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Running head: EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL

Assignment 4 Group 4 Kuljinder Gill, Ryan Layton, Kate Ropchan, and Emma Sarbit ETEC533 Section 66A UBC Vancouver Marina Milner-Bolotin June 30, 2013

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL

The way students and teachers interact with technology outside of the classroom is driving change within the classroom - for the benefit of learning (Edmodo.com)

Rationale Edmodo is a social-learning network that helps student, parents, teachers, and administrators connect and collaborate through a safe and secure learning management platform. There are many benefits of using Edmodo, one of which is increasing student engagement. Through the use of 21st century technology including online media like linked video clips, digital whiteboards, dynamic presentations and more, Edmodo generates engagement and therefore enhances student learning (Scott, 2012). Additionally, Edmodo supports the four major attributes of a successful e-learning environment by being learner-centered, knowledge-centered, community-centered, and assessment centered (Anderson, 2008). Learner-centered environments pay careful attention to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that learners bring to the educational setting (National Research Council, 2003). Edmodo provides students with a forum to express themselves while getting to know their peers. Differentiated instruction is possible with Edmodo as teachers can create subgroups within each class to individualize the learning experience. These groups may be specialized according to learning style, interests, or level of understanding in order to better meet the individual needs of each student. Teachers can use Edmodo to create a knowledge-centered environment by providing scaffolding that affords the discovery of discipline-centered knowledge on the Internet

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL (Anderson, 2008). Edmodo facilitates knowledge building by providing an online environment for students to work together to discuss, test, and build upon their current knowledge. This moves away from the teacher-initiated task of imparting knowledge and moves toward student engagement in the full process of knowledge creation (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994). As students post comments, they can refer to each other for clarification, and teachers have the ability to add content and edit posts if necessary. This provides a safe learning environment for students to collaborate, communicate, and explore. Edmodo creates a community-centered environment for students within their various classroom settings. Students in distance education are afforded the opportunity to collaborate with one another and to turn to each other for help (Lester & Perini, 2010). In face-to-face classrooms, Edmodo provides additional support and opportunities for students to communicate with each other and with their teacher. The ability for teachers to join specific groups and share ideas and resources regardless of geographic location build a community of practice. An assessment-centered environment is facilitated by Edmodo by allowing students to receive feedback from their peers, themself, and their instructor. Online quizzes, assignments, polls, comments, and awards are supported by the site, allowing for assessment that informs and motivates in an effective and immediate way (Anderson, 2008). Edmodo is a valuable teaching tool because it supports learner control and personalization, various forms of communication and feedback along with meaningful knowledge building within a community.

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL

Overview

Time, support, and tools are necessary for teachers to successfully integrate educational technology into their classroom practice (NRC, 2000). Edmodo is a useful teaching tool, but teachers may find it difficult to implement without relevant support. The information presented in our tutorial will aim to provide teachers with what they need to get started with Edmodo. While Edmodo is useful for a wide audience, including students, parents, and administrators, we have decided to target our tutorial specifically for teachers. Our goal is to create a presentation that will inform fellow teachers about Edmodo by including basic information that they need to know in order to start using the tool with their students. Edmodos help center (help.edmodo.com) contains extensive information about how to use the educational social networking site. These tips are presented differently depending on the selected audience (teacher, student, parent, or administrator). Informative text, images, videos, webinars, and frequently asked questions are available for a variety of categories. Additionally, instructional videos demonstrating how to use a wide range of Edmodos features can be found on YouTube, Vimeo, SchoolTube, and teachertrainingvideos.com. This tutorial will draw information from these sites as well as link users to these valuable resources.

Assessing feasibility

There is a lot to explore with Edmodo. Our objective in this two-hour long tutorial will be to help introduce educators to the tool and provide them with the information, skills and confidence to begin using Edmodo effectively and efficiently in the classroom. A significant

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL amount of information needs to be covered before this tool can be so effectively used, including an overview of how to use the program (including an introduction to the core features, i.e. signing in, creating a profile, managing settings) and its potential in the classroom (Edmodo, 2013). Additionally, in order for teachers to feel comfortable using Edmodo they must be aware of its applications. Thus the tutorial will cover teacher functionality and information on how to: create and manage groups, create and grade assignments and quizzes, access the gradebook, set up student and parent accounts, and post messages (Edmodo, 2013). Other useful components that will be discussed are the features that allow teachers to connect with other teachers, have mobile access, and employ a calendar feature to help keep things organized (Edmodo, 2013). By covering these aspects along with others (safety, help features), we aim to create a tutorial that will provide teachers with the answers they need to get started.

