Something that has been creating a buzz at my school right now is Edmodo. I discovered this program in August when a teacher at my school reached out to me about Wikispaces. (I heart Wikispaces.) But what she wanted, Wikispaces could not offer. She needed a closed, safe environment for her students to interact with her and turn in assignments privately. I searched through my mental archives as well as Google and found Edmodo. I ran it by the Instructional Technology person in our county and she confirmed that it is, in fact, a program that would most likely suit the needs of this particular teacher. So I created an account and started playing. Although I have not used it with a class, I have helped teachers use it with theirs. I teach 715 students (I am a Special Areas teacher) so it didn't suit my immediate needs. BUT, helping teachers in my school use it has allowed me to gain experience enough to give it my stamp of approval. It has a similar user interface to Facebook, which allows users to immediately operate from a context they probably already have in place. You can reply to posts and create posts similarly as well. What Edmodo offers that I appreciate is the privacy and protection. Students can only communicate with the teachers privately or the entire group. Visit help.edmodo.com and browse through to see if it is something you would find valuable. Like any online educational tool it extends the walls of the classroom. You are able to collaborate real-time without sitting in front of your students, and more importantly they with each other.
View these help videos to get an idea @ help.edmodo.com
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