Section 1: What is Edmodo?
Edmodo is a free, online social networking site and social media tool. Designed primarily for educators and students, Edmodo connects users with each other to promote sharing of information and collaboration on assignments.
Believing that a new type of classroom community can close the gap between how students live their lives and how they learn in school, founders Nic Borg and Jeff O'Hara set out to create a tool that would accomplish this goal. Since its release in 2008, Edmodo now connects more than 14 million teachers and students globally.
As a club advisor, you will find that your club membership changes year to year. You need a tool that will keep your members organized, and will assist you in sharing valuable information with members and club officers.
Believing that a new type of classroom community can close the gap between how students live their lives and how they learn in school, founders Nic Borg and Jeff O'Hara set out to create a tool that would accomplish this goal. Since its release in 2008, Edmodo now connects more than 14 million teachers and students globally.
As a club advisor, you will find that your club membership changes year to year. You need a tool that will keep your members organized, and will assist you in sharing valuable information with members and club officers.
My Experience
Seven years ago, I became the faculty adviser of the school's Leo Club, a high school service club through which students participate in community service activities. As a teacher, I already had to memorize over 160 names and faces of my own students. With the Leo Club, there were an additional 75 students whose names and faces I had to memorize. With our club meetings twice each month, getting to know these students proved to be much harder than I had expected. As the club continued to grow, I slowly realized that I would never be able to remember the names of all the club members, unless changes were to be made.
As the membership more than doubled over those years, I noticed that a growing number of members complained about not being able to sign up for events, and some did not receive reminders about various activities, even though they had provided the club officers with e-mail addresses and phone numbers. As some members grew dissatisfied with the club, they eventually left. Unless these issues are properly addressed, more members may leave the club in the near future.
To address these issues, a system for communicating information between advisers, officers, and members is needed. In the past, club officers have used Blogger to communicate club information, but updates never continued past the year. Attempts at using Facebook have also met with limited results. Students were unable to access the Facebook site during school hours, and were usually too late in signing up for activities once they reached home. Ultimately, the club adviser must be the manager of this system, as officers change from year to year, and members leave due to graduation. Edmodo has the necessary tools to address the current needs of the club, and can easily be maintained by the club adviser and officers. Let's look at the first tool-the Edmodo Group Page.
As the membership more than doubled over those years, I noticed that a growing number of members complained about not being able to sign up for events, and some did not receive reminders about various activities, even though they had provided the club officers with e-mail addresses and phone numbers. As some members grew dissatisfied with the club, they eventually left. Unless these issues are properly addressed, more members may leave the club in the near future.
To address these issues, a system for communicating information between advisers, officers, and members is needed. In the past, club officers have used Blogger to communicate club information, but updates never continued past the year. Attempts at using Facebook have also met with limited results. Students were unable to access the Facebook site during school hours, and were usually too late in signing up for activities once they reached home. Ultimately, the club adviser must be the manager of this system, as officers change from year to year, and members leave due to graduation. Edmodo has the necessary tools to address the current needs of the club, and can easily be maintained by the club adviser and officers. Let's look at the first tool-the Edmodo Group Page.
Edmodo Group Page
Utilizing the same wall-posting feature of Facebook, Edmodo allows users to post comments to an entire group. Unlike Facebook, Edmodo users cannot post comments directly to individual users. Instead, all posted comments are public to the group. The teacher can monitor all postings, and delete a post if necessary. It is through this Group Page that nearly all communication between club members will occur. Before a student can post to the Group Page, he must create a user account and join the club's Edmodo group. Each member will receive an access code to join.
Whether your club has twenty or two hundred members, the Edmodo Group Page is instrumental in creating a forum for members to meet and discuss news and events. Every year, you are tasked with trying to remember the names and faces of each club member. With Edmodo's Group Page, you'll be able to speed up the process when each member adds their photo to their student profile. And creating a Group Page in Edmodo is easier than you think.
Whether your club has twenty or two hundred members, the Edmodo Group Page is instrumental in creating a forum for members to meet and discuss news and events. Every year, you are tasked with trying to remember the names and faces of each club member. With Edmodo's Group Page, you'll be able to speed up the process when each member adds their photo to their student profile. And creating a Group Page in Edmodo is easier than you think.
How to Create an Edmodo Group Page
Please watch this short video on how to create a teacher account and group page in Edmodo.