect assignments? What if you are aiming for a paperless classroom? All of these and more can be managed with the free classroom management tools Schoology and Edmodo.

Free Blended Learning: Edmodo & Schoology Part 1

This Fall I began a pilot using Schoology with one of my five classes. The other four classes are using Edmodo, which I have been using for the past three years. These two platforms are provided free of charge and provide free apps for iOS and Android. At first glance, the features of the two programs are very similar and, without running a pilot, I would not be able to truly appreciate the differences.

 

Participating in Online Discussions on Time

As an avid moderator and participant of online discussions for both "traditional" classes and online professional development, I am often faced with the question: "Is it too late to post?" My response: "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise?" Or, in relation to our discussions, if a participant submits a response a week after everyone else has left the discussion, is there any value in the post?

discussion: consideration of a question in an open and usually informal debate  (source)

I love to read what participants have to say, even when they are late, but the truth is that the point of an online discussion is missed when participants post after the end of the discussion. The debate has ended.

Why do participants think it is OK to (chronically) miss the discussion?
Everyone can make excuses for missing a discussion, but the truth is that everyone in the discussion usually has a busy life with lots of good reasons to be doing something else. The majority are still able to participate on-time. What is missing for the chronically late participant? The missing ingredient is the sense of urgency that should be present in his or her participation. The late participant gets to read what everyone else said and still gets to say something. The big deal is that online discussion is not just about reading thoughts and posting a thought, it is a two-way street, or more often it is a ten-way street with lots of people posting lots of thoughts, providing critical feedback to each other, furthering understanding, and knocking down the walls of old limitations. This all takes place in the immediate aftermath of the discussion getting started. It lasts until the end. Then everyone moves on to the next topic.

The second culprit of the late participant is poor management by the moderator. This comes in the form of not having well-stated expectations. It also comes in the form of not following through on those expectations. Troubles arise too when the moderator is too distant and is not actually aware of who is and who is not participating. These factors can make a huge difference in increasing on-time participation and, more importantly, increasing the value of return for all the participants.

Why is showing up well into the discussion different from being late?
It is one thing to show up well after the discussion has started or halfway through the dance. These participants may have missed the early meaty debate, but they also have an opportunity to stoke the fire anew. Their participation can renew and refresh the conversation with a different take, leading the entire group down a path less taken. They can be truly, fashionably late. But, missing the dance entirely is a bummer. Showing up in a newly purchased three piece suit with the most amazing thoughts and insights will be completely wasted if a person arrives when everyone else has left to attend the next party.

How can we better foster on-time participation?
The moderator can take control of participation in a discussion by following two steps:

1. Set and follow strict expectations that do not give credit for participation after a discussion has ended. Each moderator can decide what this window is, perhaps even allowing for a day or two of overlap with the new discussion.
2. Be in communication with participants on an ongoing basis regarding their participation. This can be done through grading, comments, and direct messaging via email or other methods.

It would be inaccurate to tell the late participant that their post will have no value. If she or he has done research, put together a meaningful post, and wants to share it, at least the participant, likely has gained something. Yet this person needs also to understand that the post cannot be considered part of a discussion because, by that point, the discussion has ended.

Conclusion
If creating valuable online discussions is important to a class, then the leaders have to take a stand for full participation in a timely manner. The online discussion is not a throw-away portion of a course; it is potentially the heart of the course, the source of inspiration and the nexus of what comes next.

The Web is My Website

I started my first website for teaching when I got my second job as a teacher. It was 1999 and I had just started in Massachusetts as a middle school math teacher. I wanted to post my homework, and so I did. Within two years I had several teachers joining me (somehow it still lives!)

Over the years, my use of a single home-base website has had its ups and downs. There have always been some teachers that I look up to who create and maintain immaculate websites. Mine, on the other hand, has always tended to be a mess of links to documents and maybe a calendar or two. I recently added my Twitter feed. While I still have a website, and it still has important documents, I don't know that it serves a major purpose in my suite of online classroom tools anymore. Instead I find that I am finding several different tools to fill several different needs.

Edmodo (link): Currently I use the site Edmodo.com as a homebase of sorts. While it does not provide me with a face for the public, it does give me a great online launching spot for all of my classes. I post assignments, related documents, classroom discussions and much more. My online presence doesn't stop there.

