Edmodo gets nod in 2009 Horizon Report K-12 Edition
I just wanted to share with the Edmodo Community that we got mentioned in the 2009 Horizon Report K-12 Edition that was released earlier this month. We also received a mention in the eSchool news article “Six technologies soon to affect education” based on our mention in the Horizon report. Unfortunately to see our blurb on page 2 you have to register for free 
I’ve quoted the paragraph where we are mentioned for people that do not want to register with eSchoolnews.com.
Tools mentioned in the report include Twitter, Skype, and Edmodo, a private micro-blogging platform that gives teachers and students a sheltered place to manage classroom assignments and activities as well as engage in protected conversations.
2009 Horizon Report K-12 Edition.
Each edition of the Horizon Report is released with a Creative Commons License and may be freely replicated and distributed for noncommercial purposes provided that each is distributed only in its entirety.
Introducing Edmodo 2.0
For the last few months we have been hard at work on version 2.0 of Edmodo and we would now like to share it with you.
Notable new features visible to users
- Redesigned Home Page
- Tagging of all posts
- Locker has been removed in favor of tagging, all previous posts will be moved to a locker tag soon.
- Wider Time-line to support a wider range of embeddable content
- Grades tab
- View a list of all grades received for a given group
- New Default Avatar set
- Notificiations
- via twitter (user must follow @edmodonotify)
- via text message, users select cell phone provider and enter phone number
- Viewing of the following file formats within Edmodo using Scribd’s iPaper technology
- Microsoft Word Files doc, docx
- Microsoft Powerpoint Files ppt, pptx, pps
- Microsoft Excel Files xls, xlsx
- PDF: PDF pdf, ps
- Open Office: Open Office Documents odt, odp, sxw, sxi, etc.
- Plain Text: Text Documents txt, rtf
- Ability to add RSS feeds to a group
- Inline viewing of youtube, google video, flickr, slideshare, wikipedia, if posted as a link
- Ability for a teacher to return a file when assigning a grade to an assignment
Facebook is starting to look a lot like Edmodo
It’s a little interesting how the upcoming new Facebook homepage looks a lot like Edmodo. Makes us think we are moving in the right direction with Edmodo.
Creative Commons in Education & the Classroom
I often get asked about what type of content is legal to use on School & Teacher’s websites. I explain that it is not ok to use copyrighted material that other people own on their websites. I try to explain to them what Creative Commons (CC) is and why they should think about using CC content and why they should think about licensing their content they post on the web with a Creative Commons license. At Edmodo we are big fans of creative commons licenses and license all our content under a Creative Commons License.
Enter Creative Commons:
“Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.” Wikipedia
Hopefully the following video and document will help explain to you what Creative Commons is why you should use and license the works you create on the web with a Creative Commons License.
creativecommons-sharing-creative-works_eng
Using & creating Creative Commons Licensed material in the classroom will allow you and your students to use, remix, share, and ultimately learn from using and publishing other Creative Commons content.
Resources:
http://creativecommons.org/
Search for Creative Commons Licensed Work
License Your work under Creative Commons
Wikipedia Article
You can now search within Edmodo
One of the critical features missing from Edmodo was the ability to search your posts. We can finally say that this has been corrected as the search feature was rolled out quietly last week. Search works based on which group’s posts you are viewing at the time of the search. If you’re viewing the “everything” timeline, then the search will occur across all of your groups and direct messages. The search is pretty simple, it will either match an exact phrase, exact word, or even part of a word within your posts. When your done searching, click the “Clear Search” link.
The search box after a search has been done. Note the “clear search” link.
Feel free to leave any questions you have about this feature in the comments.
You can now edit posts on Edmodo!!!
We just pushed out our #1 requested feature: you can now edit posts! This shouldn’t need much more explanation than you click the edit link on posts you have created, edit your post, and save. Please let us know if you have any problems.
Classroom 2.0 Live Workshop Lightning Demo
Last friday a teacher using Edmodo, Phil Cook, gave a demo at the Classroom 2.0 Live Workshop in Chicago, IL. I decided to go and video the demo, take some pictures, and answering any questions anybody might have about edmodo.
Assignment Turn-In & Grading System Launched
When we launched Edmodo just a little over a month ago our assignment system was pretty much just a notification for assignments. We are proud to announce a complete Assignment Turn-In and Grading system has been added to Edmodo.
After a teacher has posted an assignment in Edmodo a student will see a link to turn-in the assignment in the assignment post.
When the student has completed their assignment according to the teachers instructions, they are ready to “turn-in” their assignment by clicking on the Turn-In link.
Once the Student turns in their assignment the post will then be marked as “waiting” for their teacher to grade the assignment.
Once students turn in assignments, the teacher will be notified.
Now the assignment is ready to grade. We currently only have 1 student in this demo class, but all your students would show up in the following screenshot for your classes.
Time to review & grade!!!
Once you’ve graded the assignment your students will be notified of their grade in Edmodo.
Please let us know what you think of the Assignment Turn-In & Grading System. We are striving to make Edmodo as best we can and make it a first class learning platform.
Edmodo in the news
We have been getting some great press over the last 3 weeks since we launched Edmodo. I wanted to share some of the best articles with you.
- http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=432 – What students think of Edmodo
- http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=432 – What students think of Edmodo
- http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=403
- http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/edmodo-twitter-for-educators/
- http://www.openeducation.net/2008/09/20/edmodo-free-microblogging-site-for-educators/
- http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/digital_passports/2008/09/05/edmodo-twitter-designed-for-the-classroom/
- http://www.blogher.com/edmodo-microblogging-classroom
We have been really humbled by the support that people have given to Edmodo and thank everyone that has taken the time to sign up and write about Edmodo. We also want to thank every teacher using Edmodo in their classroom. Edmodo is an attempt to give teachers & students a better communication tool that makes their lives easier, so keep the feedback coming!
We now have a documentation wiki
One of the things we have been lacking is documentation about Edmodo and how to use it. So we have just setup a wiki at http://wiki.edmodo.com. We currently have 4 guides posted and we will be posting more.
If you have any tips or how-to’s and would like them added to the wiki, let us know by either commenting to this post or by contacting us.
-Jeff
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About
Edmodo is a private micro-blogging platform built for use by teachers and students.
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