Digging deeper with Edmodo

I learned a lot about Edmodo today. I used it and talked to other teachers about it a lot too.

In fact, in the past week I think I’ve taught more classes through Edmodo than in the whole of last term!

My learners have, on the whole, been fantastic adopters of the new system. My Higher Computing students have curated information sheets on flow charts, pseudocode and structure diagrams and risen to the challenge of completing homework quizzes through Edmodo; Advanced Higher students have received timely notifications on classroom changes, avoiding the need for paper signs and crossed fingers and are beginning to access the simple but well-designed audio player to revisit concepts or catch up on lesson podcasts; My S3 class have been making use of digital cameras to record their learning and have been accessing the notes folder to read up on concepts before, during and after class. I had a quick check of the analytics this evening – there has been 225 visits to our various class groups by pupils and teachers since we introduced them to the system 6 days ago. It has been a really good start, echoing  sentiments from this eSchool News article from August 2011:

“They also want more time to reflect on what they learn… Too often, because we have so much to cover in the curriculum, deeper understanding is lost in the milieu” – Mike Larzelere, Teacher at Port Huron Area School District, Michigan

The feedback I’ve received from them has been great too – highlighting issues with sharing links which were posted directly to me (I’m still working on a solution to that one) as well as pointing out that the quiz timer doesn’t stop when you navigate away from the questions. I solved that one by increasing the time limit for my quiz to 24 hours (1440 minutes seems to be the maximum allowed by the quiz module) but may need to use the assignments option rather than quizzes in the future, although I do like the feedback mechanism of the quiz more.

I’m excited about the new ways we are going to take responsibility for our own learning over the coming weeks. We are awaiting installation of AVS Video Editor on first teaching and then all student desktops in the Computing department. I can’t wait to see what my classes can do with the HD video capabilities of the digital cameras we purchased last year to document their individual learning and to share their work with others. Recap and revision podcasts – historically recorded by me and consumed silently by learners (both rewarding because they are being listened to and frustrating because of the passiveness of that act) – will now be a shared responsibility which should highlight and celebrate their learning achievements as well as increase engagement in the learning process. I’m also keen to experiment with the dialogue opportunities Edmodo offers through its Facebook-style interface. For example, tomorrow afternoon my Higher Computing class will be role-playing System Analysts who have to extract as much information from a variety of clients using direct posts and replies. I’m not sure how easy it will be for me to carry on all of those conversations at the same time, but in an attempt make it a little easier I’ve created sub-groups of pupils in Edmodo. I hope to post again soon with the results of that experiment.