Don’t use Facebook for teaching your class – use Edmodo!

If you are like me, you probably had not heard about Edmodo until right now. I had never heard of it until it flew across my twitter stream in a posting from a colleague. So what is it? It’s a web-based social network space for teachers and students. Its safe and easy Facebook-like interface allows the class to collaborate, connect, share content, access homework, etc. It’s free for both students and teachers. To appeal to today’s mobile generation it also has both iPhone and Android apps. So the idea of anywhere, any place, any device learning can be truly experienced using Edmodo. Here’s the Edmodo at a glance video. Have a look at it and let us know if you think this would be good for your students by leaving a comment below.



Afterwards, check out the Edmodo in Action page that showcases several examples on how Edmodo can be useful in Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Math clashttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifses. There are also examples of how Edmodo can be good for teacher professional development and for parents to http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giffeel connected to their children’s learning.

There has been a lot of controversy about the appropriateness of teachers 'friending' their students on Facebook ... Edmodo eliminates all this. It's task specific; it's for school. No more blurry lines between personal life and school life. It's simple, it works, and it's easy. Edmodo is like a learning management system but with all the boring linear structure taken out and all the fun of community building injected into it. I like that shift. So will your students.

Note: In Dec 2011, it was reported that Edmodo raised 15 million dollars in funding to expand their operation. Interesting.

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Dissection: What's a PLN?

Have you heard this term - PLN? Personal Learning Network. It's becomming a mainstream word in the field of education. Skip Via, an Instructional Technology professor at the University of Alaska, has createda nice 5 minute video that thoroughly explains the purpose of a PLN, what a PLN is, and he outlines exactly the tools he uses to make his PLN. Watch the video and then scroll down afterwards and I will describe how I make my PLN.



So Skip did a great job of disssecting his PLN and showing us the components. I'll do the same for you here. At the heart of my PLN are 2 aggregating tools for bringing information to me, 3 communication tools for interacting with my colleagues and 3 archiving tools for saving information. They are:

Aggregators

1. Pageflakes. I use this to aggregage RRS feeds for my favourite blogs and news feeds. I set it as my Firefox homepage; therefore, I have one stop shopping of all my news everytime I open up Forefox. It's all there for me and I no longer go out to look for it.(I've written about Pageflakes a few times before.)

2. TweetDeck. It's my Twitter client. I have a dual display computer system and the background of one monitor is full-screen Tweetdeck. I try to follow as many isntructional designers and educators as I can, I also filter out for useful hastags like *edtech and #elearning. The result is that my Tweetdeck is constantly filled with a steady stream of great tidbits of topics that interest me.

Communication

3. My primary email client (Thunderbird). Email is a must.

4. Facebook. Facebook is my secondary email client and a great way to keep tabs on what my colleagues are doing.

5. Meebo. An instant messenger client that aggregates all my instant messenger accounts into a one-stop-shop for MSN, GTalk, YahooMessenger, (even facebook chat), etc. So chatting live with any of my colleagues is easy.

Archiving

6. Delicious social bookmarking. Saves my bookmarks and makes them available anywhere I go (library, friend's house, work, home, iPhone, etc.)

7. Evernote. It's just flat out fantastic for saving anything on the web and for taking notes. All my notes are available to me everywhere including my iPhone.

8. Blogger. I write this blog, eLearning Acupuncture, as a way of archiving my thoughts and at the same time giving back to my PLN.

What does your PLN look like? Share its components with us by writting a comment below.

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CCK08: Facebook for Academics

If you are a faculty member or administrative staff at a college or university then you might be tempted to check out Academia.edu. Probably the simplest way I can describe it is to call it "Facebook for Academics." All institutions are organized on the top level of a 'tree' (i.e. an organizational chart). The second level of the chart shows the departments within the institution and the third level shows the individual faculty and staff. Once you add yourself to the respective tree branch, you can select your research interests, display a photo and post a professional profile which includes aspects such as articles published, books authored, CV, important websites, contacts, courses you are teaching, etc. This social networking site is a great way to connect with other faculty members at other institutions working on similar topics. This has the potential to be a very interesting resource as it grows. As of mid-October 2008, there are over 6300 people registered. (7 more people joined in the time it took me to write this blog post!)

PS: this blog post fits nicely into the Connectivism course topic for week 5: Groups and Networks.

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