This week we explored Edmodo. Edmodo is a CMS that can supplement classroom learning for teachers and students. I have never used Edmodo for instruction, or even heard of it before this week, so I learned a lot just watching tutorials and reading reviews.
Edmodo is geared to the K-12 learning environment. The Edmodo app can be downloaded and used on mobile devices, just like Google Classroom. Among its unique features, Edmodo allows parents to have access to the course page for their child's class. This is different from Google Classroom, which does not have a parent access option. One of the most noticeable differences in the two course management systems is the look. Edmodo is set up for more social learning, and its interface even has the format of social media, particularly Facebook. Posts from everyone in the course can easily be seen and replied to in the daily feed.
One of the affordances of Edmodo is the look and feel of social media which nearly all students are familiar and comfortable using. Therefore, this CMS would be a beneficial tool in creating an assignment that required posting, sharing, and commenting. While most CMS have a discussion feature, Edmodo's interface makes it "feel" social.
Teaching critical thinking skills is important in all levels of education, but becomes a major learning outcome in college. One activity that helps to encourage critical thinking is to have students give short answer responses to prompts that require them to think and solve relevant problems.
An activity like this gives students the opportunity to think creatively and to express themselves (critical thinking and communication skills). Edmodo would be perfect for this learning activity as it gives students an opportunity to post a response to a prompt and enables other students and teachers to reply to that response. This can all be easily seen within the class feed. This allows engagement with the topic and helps students see different ways of thinking and approaching a problem.
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