However, numerous Howard County schools have encountered difficulties with Edmodo. Because Edmodo has been associated with Facebook, several schools have experienced bullying problems with students using their Edmodo account outside of school to communicate with classmates. How could this be prevented? In hopes of convincing my administration to allow me to use Edmodo with my class, I've considered creating several student accounts (student 1, student 2, etc) and assigning a new student account each time. But then would I be able to record grades or assign quizzes? My students would be able to exchange ideas, under their assigned id in the given time period, but is that taking away some of the social networking creativity that Edmodo is encouraging?
Possibly Edmodo would be a good lesson in Digital Citizenship. A tool for teaching responsible social networking, especially if communicating with students in a different area (like a telecollaborative project). As seen on Edmodo TeacherHub, the article Edmodo and School Safety, encourages teachers to be vigilant about educating students on appropriate Internet behavior including establishing privacy protocols, monitoring behaviors, and managing both teachers, students, and parents on Edmodo. Edmodo Back to School: 9 Tips for Online Safety provides a list of ways to incorporate Edmodo into online safety activities and lessons.
So even with its difficulties, don't the pros of Edmodo outweigh the cost cons?
I like Edmodo and would love to use it with students, but my time to monitor it is limited. Therefore, I choose to use it for brief activities and then disable it because I cannot afford the time to make sure all my students are using it appropriately and respond to posts as needed! :(
ReplyDeleteThat's a great thought to disable the accounts when not in use. That might help with the issues outside of the classroom.
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