EdmodoCon 2015

Every August Edmodo hosts EdmodoCon, a free conference on best practices for Edmodo.  By attending EdmodoCon, one can learn:

• new or better ways to use Edmodo
• new features in Edmodo
• collaboration with other Edmodo users

EdmodoCon takes place on August 4.  This year I'm excited to hear Rachelle Wooten, a fellow Edmodo Certified Trainer and Microsoft Innovative Educator.   Register at https://edmodocon.com/ and follow on Twitter at #edmodocon.

KySTE 2014 Spring Conference

From March 5-7, 2014 the KySTE Spring Conference will take place at the Galt House in Louisville, KY.  For my money, the KySTE Spring Conference is the must-go conference of the year (at least in KY).  This year I'll be leading 3 presentations at the conference, so if you're attending the conference, please come see me!

It all begins Wednesday afternoon at the Pre-Conference TRT/TIS thread where I'll be talking to Technology Resource Teachers and Technology Integration Specialists about Edmodo and their role as a TRT/TIS.  This will be my first statewide opportunity to share what I learned in the Edmodo Certified Trainer training.

Bright and early Thursday morning (8 am), I begin the day leading an Edmodo Birds of a Feather session.  After an opportunity to attend a session, I'll be right back at it leading a session on Simple K12's Teacher Learning Community (TLC).  The TLC offers a chance for teachers to receive PD in their PJs.  In fact, that's their slogan!  Since the addition of their free option, I don't mind advocating the site now.

If you're attending KySTE and any of these sessions interest you, please come by and learn more!

Edmodo Certified Trainer

This past fall I was selected to be part of the 1st cohort of Edmodo Certified Trainers (ECT). It is truly an honor to be selected for this group as only 50 educators were chosen to become ECTs. Edmodo is a secure social networking platform that has spread like wildfire in the education community. The founders and developers have done an amazing job of adapting to the needs of teachers while keeping the integrity and security of the platform intact.

Throughout the ECT training process, I connected with fellow ECTs from all over the globe. I look forward to working with my new ECT colleagues in the years to come.

If you'd like to become part of the Edmodo family, simply follow the Getting Started directions below.

Getting Started with Edmodo:

• Create your account (click on Edmodo above. If you're in Kenton County, KY, click here.)
• Complete your profile
• Add a Picture or Avatar
• Your Groups
• Create a group
• Share the Group's URL
• Add Folders
• Share resources
• Start Posting
• Lead collaborative discussions 
• Give Assignments, Quizzes, & Polls
• Install Apps
• Engage students, Inspire Creativity, & Assess Learning
• Follow and Participate in Communities
• Connect with educators from around the world
• Connect with me
• Discover great resources

If you need any help or need a person to bounce ideas off of I am hear to help, I'm only a message away.

2014 KySTE Spring Conference

This year at the KySTE Spring Conference (March 5-7 at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, KY) I will be presenting on 2 different topics.  During the TRT/TIS strand on Wednesday I will be presenting on Edmodo, the social networking platform for schools.   Teachers, students, and parents like Edmodo for what it brings to the classroom, and this session will focus on how district and school leaders can leverage the free tools to manage Edmodo at the school and district level.

On Thursday I will be presenting on Simple K12's Teacher Learning Community.  From previous posts you know that I'm a huge fan of the Teacher Learning Community, so much so that I'm featured in their testimonial video.  When SimpleK12 came out with a free version for teachers, I became an even bigger fan.  This session will cover how teachers can get "PD in their PJs."

I'm looking forward to both of these sessions, and hopefully you'll be able to make it to the KySTE Conference.  It's always a great 2-3 days of learning, collaboration, and networking.

21st Century Education for ALL Students: The Time is Now.

On Tuesday Scott McLeod tweeted this link to a post on his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant.  The post, "If We Were Really Serious About Educational Technology", provides a starter list of things educators can to truly integrate technology and reach our 21st Century students.  Then yesterday, one of my Google+ followers, Stephanie Sweeney, wrote this blog post about professional vs. personal social media.

For background, Scott McLeod's post was from 2010.  Stephanie's was written yesterday.  What I find intriguing about the 2 articles, written nearly 3 years apart, is that we're still dealing with the same issues of teachers not being able to meet the needs of 21st Century students.  Even more disturbing are teachers' continual resistance to using the tools students are using everyday.

If we're going to seriously meet the needs of our students, and truly engage them, teachers need to change their mindsets and enter their students' technological world.  The true power of these 21st Century tools is that they're just not for students.  Tools like Edmodo, Twitter, and Instagram are just as powerful for a teacher's Professional Learning Network as they are for a student's learning.  I was one of those people 3 years ago who resisted Twitter.  My supervisor convinced me to try it, and I haven't looked back.  Twitter has become my most powerful ally, alerting me to other new tools, providing me new professional connections, and an outlet to get my own message own out.

It's time we get serious about about educational technology.  Our students deserve it.

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'

How to Share a Field Trip With Edmodo | Edmodo – Safe Social Networking for Schools

How to Share a Field Trip With Edmodo | Edmodo – Safe Social Networking for Schools:

This is a very creative use of Edmodo, one that I would encourage all teachers to utilize.  Imagine being able to virtually attend another school's field trip.  In this day and age of budget cutbacks, this can only help schools and students who are unable to go on field trips.

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2012 Elections: 3 Ways to Engage Students through Edmodo | Edmodo –Safe Social Networking for Schools

2012 Elections: 3 Ways to Engage Students through Edmodo | Edmodo – Safe Social Networking for Schools:

To piggyback on my previous post about Election resources, from the folks at Edmodo come these 3 ways you can engage students about the elections.  Edmodo is a great way to elicit responses from students who normally wouldn't respond in class.

'via Blog this'