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Waller

Edmodo and Education in America


Merran Waller
Gen 101 PF
November 3, 2015

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The use of technology in the classroom has greatly evolved from the first
Horn-Book used in the 1650s. Initially, classrooms relied on simple technology to
help the teachers better communicate with students. In the beginning the technology
used to communicate visuals in classrooms stayed within school walls because of
their large, clunky size. Some of these inventions included the blackboard invented
in 1890, the film projector in 1925, the overhead projector in 1930, and then plato
computer invented in 1980. Separately, there were inventions created that advanced
individual learning through the invention of the pencil in 1900, headphones in 1950,
slide rule in 1950, and the hand-held graphing calculator in 1985. Finally, when
laptops were invented with access to internet, visual learning supported both
individual work and communication between the teacher and student outside
schools walls. This idea of collaborative work began spreading and in the early
2000s educational social networks like Google+, Youtube, and Edmodo broke down
school walls by allowing students to continue working with each other and the
teacher after school hours. Learning is no longer like the early 1800s and 1900s
when students worked in class together and then went home at night for individual
study. Individual study is evolving more and more into collaborative work and sharing
ideas between one another.
In 2008, Nic Borg and Jeff OHara founded Edmodo, a safe social networking
environment that encourages peer collaboration, professional development, and easy
access. The website supports 21st-century education by presenting easy access with a
selfless mission, to evolve our school environment to reflect the connected world in
which we live, set out to create a tool that closes the gap between how students live

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their lives and how they learn in school, (http://about.edmodo.com/). Edmodo is also
free, creating equality for both large metro schools and rural small schools. Borg and
OHara designed the layout to duplicate that of Facebook by including posts, profiles,
and a live chat feed. The Whats New in the Social Media Sphere? article claims that,
this Facebook for education now connects more than 27 million teachers and students
globally...Offering tools to engage, connect, measure, and personalize academic and
learning experiences, the site also provides apps that integrate with Edmodo, (Rivero
2013 16) such as Google drive, breaching the limit on ways to collaborate with one
another. There are two stories that exemplify Edmodos collaborative successes. The
first story focuses on Rob Waller, an 8th grade History teacher who taught at Friends
Academy. Waller was eager to raise political awareness in the classroom by getting his
students more involved outside of class. With upcoming presidential elections, Waller
applied Edmodo and states, I organized my students into separate groups and had
them comment and discuss in real time using Edmodo at home on their computers, all
the while watching the debates live on TV. The results were incredible! My students
were hooked!, and not only did one thousand and two hundred teachers connect to the
page but the fact that the company itself, Edmodo, chose Waller as their teacher
spotlight and picked up the class enthusiasm shows how quickly, discussion and
involvement can spread on this social network. Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy hit,
which prevented the class from, using Edmodo during election day to post articles,
facilitate discussion with other students, upload hourly polls on important issues, and
even stay at school late into the evening to watch/post while the results came in!, but
as the students interest zeroed in on elections, less meaningful gossip like the latest

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basketball game and celebrity news grew distant. The PewResearch Center case study
asked teachers to either strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree on the
viewpoint that, Todays digital technologies encourage greater collaboration among
students, and 56% of the teachers asked agreed while another 23% strongly agreed.
After a personal interview Waller agrees as a teacher, he falls in the group of
agreeance. The second example is an article written by Elizabeth Dobler, who highlights
Jan Wells, a fourth grade teacher at West Jefferson Elementary who has stood her
ground in the forefront of social change by closing Global gaps between classes. One
way Jan uses Edmodo is through a project, Global Read Aloud, that, involves teachers
from different schools reading the same book, as students discuss it through blogging,
video conferencing or online discussions, (Purcell 2012) and this collaborative effort
attracted over 2,000 student participates. The Global Read Aloud led to personal
connections that extend past class time. Creating a connection based on a learning
objective and educational skills seems like a great way to forge a friendship. Students
and teachers are putting their best work forward, knowing that everyone can see their
comments and posts. Both teachers, Rob Waller and Jan Wells are using Edmodo as
the vehicle to promote conversation and enthusiasm among the students.
The success stories about Edmodo highlights the social networks best features.
However, these articles exclude the ineffectiveness of Edmodo. Teachers who are
impartial to Edmodo feel as though the site causes technical difficulties that Rebecca
Davies explains in her blog. She admits that the pros far outweigh the negatives.
However, in a classroom like hers that rely solely on ipads, Edmodo makes it difficult for
students to upload work from their iPads, it is a multi-step process, and something