Google Docs (link): I also use Google Docs. I now create all my new assignments in Google Docs. I am slowly uploading and converting all of my old assignments. From Google Docs, I can share whatever I want and I can grant editing access to various people, students included. The collaboration and interactivity are what make this tool so enticing. I also use it for the free storage. The tool continues to grow and is now getting integrated into other websites. See Edmodo's latest integration

SchoolTube (link): All of my video students have accounts with SchoolTube.com and all of the videos they upload fall under the umbrella of our school channel on that site. It is one more place for students to post and for me to observe, comment on, and enjoy the growth of my students. I moderate everything they post. If I don't like something, I block it, have a discussion with the student, and have them resubmit the video based on the outcome of that discussion.

Twitter (link): Twitter is allowing me to interact with professionals from all over the globe. I can share thoughts with people who have similar interests in education and in technology. It is an amazing platform that is only becoming more powerful. Two years ago I was ready to dismiss it as a fad, yet it is not. I strongly encourage others to check into Twitter. I have integrated my Tweets into Edmodo so students can see tweets relevant to our discussions. I keep it professional, and it is not always on topic for students, but it is a great way for them to see me as a professional.

Blogger (link): This blog is a place where I can voice my thoughts and people can read or not. This is a natural tool to transition technology into the classroom. Students can create blogs, write stories, summarize learning, share insights, and comment on other blogs. Whether it is Blogger, Edublog,  Wordpress or some other platform, the interactivity of these writing spaces is raising the education bar. Students are reading, sorting, and developing critical thinking skills when the tools are applied properly.

CONCLUSION: I have accounts on dozens of websites for various purposes. Many are educational, some can be educational if I wish, and others are just for personal or entertainment purposes. What has been lost in the abundance of quality options, is my classroom website. I am not ready to abandon it just yet. There are still a few things that work about it, and when a parent wants easy access to my expectations and grading policies, all the information is right there. However, reality says it is only a matter of time until I abandon it for something better and more fully featured, something that makes me say "That's what I've been looking for!!" Until then, the web is my website.

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.

New Group or Small Group? An Edmodo dilemma

For the past two years I have used Edmodo.com and I find the platform is more than sufficient to meet my growing online classroom needs. In fact, the company generally manages to create new options faster than I can think of them (though I have a couple I'm still waiting for!)

One of the nice features of Edmodo is the ability to quickly and easily create groups. Each group is given a unique code, and the students (or educators) can only enter the group once they have that code. Every group is distinct from any other group a teacher creates. Many teachers choose to create one group for each class in their rotations. However, some teachers choose to put all of the 'like' classes into one group and from there choose to use the 'small group' feature.

What is a small group?

A small group is a collection of students that are currently enrolled in a group, which the teacher then chooses and adds to a 'small group' of the same full group. Once the small group is created, a teacher can send notes, assignments, etc. just to that small group. Using this technique a teacher can bring all of their 'like' classes into one larger group and then create small groups for when online content needs to be distinct for one class over the other. In my example, I have a small group, Advanced Web Design, that is part of my larger group Web Design Spring 2012. I can then share some things with everyone, and I can choose to limit other items to just the advanced group.

This method has three great advantages

1. The teacher does not need to create duplicates of notes, quizzes, assignments, etc. All of the work can be created and posted just once to the overall group.
2. When the teacher does need to target one class or another, she can easily do so right in the flow of everything else. 
3. This method will significantly increase the interaction between students who are physically kept in different classrooms. They will share ideas, read interesting thoughts, and discover wonderful online resources from students who study the same things, but with whom they would never get to interact otherwise.

Easily choose the subgroup when choosing who to send a new 'Note' or 'Assignment' to

Considerations

• You may wish to avoid this method if you heavily rely on the grading within Edmodo as it could add to your work load of needing to separate out the students to move the data out to your gradebook program. Not a deal breaker, just something to consider.
• Find the Edmodo instructions for how to create Small Groups through this link. The basic steps are to click 'Manage' by group members and then click "+Create Small Group" on the left.

