This document discusses using the social learning platform Edmodo as the primary communication tool for a classroom. It provides background on Edmodo, describing how it was created by educators as an alternative to commercial social media sites. The author then explains how they set up an Edmodo classroom page for their media literacy course and directed all class discussions, assignments, and communications through Edmodo. This allowed students to access course materials and get help from the teacher anytime, even when not in the physical classroom.

1. Social Learning in the
Classroom
Michelle Cowell
My
paper
was
about
using
the
social
learning
network
tool
Edmodo
as
the
classroom
rather
than
just
in
the
classroom.
The
paper
gives
some
background
on
Edmodo
and
discusses
the
layout
and
how
it
func=ons
and
then
moves
on
to
how
I
used
to
create
my
classroom
environment.

2. F or
ch ool
S
Edmodo
is
a
social
learning
network
–
it
was
created
by
educators
for
educators
-­‐-­‐
no
adap9ng
of
social
or
business
sites
for
educa9on
use.
You
can
operate
in
a
secure
and
private
environment
or
you
can
make
it
public.
Edmodo
is
o=en
referred
to
as
a
social
network
or
microblogging
site.
But
the
kids
called
it
Facebook
for
school.

3. Where did I come from?
Edmodo
was
created
in
2008
by
Nic
Borg
and
Jeff
O’Hara,
both
from
districts
outside
of
Chicago.
According
to
the
website,
they
are
the
fastest
growing
social
network
in
the
world.
Of
course
these
numbers
sound
good
un=l
you
realize
that
for
every
1
person
who
joins
at
least
25
other
people
join
because
they
were
told
too.
But
this
does
say
something
for
how
quickly
it
is
catching
on
in
educa=on.

4. Edmodo
is
designed
just
like
Facebook,
same
layout,
same
color
scheme,
everything.
Groups
on
leR
–
messages
in
the
middle
–
spotlight
(what’s
new)
and
sugges=ons
on
right
–
on
right
there
are
also
choices
for
specific
types
of
messages
to
view
separate
from
the
others.

5. You
can
post
general
notes
to
one
or
all
of
your
groups.
I
The Notes haven’t
found
the
limit
on
the
length
of
these
yet
like
I
have
on
Facebook.
Edmodo
allows
for
direct
messaging
between
teacher
and
student.
These
are
private
messages
that
can’t
be
seen
by
others.
And
there
is
no
private
messaging
between
students.

6. You
can
post
general
notes
to
one
or
all
of
your
groups.
I
haven’t
found
the
limit
on
the
length
of
these
yet
like
I
have
on
Facebook.
Edmodo
allows
for
direct
messaging
between
teacher
and
student.
These
are
private
messages
that
can’t
be
seen
by
others.
And
there
is
no
private
messaging
between
students.

7. Teachers
have
been
using
Edmodo
for
things
from
basic
assignment
turn-­‐
in,
secure
blogging,
and
microblogging,
to
conduc9ng
en9re
classes
there
like
I
have.
I
conducted
my
Media
Literacy
class
through
Edmodo.
I
had
an
experimental
class
with
daily
access
to
computers.
And
wanted
to
try
something
different
while
also
reinforcing
my
daily
use
of
the
computers.

8. I
chose
Edomodo
because
of
the
low
learning
curve,
for
myself
and
the
students.
Since
it
looks
just
like
Facebook
almost
everyone
is
already
familiar
with
the
format.
Like
Facebook,
there
isn’t
a
lot
of
freedom
to
personalize
your
page,
keeping
the
focus
on
the
learning.

9. 6th Period Log-in
wqt26u
wqt26 u
I
did
have
to
show
the
students
how
to
turn
in
assignments
and
show
them
how
I
wanted
the
site
to
be
organized
when
it
came
to
their
pos=ngs.
This
wasn’t
so
much
training
them
on
the
tool
as
it
was
training
them
to
use
the
tool
in
this
seZng.
This
was
not
only
our
way
to
communicate
as
a
class
but
it
was
my
way
to
stay
organized.

10. The
first
=me
the
students
sign
up
for
Edmodo
they
are
asked
for
the
group
code.
This
is
a
code
specific
to
the
group
or
class
set
up
by
the
teacher.
The
students
enter
the
code,
their
name
and
if
they
want,
their
email.
The
email
isn’t
required
but
students
can
enter
it
and
have
Edmodo
send
them
alerts
when
new
items
are
entered
on
the
page.

