Edmodo: Add modern features of blended classrooms

As a consequence of the long-lasting presence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the concepts of Blended learning and Flipped classrooms have rightfully received unprecedented attention among the educationists throughout the world. There are different platforms that provide the opportunity for blended learning through the creation of virtual classrooms. I know that in Bangladesh, Google Classroom has already gained much popularity as a blended learning platform. Apart from that, there are other learning platforms that provide the teachers with the freedom of content creation, lecture delivery, and students assessment. The most popular ones are Edmodo, Schoology, H5P, and the like. Considering the accessibility, infrastructural support, educational budget, and student-friendliness, I have chosen Edmodo for this week’s blog.

Edmodo  

Edmodo is one of the most popular online tools based on Learning Management Systems (LMS). By using this platform, teachers can create opportunities for the blended classroom. That is to say, this website offers immense opportunities for teachers to create a virtual classroom, share teaching content, upload audio, video, or document files and prepare students’ quizzes and assignments.

Getting started

Teachers can open an Edmodo account by using Gmail, Outlook, or Facebook accounts. Then, after creating a class, he/she can invite the students to join simply by sharing the class code. The following video will give you appropriate directions on how to use it: 

       

A sample task

As long as flipped classrooms are concerned, I have seen many teachers of my context become puzzled with engaging the students in the writing classes. Here, I have prepared a sample task for pre-intermediate/intermediate level students who have the EAP course Essay and Report Writing. If you are subscribed to an Edmodo account, you will be able to access the activity from the link: https://new.edmodo.com/groups/eap-essays-and-report-writing-38586112/posts  by using the passcode/class code: ac56ac.

As it can be seen from the designed task that students will be able to access the instructions and necessary documents for writing the report from the virtual class. 

Pre-class instructions

Not only that, while writing their second draft as an assignment, (they will write their first draft in the class) they need to interact with each other by commenting or editing their writing which would reestablish the features of collaborative learning.

Assignment

Moreover, while working on their own parts, they will be able to develop ideas and write autonomously. As a whole, their interactive writing journey will be highly motivating and engaging if it can be completed with virtual collaboration.

If you want to know more about preparing quizzes on Edmodo, just click on the following video:

 

Benefits:

It does not require any institutional affiliation to be connected on the Edmodo platform. You just need to have an email account to create or join any classes. Moreover, it is free and the operating system is simple to use and easy to understand.

Edmodo can save teachers’ classroom time as pre-class preparation materials can be uploaded here in the forms of video lectures, pdf/word files, power-point slides, or through generating links. Moreover, students can download the files and comment interactively on teachers’ posts. At this point, if they have any queries, they can place those on the virtual platform and both the teacher and students can address those.

By using this platform, teachers can keep track of students’ homework and assignments and monitor their progress regarding timely submission and obtained grades. It is also a tool where students can keep all the course-related documents and submissions systematically.

On the students’ submitted work, teachers can provide individual feedback in detail. He/she can also give general feedback by uploading audio or video files.

Therefore, it is evident that a virtual class on Edmodo is not only engaging but also motivating for both teachers and students.   

Limitations

In comparison to other high-tech teaching platforms like H5P, Edmodo offers less variety and diversity in using resources and decorative options for teachers to create class instructions, assignments, and quizzes. Moreover, it doesn’t look as polished and professional as H5P. However, in situations where institutions cannot afford to buy expensive applications and most importantly, where students do not have appropriate devices and high-quality internet connections, teaching tools like Edmodo is the best possible option to be utilized.

That's all for today. I hope to present another ICT tool from my magical toolkit in my next week's posts!

If you want to learn more about Edmodo, tap on the following link:

https://www.whatiselt.com/single-post/2018/01/28/What-is-Edmodo