Lena Hollingshead Melody Jenkins Brittany Slater Lorin Sulak

Using Edmodo for Better Communication and Access Edmodo is a free social learning network that connects teachers with their colleagues, students, parents and larger professional networks. It is a safe way for teachers to share ideas and content, while allowing students and parents access to homework, grades and other important school notices. School districts can also create their own subdomains under Edmodo to better monitor and manage online content. 1. How to create an Edmodo account:

Teacher Sign Up

Student Sign Up

Parent Sign Up

Access the Edmodo website at edmodo.com. A teacher, student or parent can create an account, but the teacher account must be created first. (The teacher will receive their class code after setting up their account. This code will connect the students to their class site. Parent codes will be mentioned later.) Once the teacher completes the short registration form, a confirmation email will be sent to the account given. Responding to this email completes the registration process. One great aspect of Edmodo is that while an email address is required for teachers and parents, students do not need an email to have an account. The student registration form only requires a name, password and class code.

2. Setting up your teacher profile: After responding to the confirmation email, the teacher will be taken to a page to upload a photo and create a personalized URL. This allows the students or parent to quickly access your account without going through the Edmodo homepage. The teacher will then be prompted to join any communities they wish, such as math, science, etc. These communities are a great way for teachers to share lesson planning and professional development ideas.

3. Creating your class group account:

To create your class page, click Create next to Groups in the left panel. You will need to enter your group name (ex. Mr. Smiths Science Class or Third Period Algebra) as well as class subject and grade level. After entering this information and clicking Create, your six-digit class code will appear in the right panel. This is the code you need to give your students. They can enter the code upon registration or, if they already have an account, they will click Join in the left panel and enter the code. Notice the arrow next to the code in the screenshot above. After all of your students have joined the group, click this arrow to lock your code. This prevents anyone else from joining your class. If you have a student join your class later, just click the arrow again to reinstate another code. Also note the Group Settings button in the right panel above. Clicking this pops up the screen to the right. This is where you can change your group information, set up moderator settings to view all posts before they become public or even set new students to read only status. Some teachers like to do this so students become accustomed to the site before posting anything.

4. Managing members of your group:

Once a group is created it will be listed in the left panel of your homepage. Click on that group name to access your class information. After clicking Members in the center of the top of your screen, all of your students will be listed below. By clicking on a students icon, you can delete that student from your class, change their password, award a badge or set them to read only or normal status. While the previous screenshot showed how to do this for the entire class or just new students, this screen is where you change the access for a specific student. This is also where you can get a specific students parent code. The parent will need this code to register for the site. You can also view the students profile and grades.

5. Adding a co-teacher to you group: A teacher can join your class group with the same six-digit code you gave your students. After they join, go to the same member page mentioned above. Click on the teachers icon and change their Access to Co-Teacher. The new coteacher will have all of the same capabilities as the original teacher except: deleting the group, designating another co-teacher, removing the original teacher from the group and approving / denying new members.

6. Subscribing class to other web pages or feeds:

Many teachers like to link their Edmodo pages to a school website, blog or news feed. To do this, click on your class name in the left panel then select Subscribe Group to Feed in the right panel. A popup box will appear for you to type or paste the URL of the site you want to link. Click Subscribe to complete the link. Updates will appear in the center news feed of your group members home pages.

7. Sending Notes, Alerts, Assignments, Quizzes and Polls:

Anytime you need to communicate with someone on Edmodo, you will look at the center of your homepage. This is where you can send notes or alerts and post assignments, quizzes and polls. Anything you send can be automatically sent or scheduled to go out at a specific time. Notes and alerts are just messages that can be sent to any parent, student or other teacher. The other posts are a little different

To send an assignment, click Assignments in the middle of the screen. You will need to enter the assignment title, description, due date and group the assignment should be sent to. You can upload a file to the assignment or link another website. Once again, these can be scheduled or sent immediately.

