All About Using Edmodo
Edmodo is a web tool that allows teachers to create a virtual/online classroom. Some teachers at UC are currently using Edmodo with their students. It is similar to Moodle, but many teachers and students find Edmodo to be more user friendly. Below, I have posted information for both NEW and EXPERIENCED users.
New Users:
Where do I begin? For a step by step basic guide for setting up and account and classes, check out this document:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fg0vemcn5z3g602/The_Edmodo_Guide.doc
Note: When creating groups, you should name the class with a year. At the end of each year, you don't delete groups, but rather "archive" them. Attaching a year to the class will help you keep track of classes after you archive them. You can also assign colors to your classes.
Both New and Experienced Users:
Projects/Ideas:
There are so many projects/assignments/activities that you can do with Edmodo....here are a few things that worked well for my classes.
Essays/Assignments- Tired of carrying 50 pounds of papers? Students "turn in" work to an assignment box, and all work is stored online. You can keep track of grades, who turned in work and when, and even grade/annotate student work online.
Polls- Everyone loves to vote! Frequently as a "Do Now" aka "Bellwork", I post a poll that relates to the day's lesson or discussion. As students vote or weigh in on a topic, Edmodo keeps a running tally. While a student's individual vote is kept confidential, students can publicly comment on the poll.
Twitter- Twitter feed without Twitter! Some of my students do not have Twitter accounts, but you can still use Edmodo to create a twitter type feed. My English 3/4 class created twitter id's for characters from Fences and had a running Twitter feed with #thestruggle while we read the play.
Twitter Fiction- My students wrote Twitter Fiction- a story with 140 characters or less- Check some of them out below. My favorite is Wesley's...
Professional Development: Edmodo also runs and records frequent webinars. You can "attend" a live webinar or watch a recorded one. All webinars are free! You can find a schedule and list of recordings @
http://help.edmodo.com/teachers/webinars/
Security: One of our main concerns is always security. Here are some aspects that help protect both students/teachers.
- Students must have a code to join your class. (After all students join my class, I change the code). You can change the code on a daily basis if you wish.
- When students join, they must provide both first and last name, but when they post on the classroom wall, they are identified by first name and last initial only.
- The classroom wall is private to only members of the class unless you choose to make some of it public.
- Students can only view their own grades and comments for assignments.
Follow Edmodo on Twitter to get new
ideas and updates from them @Edmodo
Questions for Response/Comments:
1. If you do not use Edmodo, do you have any specific concerns about using it?
2. If you are already using Edmodo, can you share any tips? What has worked well for you?
I post a journal prompt everyday for my writing class. Students who are absent or away can easily catch up. The prompts are weighted as quiz grades; the students know the importance of completing the assignment and can easily catch up on missed submissions. All of my assignments are posted on Edmodo with attachments and links; students can check back at directions, rubrics, etc at any time. AND, easily created quizzes are automatically graded! Using the “Remind 101” app I can remind students that we are coming up on the mid or the end of the marking period, “Check your assignments on Edmodo and complete any late submissions by Friday @ 6:36 PM”. Everything is time stamped, so I can differentiate between those submitted on time and those that may be late.
ReplyDeleteI became more interested in Edmodo the past few weeks as I have been subbing more in the English department and it seems very easy to establish and the students seem to like it - Your comment about not carrying around essays and having them available on line would be a huge plus. I know my biomechanic class uses a google drive app to update their research paper from their smartphone.
DeleteHi John,
DeleteI have encouraged my students to download the free edmodo app onto their smarthpones. I have had students submit assignments through their smartphones in the past. This works great for those who are absent or need to get caught up on class work.
Is each student's answer to questions visible on the class wall? I can see using this for physics/math homework problem sets, but I wouldn't want the answers posted to a wall.
ReplyDeleteTend to agree with Donna about specific answers being visible -
DeleteActually, both options are available to you & the students. Responses can be visible if they simply hit "REPLY". If they are directed to hit "TURN IN" the post will be private and can only be read by the teacher. They can also upload the response at "TURN IN". The teacher can easily open it, grade it online, and even input comments directly in the text. The process is pretty amazing, paperless and available to the teacher anywhere, anytime!
DeleteI didn't know that answer. Thanks, Noreen.
