My Edmodo "Classroom"

I recently had the chance to sample Edmodo, an online community of educators and students! (I'll describe Edmodo in more detail below.) I attempted to sign up as a teacher rather than a student because I think it would be a great idea to already have knowledge of the website and the tools available to me before I start teaching. In addition, I decided to take it all the way and make my mini-classroom! I find there are 3 layers to understanding how Edmodo works:

Educators and Educators

Edmodo serves as an educator "community" - educators from around the world are part of groups and forums that share information with each other while asking and answering each others' questions regarding educational resources. There are even folders to keep all of the resources found, a calendar to keep track of events and assignments, as well as a handy navigation tool that updates you on your group's activities.

 When you join a group, say, Professional Development, a teacher can make a post asking a question about the tools they use for assessment of a writing sample. This teacher gets answers from others in the group with links to resources or helpful ideas!

 Educators and Students

 

Next, Edmodo serves as an online hub for assigning and completing classwork, homework, and special assignments! There is a special class code that represents each teacher's classroom. Students signed up with Edmodo join using the class code, and they are able to see each post a teacher makes.
Students turn assignments into the website in the format of Word documents, pictures, posting links to websites such as blogs, and various other methods. They also earn badges from teachers that serve as encouragement and recognition for their hard work.

Students and Students

This interactive classroom can be as collaborative as the teacher wants it to be. Therefore, group assignments can be assigned to students, which can be completed by students in work spaces such as Google Drive. Additionally, the students can reply to a question or thought posed by the teacher in the same discussion.

My Edmodo "Classroom"

As part of my Edmodo experience, I joined and participated in Dr. Ludmila Smirnova's class, Pedagogy of Engagement, where the students and I immersed ourselves in different technologies and in many cases for the first time. Our last challenge was to create a classroom of our own with assignments (involving Web 2.0 technology) and tools from our folders. Here is a glimpse of what I did:

Assignment 1 - The students are to answer a survey I created with Google Forms about their English Language Arts experiences.

Assignment 2 - Anticipatory set - the students are to observe the picture (shown below), pick a plant they know, and write a 1 - 3 sentence description of it.

Assignment 3 - Text Evidence

Students read the first chapter of their assigned book The Plant Hunters by Anita Silvey and answer the questions with direct evidence from the text. The assignment has students download the Microsoft Word document I uploaded onto the website.

Assignment 4 - Follow that Time Line

Here students will use the time line in the book to keep building on a Prezi that I started about the Plant Hunters. The information is directly from the text, but one of the requirements is that students use text and a relevant picture for their part of the contribution.

www.edmodo.com

Assignment 5 - Pre-test (Science Integration)

As part of an integrated curriculum, I would now have students complete a pre-test designed to pre-assess their knowledge on the parts of a flower and the life cycle of a plant.

Apps - Doceri - Mini-Tutorial!

Doceri is copyright to Apple, and can be downloaded at http://doceri.com/download.php

 © 2013 SP Controls, Inc. All rights reserved.

I was recently able to learn how to use the iPad app Doceri, so below is a 2-minute tutorial video I made using it to show some of it's cool features. (If there is a plugin message, just click once on it and it will go away and start the video.)

Push vs Pull Models of Education - Web 2.0's Increasing Role

"Delivery of learning will not merely be in the classrooms but also via online and mobile delivery." - Doug Woods, The Push and Pull Models of Education

  Think about the picture below. What differences do you notice in the classrooms?

 

The first classroom shows a teacher standing at the blackboard calling on students to answer a pre-designed question, given the resources they used such as textbooks and in-class notes.

In the second classroom, the teacher is guiding students to find the resources they will need to answer the question posed, rather than seeking an answer that the teacher wants to hear. 

While reading a journal article about Web 2.0 use in the classroom, I stumbled upon terms I have not yet encountered which described the transition that's happening in classrooms:

The "push" education model refers to teaching in which educators give students resources and then have them complete tasks with a concentration on a certain purpose. For example, a math teacher tells the class, 'Today we will learn about multiplication because you will need to use it in the future.'

In contrast, the "pull" education model shows the teacher acting as the facilitator of the learning, while it is the students that find the necessary resources and actively engage in their own learning.  In my analogy above, the same teacher would pose a question to his/her math students, and have students use their classroom content and technology resources to explore, research, and create a possible answer or explanation to a phenomenon.

Web 2.0 technologies are at the forefront of the "pull" model of education because they are the vehicles that teachers will use to employ collaborative, reflective, and social practices. 

Stacks of paper that show student work will be a thing of the past - teachers will be utilizing wikis and e-portfolios that show the content online. The benefits include cloud storage which can be derived from any computer, organized and accessible documents, and the ability for students to comment and reflect on each others' works.

Post-Project Research Begins!

Microsoft Word ClipArt

The Research Continues

Now that I am more knowledgeable in different forms of Web 2.0 and how much teachers know about them, it is time for me to continue learning about how to implement Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. 

There are research articles based on the use of Web 2.0 tools and iPads in the classroom that I will be reading and reporting on in our Fall Symposium at Mount Saint Mary College.

