Edmodo

During weeks 3 and 4 we were asked to review and evaluate Web 2.0 applications that might be useful in our classrooms. It was a whirlwind of research based off of each classmates myriad of contributions. I had heard and used many of the resources mentioned, while others sounded foreign to me. In the long run I decided to prepare a screencast with the help of Jing about Edmodo, "a free private education 2.0 Microblogging platform for teachers and students."

This link will take you to my screencast.com account and allow you to access my Edmodo narrated recordings. http://www.screencast.com/t/w1bqcSR2Cb

Edmodo Pro's

• Free, safe and secure, requires very little information, and students do not need to submit an e-mail address to sign up.
• Available on-line, nothing needs to be downloaded. Everyone should be able to access the site from home or a library.
• Very easy to use, requires no more then a few hours to understand.
• Simple layout, not overwhelming or over brimming with information - No Ads!
• Shares events, assignments, notes, and alerts with students.
• Teachers or students can post links and upload files to be shared with each other.
• Homework may be turned in online, save paper and time.
  
• Online grading system incorporated.
  
• Calendar posts automatically event and assignment dates.
• Archive saved posts in the "Locker" with "Tags."
  

Edmodo Con's

• Unable to create one code for multiple groups.
• Calendar updates can not be made without always sending out a message to group participants.
• I was unable to find a way to export grade information into a spreadsheet program.

As one can see, this Web 2.0 application can and will eventually be very helpful in my future classroom. However, I do feel that it would be best implemented in intermediate age classrooms up through high school. It has been a pleasure to learn about this new resource, and explore Jing and Screencast.com.

Jing, another free Web 2.0 application, captures and shares images and video from your computer. I did have to download the application to my computer, but in general it was relatively easy to record the video I produced up above describing Edmodo. However, because I downloaded the free version, I was unable to save my videos in MPEG4 form. This caused me a bit of confusion in the beginning, but eventually I realized I could save the files (swf) in my Screencast.com account to share with you. I guess my biggest frustration with Jing was that the video footage had to be kept under 5 minutes. So instead of producing one 15 minute screencast, I had to break it up into 4 smaller screencasts. Either way I figured it out and persevered.