DeleteThis is the first year I have been using Edmodo, and it is such a great web tool. I like that the students in my classes can learn from each other when they post under a topic that I give them. For example, recently a couple of my classes learned about the past tense and posted about what they did on the week-end. From seeing everyone’s response at once they were able to formulate questions into an extended conversation, and choose whom they want to address.
ReplyDeleteIt is great for sending out other information like outside the box of the curriculum for example an article related to the subject that you can now just send to all your groups.
The only issued I’ve had with Edmodo, which I sent them a Help Request, is that when I gave my first quiz through Edmodo, the accents were converted to weird characters. I then read on an Edmodo group that others have had the same issue. I am sure Edmodo will come up with a solution to this as more World Language Teachers will be asking the same thing.
I have strongly been considering using emodo in my classroom. Before I give it a test run I would like to know a few things:
ReplyDelete1. Does the student have to "log in" every time they use the site or do they only have to "join" once?
2. If a student "posts" a comment that is either inappropriate or not meant to be posted (i.e. an assignment that should have been "Turned In") do I have the opportunity to take down the "post"?
Yes, the students have to "log in" everytime, but they only "join" once.
DeleteYes, you have the opportunity to delete their posts and also you can go in and "edit" responses as well.
Use it and you will love it!
Kamila - thank you!
DeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to name classes with the year, and then archive them. Thanks!
I joined Edmodo, and that's about as far as I got! I think my problem this year was not beginning the year with Edmodo, so my class was already used to my SchoolNotes and Remind101 methods. My personal goal for the summer is to set up my class on Edmodo and be prepared to really implement it next year!
ReplyDeleteHi Christine,
DeleteI am at the same step as you. I have set up Edmodo but have yet to implement it. In addition, I, too, to implement it next year. Working as much as I already do online, I really want to move in the paperless direction, and Edmodo seems like the most user friendly option.
Marla, I agree with you in regards to moving away from paper. I also, hope to create a stronger sense of responsibility in having hard deadlines. I feel emodo offers this by making a visible and exact submission time. I think I will try a test run with one of my courses for the 4th marking period.
DeleteI have been hearing about Edmodo a lot this year, and it is something I wanted to look into. I currently use Moodle as a way for my students to submit work and download assignments or notes. One of the things I like about Moodle is that I can setup a class for the year (i.e. A.P. Stats), put up all the notes and submission links that the students will need, and then the next year, I can just make each item visible as it is needed, instead of recreating the entire course again. Is there something like that for Edmodo, or a way to copy the course before archiving an old one? I agree with Christine that this is probably something you want to start the year with, so that everyone is on the same page and knows exactly what is expected of them.
ReplyDeleteI have been using edmodo for each of my classes. Recently I have finished teaching my Business elective and have moved onto sociology. As of now if I go back into my business group all of my information is saved and resources are still there. What I plan on doing is just editing who is in my business group so the students can just join the group that already exists so I do not have to reinvent the wheel and then just go back and edit any assignment or do now that I used. The best part about edmodo is any post you create or assignment is you can set a date and time when you want your students to look at it which will be great when setting up your classes for next year. Hope this helps!
DeleteThanks Samantha & Tim,
DeleteI also reuse my Moodle board framework by making minor adjustments as the years progress. So, if it is possible to reuse lessons without recreating the entire online format in Edmodo that is definitely a plus!
Great questions Sam. I look forward to hearing the responses.
ReplyDeleteSam, With Edmodo, you can create a library where you can store notes, assignments, handouts etc.. Within the library, you can create files for each class and share certain or all materials with your students. Therefore, once you set up your courses and library, it is done, and you don't have to start over each year. I also agree that it is best to start the school year with it. I plan to really work on organizing my library and class files over the summer.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great!
Deletethanks Kathy! I loved Wesley's story too. I started using Edmodo this year too and I cannot image my life without it...do you think I am being overly dramatic?!! I am not. I can post notes and assignments. No more issues of I didn't get the notes or what was that assignment. I have gone paperless. It also frees up...I have to print this. Use the turn in feature allows me to keep track exactly when something is handed in. In addition, the annotations functions allows you to type in comments the papers. This is especially helpful for me because I have the handwriting of a serial killer! The student can actually read my comments. I echo Kathy's use of the polling feature...students love it. Also, it is so easy to use. I have seen that the students really like it too because it keeps them organized. They can get alerts on their phones and emails Edmodo and get notices when something is late. It is fabulous!!!
