Professional Development Powered By Edmodo

Edmodo is a great way to make and manage classroom assignments.  Students love the easy social learning interface. Edmodo is as easy to use as popular social sites but teachers appreciate the privacy of groups they create and control. It’s also becoming apparent that Edmodo is a great place for adults to learn. Teachers and leaders can use Edmodo to:

• Model best practices: Use Edmodo to models 21^st century skills; introduce educators to integrating technology in context;
• Flip PD: ­Invite participants to join group prior to your in­ person event. Share an interesting resource and pose a discussion question to get the conversation started;
• Personalize the experience: Post a poll, quiz, or note asking participants to share their prior knowledge;
• Share content:­Create and share folders of content for easy reference;
• Engage audience: Use the communication stream to drive your agenda by creating posts for each new idea; make sure all voices are heard by blending in­ person sharing and posting to Edmodo;
• Assess the learning: ­Use online assignments, polls, or quizzes to to check for understanding and identify next steps to support your participants; and
• Develop a PLC: ­Keep the learning and collaboration going by inviting participants to use your Edmodo group to continue to ask questions and share ideas while they implement what they’ve learned.

While most of the adult learning on Edmodo has been teacher-driven, there are some good examples of administrators leading by example.  The SUPES Academy integrated Edmodo into a professional development program  for superintendents.  The California Education Technology Professionals Association CTO Mentor Program used Edmodo throughout the program with mentors and mentees.
Walled Lake School District administrators used Edmodo to stay connected over the summer and continuing their professional discussions online. Mark Hess, Executive Director of Instruction, Technology, & Assessment, implemented a book club on Edmodo as a way to keep administrators engaged during the summer and to come up with ideas for promoting student achievement. That initial project was so successful that he decided to set up groups for other professional development projects, including one for new principals. These professional learning networks (PLNs) allow principals to share ideas in a supportive environment where they can feel more comfortable getting acclimated to new concepts. In addition, Hess is creating a video library that will be shared before the district’s regular face-to-face professional development sessions in an effort to provide greater access to materials and enable more productive sessions. They found that Edmodo encouraged more discussion, more openness to ask questions, and freed up time for more face-to-face time with teachers.
Kevin Hodgson said the National Writing Project needed a space for “teachers to share, ask and answer questions and eventually, publish teacher inquiry projects.” They found, “The school-centered social networking space,Edmodo, met all of this criteria, and more.” When underway, “the space became an online home for teachers to could ask questions of facilitators and each other, seek clarification on reading and activities, call for more resources and share findings.”
Districts that use Edmodo for PD appreciate the interactive, social, mobile features. Districts can “create sub-domains within Edmodo to link the learning opportunities through District users more easily.”  Here’s a video that describes District Professional Development with Edmodo:

See more Connected Educator Month posts already up on Getting Smart:

• Mastery Connect Powers PLC Connected Educators
• 10 Apps for Connected Educators
• Plugging Into Professional Learning Communities

Edmodo is a portfolio company of Learn Capital where Tom is a partner .