Thursday, August 15, 2013

Discovering new technology with a new school year

Edmodo made me feel like I have never used a computer before. A familiar looking layout, like the designers paid homage to Mark Zuckerburg.  I thought that this educational Facebook would take five minutes to acclimate to, but boy, was I wrong.  Intuition told me that things should be able to be dragged and easily integrated into each post and that Google Drive (which I am reliant on) should work just like it does with Google Sites.  Three days and one handout later, I was ready to return to Google Sites (at least I knew how to work it), but then I asked for help which is not something I am good at doing, especially when it comes to anything involving technology.  With a less than 3 minute conversation with a coworker, I figured out what I had been missing and have posted the information and assignments that I was wanting to.  When school begins on Monday, I will be able to give my students their codes and make this digital community work.  I'm excited.

4 comments:

  1. I keep flirting with the idea of using Edmodo but worry that it will just be another site to update and check. I would love to use it if it really does provide a community space for my students to meet and discuss ideas about our class. I will anxiously await your updates. Good luck!

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  2. My students recently used it to stage a discussion about the merits of potential novels for our science fiction/fantasy unit.

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  3. I wonder how the use of Edmodo has progressed with your students & your tech choices. I read your blog about getting students to question instead of building themselves in the presumed safety of the 1-right-answer box and suspect that developing a "community space" as Beth puts it would encourage them to risk exploring the not-yet-sense spaces that seem essential to liberatory education, freedom, adventure. . .

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  4. We just starting using Edmodo to facilitate reading groups for our science fiction unit. Two of the groups have started their online discussions. One of these two is trying very hard to help each other understand the novel that they are reading (Fahrenheit 451), building upon what has already been said to come to a community conclusion about choices that the author is making and helping each other to understand the novel. The other group that has started is looking at Slaughterhouse 5 and they are just asking comprehension questions of each other, still hesitant to embrace the space. It will be interesting to see if the other four groups who haven't started on Edmodo will follow more in the footsteps of my Fahrenheit or Slaughterhouse groups.

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