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How I Use Edmodo.com - Top 10 Uses and 2 bonus ideas

My Edmodo start screen

As I began preparing for teaching The 21st Century Classroom, a professional development course for colleagues, I wondered how I was really using Edmodo. So, I sat and started to run through the archives of the groups I created and groups I participate in. What I discovered was a list much longer than I expected and a consistent growth that I was pleased to uncover. Here are my top 10 uses and a brief description of why it makes a difference.

1. Student Discussions

I started with one class four years ago on a different platform. While I think there is room for Edmodo to improve, I am thrilled to be using this platform to extend the classroom. I currently have four different groups in weekly discussions on various topics related to the variety of courses I teach. Students have an opportunity to respond by sharing their research, exploring classmate's links, and leaving comments to further the discussion. 

2. Assignments

In addition to being able to post a discussion topic (which I now do as an assignment), I can also post assignments directly to a group. Each assignment is created with a due date, the option to attach links, documents, etc. and the ability for students to 'Turn In' the assignment. A turned in assignment provides a private communication between the teacher and student and an opportunity for the teacher to provide feedback and a grade.

3. Share Documents

Using the library feature of Edmodo, I am constantly uploading documents, sorting them into folders for specific groups and creating private repository for my classes that will be reusable year after year. After a recent update to Edmodo, I can also now share my Google Docs directly from my account. Because I am a devoted user of Google Docs, this addition just made my life much easier! I always post documents with assignments including rubrics and instructions.

4. Sharing Links and Videos

As a frequent part of online class discussions, I provide links to websites and videos for students to watch. In return I often ask for students to do the same. The number of great links that have been posted to my walls over the past two years is amazing. My only wish is for an easy way to capture all of the student posted links. Also, all of the videos I link to are embeded directly into Edmodo and play right from the site.

5. Professional Discussions

Edmodo is full of groups that are started by other teachers and professional organizations. These groups create instant communities of like minded individuals able to share ideas, ask questions and be a participant in the ever changing 21st century classroom. Almost every subject and topic is covered by at least one group. I use the groups to post questions, participate in philosophical debate, and answer questions of other users.

6. Creating Subgroups

Once a group is formed, it is quite simple to create subgroups. I use this feature for my web design group. their are currently over 30 users and several of them are in my Advanced Web Design. So I give these students full access to the web design group and I have created a subgroup to create discussions tailored to their needs and growth.

7. Notes / Alerts / Polls / Quizzes

Using these various types of posts I have managed to explore student thoughts in different ways, get their attention quickly, and share my thoughts. While I almost always use 'Assignment' as my post of choice, the others serve their purposes from time to time.

8. Twitter Stream (or any RSS feed)

Using my Twitter RSS link, I have found it possible to have my Twitter messages post directly to the wall for each group. Now I know that students see my posts, which often provide links to technology and education related topics. I also sometimes Tweet out directly what students are doing in class, so they get to see their own work published on Twitter.

9. Parent Communication

I have created access for parents to see what is going on in Edmodo on an as needed basis. I could easily do this for the entire class. I currently only provide access as any parent requests it. Parents receive their own special code that gives them access to their child and any posts that I choose to share with parents.

10. Professional Development

I currently use Edmodo as my class platform when I deliver professional development. It is a tool that continues to impress and while it does not fit all of my needs (it is not a duplicate of Blackboard or other delivery systems) it is reusable, connected to the outside world and I find using Edmodo creates an opportunity for other teachers to explore its many possible uses.

Bonus #1 - Gradebook

If you choose to, you can provide grades on assignments done in Edmodo, directly through Edmodo. While I have an electronic gradebook that I use already, I can see this tool being quite helpful and it can provide immediate feedback to both parents and students.

Bonus #2 - Text Messages

While I don't use this feature, students and teachers may find it helpful to find that notifications of updates to Edmodo groups can be sent as a text to any cell phone number. The user can select which type of Edmodo event will trigger a text notification.

While the number of possible uses of Edmodo.com continues to grow, it is my intention that this list give you a good starting place for what you can do with Edmodo. If you would like to read a much longer list of very specific curriculum ideas, please see the google shared document Edmodo Ideas started well over a year ago by Troy Seyfert.

Please follow me on Twitter @ahstechteacher and leave feedback on this post if you have something to say! 

Chad McGowan

Computer Arts teacher

Technology Enthusiast

Ashland, MA