A sample training agenda outlined by Edmodo recommends about ninety minutes for total training time (Edmodo, 2013). However, this suggested time does not include a thorough introduction to Edmodos benefits and the possibilities of implementing Edmodo into the classroom. In addition to helping teachers get started with Edmodo, another goal for this tutorial is to provide a detailed exploration of Edmodos potential in the classroom and school. By doing so, we will equip teachers with the skills and confidence to use Edmodo with their students, and discuss general inquiries that may arise with its use.

With the amount of content that needs to be covered, we believe that the necessary introductory information on Edmodo will be dense enough to generate a two-hour long tutorial for teachers currently unaware of or unfamiliar with this technology.

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL Suggesting resources One of Edmodos primary goals is to connect teachers, parents, students, administrators and classrooms around the world in order to create powerful communities of practice. As a result of the copious amounts of members already accessing Edmodo, there is an abundance of resources available to support teachers with the use of this platform. Within this tutorial, resources will be provided on everything from tips on how to get started to content specific uses and pre-made mini-lessons. Resources provided in the tutorial will include step-by-step videos, webinars, and teacher guides. Additionally, information on the beneficial features of Edmodo for teachers, students and parents will be provided. These Coles Notes can be shared with colleagues, administrators and parent/student groups as teachers begin to execute the introduction of Edmodo in their classrooms and/or schools.

The numerous resources within the Edmodo site itself will also be explored. The platform connects educators and encourages collaboration. As a result, it provides a wealth of classroom materials and web resources that have been recommended by other teachers and publishers around the world. Additionally, the site boasts a help center geared specifically to teachers. It offers information on getting started (including ways to use Edmodo in the classroom and introductory letters to parents) as well as the various features and apps available for use. The site is also host to a blog with three important resource sections. The Help section is home to many topics with questions and answers for each level of user (student, teacher, parent or administrator). The About section features highlights Edmodos many uses and was designed to introduce potential users to their product. The final section, entitled Webinars, provides many digital recordings of educators discussing their different uses of Edmodo.

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL Communities of Practice

In September of 2012 Edmodo reached 10 million users and of that number, 1 million were educators. This size of community requires a strong network of support and a place where users can share successes and recommend alternate ways to utilize this learning management system (LMS).

There are two main areas where users can receive support and access additional resources for the Edmodo LMS. The first is the Edmodo blog, found at http://blog.edmodo.com/. This site is updated every few days with information regarding everything from improvements to Edmodo itself to conferences and teacher spotlights. One specific area of interest for this tutorial is the Teacher Stories section (http://blog.edmodo.com/category/teacher-stories/) of the blog where teachers are able to share ways in which they have incorporated Edmodo into their classroom.

One of the best places for finding support and becoming a member of the Edmodo environment is within the Edmodo online program itself. Once an account is created, users can join many different communities with many different interests. These include communities for the many different subject areas (Math, Science, etc.) as well as professional development and computer technologies. There are also communities dedicated to the various publishers of content for Edmodo such as Discovery Education, Glogster Edu and Khan Academy, to name a few.

Edmodo has also penetrated popular social media, particularly Twitter. This has allowed educators to carry on brief and ongoing conversations about the usefulness and best practices of Edmodo in the classroom. These conversations are held using the hashtag #edmodo. In addition

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL to this, Edmodo hosts a conference, EdmodoCon, each year for teachers regarding the use of their LMS in school districts and classrooms. During these times the hashtag #edmodocon is used to share impressions and supplementary resources to each other.

By utilizing the introductory material on the Edmodo site itself, combined with additional information focusing on the 4 major components of creating a successful e-learning environment, a more comprehensive tutorial for using this platform in a variety of classroom settings can be developed.

EDMODO-TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL PROPOSAL References:

Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F., Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

Edmodo (2013). Edmodo Training Checklist. Retrieved from http://help.edmodo.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/04/Edmodo_Training_Checklist.pdf

Lester, J. and Perini, M. (2010). Potential of social networking sites for distance education student engagement. New Directions for Community Colleges, 150, 67-75.

National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school: Expanded edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1994). Computer support for knowledge-building communities. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 3(3), 265-283.

Scott, S.M. (2012). Go aheadbe social: Using social media to enhance the twenty-first century classroom. Distance Learning, 9(2), 54-59.