The student can review the assignment by clicking on the class name in the left panel. The assignment will appear in their center news feed. The student must click Turn In. This will take them to another screen where they can type in their response or attach a file. Clicking Turn In Assignment will send the assignment to the teacher. Quizzes are created and submitted the same way as assignments. Polls are created when the teacher types a question and enters the answer choices. They are sent to the center news feeds of all members and the results of the poll are automatically updated on everyones feed as more people participate.

8. Grading Assignments and Quizzes:

Teachers can receive notifications as assignments are completed by the students. You can grade your students assignments by clicking on the Turned In button next to the assignment in your news feed. This opens up the screen above. Click on a students name in the left panel to see their assignment. You can enter a numerical grade in the top right of the screen. A submission reaction is entered in the middle of the screen, as well as any feedback or comments. While quizzes are automatically graded by Edmodo, you can check the grades by clicking the Turned In button next to the quiz in you center news feed. This will take you to the Quiz Overview page shown below. This shows you which students have completed the quiz, the available scores, and a pie chart of correct / incorrect answers chosen for each question. You can choose a students name on the left to view their specific answers. The only questions a teacher will need to grade are the ones that required a short answer. After grading, check Show results to quiz takers and click Add to Gradebook at the top. This will publish the grades for your students and their parents.

9. Managing your library: Your library is an unlimited space for you to store links to great websites or files of past assignments and resources. To access you library, click on the icon in the top left corner of your homepage. This will take you to the screen below.

Add items to your library

Create a new folder

Add items to your library by clicking Add to Library on the left. You will be prompted to upload a file or link. After uploaded several items, you can organize them into folders. Click New next to Folders on the left. Type in the folder name. In your library, select any items you wish to move to the new folder. A box will open on the right side. Select the folder you wish to move the items to and click Apply.

10. Accessing class progress and gradebook: To access your gradebook, click the Progress Icon in the top left of your homepage. Any assignments or quizzes you post and grade through Edmodo will automatically appear here. To add a grade from outside Edmodo, click New Grade in the top of the left panel. You will be prompted to enter the assignment title and the total number of points possible. You may then manually add that grade for each student in the column next to their name. Grades in Edmodo can be exported by clicking Export in the top right corner. They will automatically be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet.

11. Safely using Edmodo: 1. Be sure to lock your class code after all students have joined. You dont want any intrigued friends trying to interact with your class. If an unauthorized member joined, be sure to delete them. 2. You can moderate all posts and comments before they appear in your classs news feed. Do this by clicking on Group Settings in the right panel, then Advanced Settings. 3. If you dont want that much control, you can set up notifications to be alerted at any new activity. The alert can be by text or email. Turn on alerts by clicking Account in the top right corner of your screen and click Settings. All of the alerts are under Email & Text Updates. 4. You can delete or even edit a post or reply of someone in your class. Once your cursor is over the post or reply, a small blue arrow will appear in its top right corner. Clicking the arrow will open up these options. 5. Edmodo can be used with https for extra security. Just sign into your account normally, then change the http in your address bar to https. Click refresh and the rest of your session will be encrypted. 6. Schools and districts can set up subdomains under Edmodo if they would like all communication to be monitored by administration. Administrators can sign up for this on the Edmodo website.

12. Common ways of incorporating Edmodo in the classroom: 1. Use it for class discussion, questions or as a replacement for in-class journaling. Replies to post can be seen by all, but assignment submissions are private. 2. Create subgroups for after school clubs or small group projects. Its a great way for small groups to quickly communicate while still being under your supervision. 3. Upload videos (Khan Academy, TED talks, PBS, etc.) and include quizzes, discussion questions or polls. 4. Subscribe your class to a news or current events feed. Award badges to those students who respond to the articles. 5. Set up a parent page and use it to alert them of upcoming events and important assignments. 6. Learn about another culture by connecting your classroom to another class anywhere in the world. 7. Connect with other educators teaching your content and exchange ideas and advice. 8. Create small groups in your class to differentiate instruction. 9. Use Edmodo to communicate with students when one of you is absent. 10. Use the quizzes and polls as formative assessments while working.