Test Driving Edmodo

With the emergence of Twitter this past year as a mainstream source for news (Iran and Venezuela), updates from government officials, info from businesses, etc. I want to make sure my students understand microblogging. I do not feel comfortable having my 5th grade students set up individual twitter accounts, so I am planning on using the education friendly Edmodo.

Setting Up Accounts
I have already created my account and created my classes. Each class receives its own access code. As students create accounts on Edmodo (no e-mail address required!) they enter the access code to join their class.

Features
Edmodo provides a calendar and a file management system along with the microblogging. While Edmodo lacks the @ and # that Twitter uses, it provides for them in a slightly different way. Instead of using @ to direct message someone, you can choose a specific person to send it to by choosing from a list. Instead of using a hashtag to create "groupings" on a specific topic, students can tag their posts (tweets). While these are slightly more cumbersome and a little less authentic, I believe students will still learn the fundamentals of microblogging that will easily transfer to twitter or plurk.

Edmodo - Home via kwout

Classroom Ideas

• Resource Sharing - ie: You are doing a project on the Oregon Trail, find a website that you would recommend to others to use for this project. Briefly, in about 15 words, summarize the website/why you would recommend it.
• Submitting final products - students could message you directly and attach their file
• Bell-ringer activity/Exit Ticket activity - students respond to a prompt at the beginning of class or the end of class
• Reminders - remind students about project deadlines, tests, homework
• Online Discussions - discuss books, current events, music, etc.

I'm sure that I will discover more about Edmodo as I begin to use it with students this year. Look for a future post about additional features I am not yet aware of and more ideas for use in the classroom.

Steering wheel photo used under Creative Commons license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035555243@N01/50927878/.

Miss M, I Forget How To . . .

It seems no matter how well I think I explained something and no matter how clear the hand-outs are, I always hear these words a week later. Since I have discovered Jing, I no longer have to reteach the process to individual students. Instead of reexplaining how to do something computer related, I have recorded tutorials to which I now refer my students for a quick review.


With Jing I can create a narrated recording of what I am doing on the computer. I can also take screenshots and then use them to create a worksheet. I can then save the video/screenshot on my computer, embed the video/screenshot, or get a URL to link out to the videos/screenshot. Also, Jing provides free hosting of all videos and screenshots at screencast.

Using Jing is so simple; it is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
1. Select Capture (video or screenshot)
2. Select the portion of the screen you would like to be capture
3. Either begin to record video or begin to mark up screenshot with necessary arrows, text, boxes, etc.

Screentoaster is another site that allows you to record video of what you are doing on the computer. However, you cannot narrate your recordings with audio. I believe, however, that this feature will be coming in the future.

Classroom Ideas:
1. create video tutorials
2. create handouts using screenshots
3. have students create a recordings to demonstrate knowledge of a computer process, application, or software
4. facilitate differentiated instruction and independent work by creating the tutorial videos

Examples:
1. video tutorial
2. sceenshot

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/darling_clementine/2056654756/sizes/o/