The teachers at SE Middle School were recently trained in the social/learning networking site Edmodo. There has been an enthusiastic response to the platform, and I am excited about what this new tool will mean for student/teacher/parent interaction in a safe social learning environment!
Mandy Durrence came out to our school and did an excellent job explaining what Edmodo is, and presented the following rocket slide show: http://portal.sliderocket.com/AQKTJ/Edmodo_District_Intro_Web
Teachers learned about setting up groups (classes) and joining communities to expand their learning networks. I already joined the computer and technology group and learned the power of posting a question and receiving responses from all over the world!
Edmodo has opened up a whole new way of thinking about how we as teachers interact with our students. One area that I can not emphasize enough is the need to have clear and pointed conversations with students about appropriate on-line etiquette and the consequences if they do not comply (students can be set to read only status for example). I offered the teachers the following resources:
50 crucial rules for students on online etiquette: http://www.onlinedegreeprograms.com/blog/2010/social-media-etiquette-for-students-50-crucial-rules/
Teaching commenting skills to students: http://educational-blogging.wikispaces.com/How+To+Teach+Commenting+Skills
I posted a thread to my computer and tetechnology group on edmodo and received the following stream of suggestions on this issue: (this illustrates one of the great features of edmodo--how you can easily share a threaded discussion like this) http://wsfcs.edmodo.com/post/35365091
Edmodo has a fantastic Help Section with screen shots and easy to understand directions for doing various things. There are a series of guides that you can also print out and keep handy. Even the WS/FCS district "In Touch Blog" has an entire series of posts on edmodo that are interesting and very informative.
Finally If you are a teacher at my school, I posted a number of these links including the book mark that Mandy handed to you during the workshop and a printable version of the on-line rubric for student postings on our staff shared drive in the following location: S:\StaffShare\staff development\edmodo
I am looking forward to seeing where this new adventure takes us!