 

The articles I am looking for are to have evidence of Web 2.0 technology being used in the classroom. I'd like to find out more about the effectiveness of Web 2.0 in elementary and middle school if possible, and learn more about the specific strategies teachers can use to implement it.

 

Presenting the S.U.R.E. Research, or "Web-2.0-ception!

Research Presentation - The (Web 2.0) Tools I Used and the Overall Experience

Recently, I created and presented a 15-minute summary of the S.U.R.E. Research - Facilitating Active Learning With Web 2.0 Technology. 

Now that's a long name - although as I showed this to my friends before presenting, and we decided to nickname it Web-2.0-ception (taking a tip from the movie Inception). We realized that there were so many uses of Web 2.0 within the Prezi visual that I had made, so the name was only fitting. You can access it below. Clicking the title will open it in another window so you can look back here as I explain the major ideas. Use Google Chrome and Internet Explorer for best viewing.

 Engaging Students in the Classroom With Web 2.0

I. Introduction/Definition
The first part of this presentation is an introduction to the S.U.R.E. team, a short description of the research highlights, and letting the audience know what Web 2.0 technology is with a Wordle.

II.  Rationale
We performed this research because there are teachers not familiar with what Web 2.0 really means. In addition, they do not have access to the technology in schools even though they agree that technology in the classroom is beneficial to students. I inserted the graphs created with Google Forms and edited them with Microsoft Paint.

III.  Origin of Web 2.0
 This section is a timeline that highlights a few major developments in Web 2.0's history, beginning with cloud computing and ending with the release of the iPad.

IV. Types and Uses
Here I discuss Edmodo, Content Acquisition Podcasts, efolios, and wikis. I also show the implementation of a Web 2.0 tool, Microsoft Photo Story 3. The reason for this is to show that even though I had never heard of it before, I taught myself to use it, and it was relatively easy to use. I briefly discuss an infographic that I found about flipped learning, then include teacher testimonials from our survey to show the audience that teachers are engaging their audience with these tools.

V. Interview With An Elementary Teacher
An elementary school teacher was gracious enough to provide me with an interview. I discuss with pictures what kinds of Web 2.0 are in her classroom, such as the Elmo document projector and the SMART Board. I learned that she uses BrainPop videos to engage the class, Google Drive to create documents and spreadsheets, and SMART Exchange to see what valuable resources she can implement in her lesson plans from other teachers. (A video statement from the teacher is provided that I edited in Windows Live Movie Maker.)

VI. Future Expectations for Web 2.0 in the Classroom
By discussing what training teachers would like and how many hours they would prefer to spend on Web 2.0, I conclude by letting everyone know how much teachers support technology in the classroom. I show the types of Web 2.0 teachers would like with a word cloud from ABCya! and wrap up the major points in our research.

VII. Resources
Here I simply list all of the resources I used or mentioned in the presentation. There are a lot. I also make sure to thank all of my collaborators for their help with all aspects of my research.

Let's Get Blogging - In the Classroom, That Is!

http://edublogs.org/

http://edu.glogster.com/

 

During my research, I have come across a Web 2.0 tool that I feel will become a big sensation in the near future - Classroom Blogging! 

[A blog is an online website where you can make text entries (such as a diary), but way cooler since you can modify the layout to what colors and specifications you like, add pictures, videos, link to other pages, and also have others respond to what you write (which is optional).]

Created by me with Web 2.0 tool Microsoft Paint, and font from Microsoft Word

Education is becoming exciting and engaging due to all of the new technologies available. Here are some of the benefits of and reasons to try a classroom blog (as noted by the Edublogs Challenge website):

• Blogging is a great way to get students excited about writing
• Peer feedback (aka writing responses to the blogs) can be very motivating and positive.
• You don't just have to blog! How about having a 100-word challenge by giving students a writing prompt? Sounds like fun!

 

Remember that students should know the appropriate way to behave online, and as a teacher moving into the world of technology, it wouldn't hurt to know the "Netiquette" - the etiquette of the net!

Resources for learning about netiquette and how to teach your students the proper behavior online (click the links to go there):

 

Daniel Anderson's Internet Behavior and Ethics Site

 

Edublog's Fair Use, Copyright, and Introduction to Using Images

 

 Study Guides and Strategies: Netiquette

 

 

When New Technology Arises - My Unexpected Encounter With Web 2.0

Web 2.0 Tool: Photo Story 3

The above video is short (1 min 20 sec) and did not take me long to make. I actually stumbled upon the Photo Story website through a blog during my research of Web 2.0 technologies.

Feel free to leave a response (the pencil button below this post) and let me know what you think!

Food For Thought

Making this video allowed me to reflect on how new technologies may be a little scary for teachers to learn at first. Not only that - it may take some time to learn how to use them, but once you do, the possibilities are endless - and it is your students who will gain the most from it! 

I am currently making a Prezi (which I have never done) and it took me about 3 hours to learn the basics. A video tutorial on Prezi's site was very informative - the video itself was a Prezi about how to make a Prezi! Talk about meta-cognition!