bp7_2009112_ResearchingandBloggingWeb2Tools-Edmodo

Edmodo Might Harness the Power of Web 2.0 For Education

Edmodo is billed as a platform for education. It's a tool conceived to allow educators to bring together all the great Learning 2.0 tools, in one place, for their students. I want to be so enabled, but I haven't yet
found the full solve promised by this tool.

Edmodo leverages popular online tools and functionality to enable teachers to both share their unique content online and to connect their students to the world of knowledge available on the Internet. Teachers can create their own student groups, assignment posts and polls. They can upload files and leverage Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds, alerts, links (including embed code), and polls.

One teacher's Edmodo experience with a student makes it clear that there can be positive outcomes from Edmodo use. The key is that teachers and students get in the habit of using the Internet together, to enhance learning.

Indeed, the Web 2.0 functionality that I've come to expect from a site is available here. Edmodo leverages popular online tools and functionality to enable teachers to both share their unique content online and to connect their students to the world of knowledge available on the Internet. Teachers can create their own student groups, assignment posts and polls. They can upload files and leverage Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds, alerts, links (including embed codes), and polls.

The only challenge with Edmodo was the clunky, difficult interface. While I was able to publish an assignment with embed code relatively quickly. It wasn’t easy for me to find the link to share with students, nor to organize the assignments. Online tutorials are few, so this tool doesn’t appear to be made for the novice. While there are lots of features, the interface is difficult to master quickly. This is a big challenge, because of the way educators can confuse students and parents by misusing homework/assignment tools like this one.

Educators who have a good base of understanding about Internet platforms designed to manage the classroom or who are determined to make it work could have an easier time getting up to speed and doing wonders with Edmodo, but new users like me will need to commit a good deal of time getting acquainted with this interface to make using it worth their while. Edmodo does have some promise.


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