Tag Archives: digital classroom

July 9, 2013 · 10:29 pm

So they are going digital with Edmodo

As I mentioned in my previous books one of my colleagues has decided to with his team go digital classroom. I decided that I would look into what they are planning and look into whether or not BYOB is part of their plans. So through Twitter I was told that they are going to adopt Edmodo. This is a platform that my colleague who teaches the Middle Ages Gifted Cluster Class (MACC) has raved about all year.

Today she tweeted “luv Edmodo for: st engagement, book club connections, PLN, ongoing parent communication”. I haven’t taken the time to learn even what it is and what it can be used for, so I decided that tonight’s task was to spend some time looking at Edmodo.
I started out by looking for video tutorials related to Edmodo and I found a quite lengthy one on the website called www.teachertrainingvideos.com. Here’s the link to that Edmodo introductory video:

http://youtu.be/DZHB6FfRjnQ

Some key things I’ve learned about Edmodo are that it allows you to create a Facebook style interface in which you can create groups for each of your classes and your students can sign up and be members of the designated groups. You will be given a group code to enable students to sign up. You can create assignments and have students turn them in. It also allows students to post items on the groups wall. You can create quizzes and those quizzes will be marked and students can be given feedback instantaneously, which is a feature that I appreciate. Apparently you can also give parents a parent code.
Here are some other tutorial videos that I watched on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/x0f9Syv8yCI
http://youtu.be/BILtGaDe3qA
Part 1: Getting started with Edmodo

Part 2:Assignments

Part 3:Using the Calendar

http://youtu.be/UoVfi10qqvM

I learned how to assess an assignment and provide feedback to individual students. I learned how to manage a class group and find the parent codes for each individual students. I learned how you can embed video directly into the wall of your class groups. And those few there were only a small portion of the available tutorials of varying lengths that have been created and put up on YouTube regarding

This video introduces sort of comparison between Edmodo and another application called Moodle which I have never heard of, I have no idea what it is. Maybe that’s the next thing to look at.

The MACC class which have been using this Edmodo platform is essentially a one to one class with a BYOD policy. It is a unique program in that it is a district program that pulls kids from all over the district not merely from our catchment area so a lot of the parents actually drive the kids in from a relatively great distance to purchase paid in this program and those students are asked to bring in there on the laptops I believe I don’t know that they’re given the option to use other kinds of devices. In this class the teacher reports that the students love using Edmodo. They love being able to message each other and get involved in debates. She likes that one of the features is that she can keep track of who hands and assignments on time and to track work habits marks. She’s a fan and I think she’s starting to convert the others!

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July 8, 2013 · 10:07 pm

BYOD and “going digital”

One of my colleagues From my now former school tweeted that he and his team are “going digital classroom next year.”

This intrigued me. I want to know what he means by that and what that might look like and how that will play out and what plans there making and I’m planning to interrogate him.

So far I know that the planning adopting Edmodo with their classes. So I’ve decided to use this as a jumping off point to look into BYOD policies, pros and cons and what’s happening in other districts jurisdictions. I’m also going to look more into Edmodo and what it is how it looks maybe compare it to the MS SharePoint alternatives that our district is pushing and look into also am blogging with edublogs as an alternative.
Through my conversations on Twitter with the teachers involved in planning that project of going digital as well as another teacher at our school who teaches the grade 6 MACC class which essentially runs is a one-to-one program I am looking at what’s happening at our school in terms of practical everyday usage devices. As a school we don’t have a vision statement or policy on bringing your own devices, we do have the code of conduct.

Here is an excerpt from the electronic devices protocol contained within that document:
“Based on feedback from students, staff and parents, the use of electronic devices is not permitted during instructional time (defined as all times between 8:40 a.m. and 2:50 p.m. except nutrition break and lunch time) unless directed by a teacher or staff member. Off-site activities including field trips and sports trips are also included in this prohibition. Examples of electronic devices include but are not limited to cell phones, Blackberries, iPods and iPads, iTouch’s, iPhones, MP3 players, cameras, etc. Teachers are engaging in expanding their use of technology to support student learning and as such may ask that students use programs and devices under their supervision in their learning, with the intent that all students develop a constructive understanding of the use and misuse of technology. Valuable items are brought to school at the owner’s risk and should be kept in the student’s locker. The school is not responsible for items that go missing during the course of the day.”

One of my first steps is gonna be reading “Bring Your Own Device: A Guide for Schools” created by the Alberta government. It is divided into three sections policy,practices and planning. It is not “a step-by-step guide” for implementing bring BYOB in schools, what it does is bring up a number of questions and issues for consideration I’ve included below the list from the table of contents which gives you an idea of the kinds of questions the document is asking.

1. Policy
a. What value do personally owned devices bring to student learning?
b. What BYOD models are school authorities adopting?
c. What policies are needed to ensure high quality use?
2. Practices
a. Will students be ready to learn using personally owned devices? Will they be good digital citizens?
b. What pedagogies fully leverage personally owned devices for teaching and learning? What types of professional development help teachers leverage such pedagogies?
c. How can digital content be used effectively through personally owned devices?
d. What infrastructure will be required to support student use of personally owned
devices?
3. Planning
a. What are the key school readiness indicators that ensure effectiveness of a BYOD
model?
b. What are the BYOD implications with the community?

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