11. Teacher Controlled
ARer
students
set
up
their
account,
they
are
automa=cally
directed
to
the
page
the
matches
their
code.
And
only
that
code.
Students
can’t
set
up
an
account
without
a
code
and
they
can’t
set
up
their
own
areas
in
the
site.
Everything
is
set
up
by
the
teacher.

12. Edmodo
was
my
primary
communica9on
with
the
students
in
and
out
of
the
classroom.
I’m
not
in
the
building
when
they
have
free
9me
so
they
needed
an
alternate
method
to
reach
me.
Next
trimester
I’m
going
to
set
it
up
so
that
it
will
send
me
texts
when
students
post
an
alert
and
I’ll
have
them
post
alerts
when
they
need
assistance,
then
I
can
help
them
immediately
(before
10
pm).

13. I
would
post
our
plan
for
the
day
and
any
resources
we
would
be
using
during
the
lessons,
videos,
Powerpoints,
images,
etc.
The
students
would
have
access
to
all
of
the
informa=on
if
they
were
gone
or
wanted
to
go
back
and
improve
their
understanding.
When
I
was
gone
I
could
s=ll
post
the
lessons
for
class
from
wherever
I
was.
This
made
the
subs
job
much
easier.
What are we doing today?

14. Students
would
take
their
notes
in
the
reply
box
under
that
days
post.
This
would
allow
the
students
access
to
everyone’s
notes.
I
wanted
public
notes
because
different
people
key
in
on
different
things.
The
other
benefit
of
this
is
that
it
allowed
the
special
educa=on
students
placed
in
my
room
an
added
advantage.
They
may
not
be
able
to
take
notes
like
the
other
students
but
they
now
had
access
to
notes
like
the
other
students.

15. Some9mes
students
would
want
to
con9nue
discussions
even
though
it
was
9me
for
us
to
move
on.
In
order
to
keep
us
on
a
schedule,
students
would
be
able
to
con9nue
their
discussions
on
Edmodo
while
we
moved
ahead
with
other
informa9on.
If
they
missed
informa9on
because
of
this,
they
could
go
back
and
check
others
notes.
Hey! What about…?

16. I
also
set
up
small
groups
inside
of
my
classes.
These
groups
were
designed
for
students
to
collaborate
with
others
in
a
smaller
seZng
to
explore
specific
topics,
kind
of
like
an
Intro
to
Blogging.
These
smaller
groups
allowed
students
to
focus
on
the
informa=on
to
be
shared
instead
focusing
on
how
it
would
be
shared.

17. I
also
had
the
students
complete
assignments
designed
for
the
format.
One
of
these
assignments
had
students
working
in
pairs
to
find
literary
terms
to
study.
The
students
had
to
find
the
terms
and
defini=ons
and
share
their
lists
on
Edmodo.
We
chose
the
most
common
terms
and
the
students
were
then
given
5
terms
to
find
video
examples
of
and
share
with
the
class.

18. Maybe we shouldn’t …
Whenever
you
use
a
new
tool
in
the
classroom,
people
want
to
know
what
the
drawbacks
are.
ORen
people
will
focus
so
much
on
the
possible
drawbacks
that
they
won’t
try
something
new.
To
be
honest,
there
were
a
couple
of
drawbacks.
One
day
the
site
was
down
for
maintenance.
Another
day
our
internet
was
down.

19. But
really
the
one
thing
I
would
like
to
see
changed
is
that
under
a
student’s
profile
you
can
see
all
of
their
posts,
but
you
can’t
see
their
replies
to
other
posts.
I
would
like
to
be
able
to
see
both
without
having
to
shiR
back
through
the
posts
and
looking
at
all
of
the
replies.

20. My
students
were
very
excited
about
the
class.
Not
only
was
using
the
computers
every
day
a
novel
concept
for
them
but
they
really
liked
the
Facebook
feel
of
the
class,
and
they
were
very
happy
to
be
going
paperless.
An
advantage
I
hadn’t
even
thought
of.
At
one
point,
I
did
give
the
students
the
choice
of
going
back
to
old
school.
They
don’t
want
to
go
back
to
old
school.
The
students
are
done
with
old
school
and
we
need
to
be
too.