ReplyDeleteUsing Edmodo seems to have multiple advantages, which make me ask myself why I have not yet implemented it in my classroom. I particularly see an advantage in the ability to have assignments submitted online. While this is now possible through email, mailboxes are easily overloaded, and this is not a practical option. Currently, I work with Moodle for my AP classes; however, I will be setting up Edmodo for my English classes.
ReplyDeleteAnother obvious plus is the date stamp on work as it is submitted. Teaching seniors who have erratic schedules requires a lot of extra paper work to track due dates for makeup work. Consequently, I envision Edmodo as a way to reduce that paperwork and make assignment tacking more efficient.
Kathy, I also love the Fences/Twitter idea; that is really a creative assignment to get students engaged in a task. I can also understand how the polling activity would work well with our students and would like to use that in my own classroom. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and insight!
I joined Edmodo at the start of second MP made my Health classes join but that's as far as I got because I wanted to use it for Quizzes then I found out it would not grade the quizzes for me so I have not used it. I have a lot of independent health classes for 4th MP period with less then 5 students in each class so I think I will try to use Edmodo then. I'm gonna start small and expand for next year.
ReplyDeleteI have been using edmodo since September and I really like it. The website helps me to stay organized in all my classes. I regularly post class work assignments, video clips, links to other websites, and interactive learning activities. My students are very familiar with the site by this point and know to check the site daily for updates and alerts. Many students have downloaded the free app to their smartphones so checking assignments and staying on top of their work has never been easier. There are many lesson plan ideas and supplemental material on the website as well. You just need to type in what you are looking for and the grade level.
ReplyDeleteOne downfall to edmodo is that the students cannot access the interactive activities that edmodo has to offer. Our security system blocks the students from opening most of the interactive websites I have found through edmodo. Any way of gettting around the firewall in order to access the links?
Edmodo is my best friend. I agree with the majority of you who feel that Edmodo is easy to use and beneficial to all. Also, Edmodo helps us to achieve a virtual, paperless UCHS. Below is a post that I read and bookmarked for next year. This link provides five Edmodo activities for the first day of school. After setting my students up on Edmodo, the students will participate in a few of these activities to familiarize themselves with the technology as quickly as possible. I found that I spent too much time in the beginning of the year working out the Edmodo kinks. Instead, I would like to try a three day Edmodo workshop in which the class is 100% dedicated to learning how to best use the software.
ReplyDeleteThe activities are...
1. Edmodo Scavenger Hunt (Day 1)
2. Post a question for homework and practice quiz (Day 1)
3. Create an "All About Me" presentation in class to embed, share, and post comments (Day 2)
4. Establish "The Buddy System"- Use the small group feature to put students together in groups of 3-4. Ask them to use the small groups to help one another with questions and support (Day 3)
5. Introduce Edmodo warm ups - Post interesting articles, video clips, polls, etc. for them to view and post comments (Day 3)
http://blog.edmodo.com/2012/08/16/5-edmodo-activities-for-your-first-day-of-school/
This is an excellent approach, Kristin. Thanks!
DeleteSems like a lot of us are using some sort of online organizer - Edmodo, Google, Moodle. School Notes. I'm wondering if having multiple presentation modes is confusing to the students. Perhaps we can think about implementing one standard UC tool.
ReplyDeleteI would like to comment from the perspective of a support teacher. I happen to love Edmodo because when I know my students have a teacher that uses this in their classroom I can have a student log onto Edmodo and show me their assignments. I can quickly see what is owed and what needs to be handed in. I can also help my students manage their time for upcoming assignments when they are posted. I also feel this system works very well with my students because they are able to finish their assignment and send it to the teacher immediately. They do not have to worry about printing out completed assignments and then risk losing it or forgetting to bring it to class. There is also the positive reinforcement of showing me the site and seeing they are all caught up. I do not have to play “cat and mouse” trying to find out what they need for the classes that are using Edmodo. In the beginning of the year there was a lot of grumbling from my students about having to use Edmodo but now I think the overall consensus is that they all like using it.
ReplyDelete