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always seems to go wrong, (Pros and Cons of Edmodo) showing that Edmodo is
slipping behind the iOS updates and perhaps struggling to stay updated. Not only are
there technical glitches but there are too many posts to sift through among the teachers
network. Rob Waller explains that Public groups allow teachers to ask for help from one
another with posts, and this sounds great but, the problem sometimes is its a time
suck. You spend an hour scrolling through other peoples posts and dont find anything
so youve just wasted an hour, so Edmodo might not be the place to find inspirational
lesson plans unless one is willing to write their own post, asking for help. As for the
teachers who feel themselves wasting time, scrolling through thousands of posts,
hoping to find some inspiration; this may not be the way for experienced teachers. But
this method may be a great resource for new teachers says Rob Waller. Overall,
Edmodo has its own share of technical glitches and perhaps does not include all of the
elements Google+ has but that is why Edmodo is integrated with Google Docs. If one
has an account on Edmodo, that student also has a Google+ account. Edmodo also has
what Google+ does not; a live chat feed in a safe environment that allows teachers to
monitor. There are cons to every social network, and Edmodos pros prove to far
outweigh any concerns teachers have.
Edmodos positive impact through teaching 21st-century skills such as
collaboration and media literacy, broaden students global awareness. The overarching
umbrella of 21st-century Education is made up of proactive actions; collaboration, use
of technology, communication, and innovation. These actions in Education lead to the
growth of core 21st-century skills such as media literacy, self-awareness, courage to
ask questions, a growth mindset, critical thinking, and acceptance of feedback.

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Educators are supporting whole character growth by teaching both informative and
social knowledge. Project Tomorrow, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting
students education, provided a survey that proves technology has an overwhelmingly
positive impact on the student-learner. In 2009, Project Tomorrow surveyed 299,677 K12 students, 26,312 parents, 38,642 teachers, and 3,947 administrators representing
5,757 schools including both public and private. In the report Unleashing the Future:
Educators Speak UpAbout the Use of Emerging Technologies for Learning, Project
Tomorrow results state, Teachers tell us that as a result of using technology in
classrooms student are more motivated to learn (51 percent), apply their knowledge to
practical problems (30 percent) and take ownership of their learning (23 percent).
Although these numbers do not seem to be fully supportive of technology
implementation, the numbers have actually grown since the 2000s and continue to be
rising.Teachers also report that by using technology students are developing key 21st
century skills including creativity (39 percent), [and] collaboration (30 percent) (2)
showing that technology is supporting educators goals for teaching 21st-century skills
that stay with students their whole life. Edmodo falls directly in line with technology that
motivates students to learn and be open-minded since the only way students can post
homework is through public means. Fortunately, Edmodo is a safe place and since the
network is entirely comprised of educators and learners, everyone feels comfortable
expressing enthusiasm for the subject being taught.
Technology is detrimental to providing the student a participating role in the rising
of global awareness, collaboration, and communication. More importantly, one must
recognize the importance technology plays in a classroom and also be aware of the

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difficulties implementing technology into schools is. Edmodo is a very effective vehicle
for students to gain 21st-century skills, but in order for the social network to help the
class as a whole, every student must have access to a technological device. As
technology advances, affordability for these devices will grow, hopefully enabling
millions of more users to join Edmodos network. As more people join Edmodo, more
ideas will be shared and further connections will be made in a collaborative effort to
learn.

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References
Barack, L. (2011). Two for the Road. School Library Journal, 57(7), 8.
Davis, R. (2013, May 22). Pros and Cons of Edmodo [Blog post]. Retrieved from Teaching
Techie Teens website: http://rebecca-davies.net/2013/05/22/pros-and-cons-of-edmodo/
Dobler, E. (2012). Flattening Classroom Walls: Edmodo Takes Teaching and Learning across the
Globe. Reading Today, 29(4), 12-13.
Dunn, J. (2011, April 18). The Evolution of Classroom Technology [Blog post]. Retrieved from
Edudemic website: http://www.edudemic.com/classroom-technology/
Gan, B., Menkhoff, T., & Smith, R. (2015). Enhancing students' learning process through
interactive digital media: New opportunities for collaborative learning. Computers in Human
Behavior, 51, 652-663.
Gordon, D. (2012). How Districts Create Community Connections with Social Media. The
Journal.
Purcell, K., Rainie, L., Heaps, A., Buchanan, J., Friedrich, L., Jacklin, A., . . . Zickuhr, K. (2012).
Part V: Teachers' Concerns About Broader Impacts of Digital Technologies on Their Students.
Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/01/part-v-teachersconcerns-about-broader-impacts-of-digital-technologies-on-their-students/
Raths, D. (2013). From Twitter to Edmodo: Schools Collaborate With Social Media. The
Journal.
Raths, D. (2013). Social Studies. The Journal, 40(1), 26-30.
Rivero, V. (2013). What's New in the Social Media Sphere? Internet@Schools, 20(5), 14-17.
Tomassini, J. (2013). Teachers Seek Specialized Peer Networks. Education Week, 32(15), 1-19.

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Unleashing the Future: Educators "Speak Up" about the Use of Emerging Technologies for
Learning. Speak Up 2009 National Findings: Teachers, Aspiring Teachers & Administrators.
(2010, May). Irvine, CA: Project Tomorrow.
Waller, R. (2013, January 3). Teacher Spotlight: Rob Waller, Friends Academy [Blog post].
Retrieved from Blog Edmodo website: https://blog.edmodo.com/2013/01/03/teacher-spotlightrob-waller-friends-academy/

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