Edmodo Features: New Enhancements to Quizzes | Edmodo – Safe Social Networking for Schools

Edmodo Features: New Enhancements to Quizzes | Edmodo – Safe Social Networking for Schools:

I'm a big fan of Edmodo, so much so that I've been asked to lead a Birds of a Feather roundtable discussion at the KySTE conference in March.  I'm excited to see these new features added to Edmodo quizzes:

Print option – Print a copy of the quiz you created by selecting the printer icon located below the “Assign Quiz” button. The print option is also available on your quiz overview page.
Track total points – After you weight each question, the total number of points for all questions will be tracked on the right column of the page.
Randomize questions – Check the “show questions in random order” option on the right column to randomize questions for each student taking the quiz.
Re-order questions – As you create your quiz, drag and drop the question numbers from the left column to reorder them.
Lock quiz – From the quiz overview page, check the “lock quiz” box from the settings drop down to prevent students from being able to take the quiz. This can be be used to prevent students from taking the quiz during specific hours or after a certain date.

These changes are great for teachers and will help them manage their Edmodo quizzes much better.  These enhancements demonstrate that Edmodo really does listen to teachers when they upgrade the product.  

'via Blog this'

SignUpGenius - Free Planning Tool

Over the past couple of months, the PTA at my daughter's school has been sending emails asking us to sign up to help with one event or another.  Today, I finally decided to investigate SignUpGenius, the program the PTA is using to recruit parent volunteers.

SignUpGenius is indeed free, making its money off of advertisements on your SignUp pages.  For a small fee of about $15 per sign up page per year, you can have SignUpGenius ad-free.  SignUpGenius even walks you through how to maximize your investment by turning on and off licenses for your pages.  Beyond saving paper, other perks for SignUpGenius include RSVPs, email reminders, password-protection, integration with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, and calendar integration with Outlook, iCal, and Google Calendar.  You can even print a paper copy of the signups to take to your event.

As I explored the program, I found it has many potential uses for education beyond just PTA signups.  A parent-teacher conference template is provided.  Having a staff Christmas party?  Create a food signup.  Have a class project you need parent help with?  Create a classroom signup.   Leading a professional development?  Create an attendance signup.

The tool isn't just for education either.  Templates exist for Business, Sports teams, Scouting, Churches, and the list goes on.  The possibilities are endless, but like all free tools, the question has to be asked.  For how long will it be free?

Check it out, and let the rest of us know how your're using SignUpGenius.