Edmodo says it’s going to be Twitter for teachers and students, with features like calendaring events that are tailored to the classroom. Personally, I think Twitter itself works just fine as the Twitter for teachers and students, but give edmodo a shot if you’re interested. They’re taking signups for the private beta now.
Well, it “works just fine” when it, you know, works…
Yeah. My class of 25-30 kids tried to log on pretty simultainiously in the computer lab, and we actually took the server down. It’s called hosting, EdModo. That way your site can actually support use by a class or two at once.
yes. that’s very true.
And I think we sure as shootin’ don’t need “Twitter for teachers and students”. Aren’t students’ attention spans short enough? With CA class sizes set to increase by 50% next year due to budget cuts, is this really where we ought to be focusing our educational energy?
The concept of Twitter still sucks and it’s not going to make it more appealing by reaching the educational audience.
Twitter is blocked by many school district admins.
@LOLATTACK – just because it is not something you find useful doesn’t mean the concept sucks. Twitter support has been the most requested feature since we launched digsby. This may simply indicate an early adopter crowd but it also indicates that people find utility in the service and want better access to it.
Steve
http://www.digsby.com
#5 – good point.
I wonder why this won’t be solved by the new Google pages. Google is blocked by no one since it is likely the starting point for just about every research project at the Elementary and Secondary school levels. Online collaboration tools are there; it’s just a question of Google getting in front of the students.
I’d gotten some notes from a university WIKI system that sought to create a home for each institution, but it wasn’t very user friendly or well designed.
Edmodo could be an attractive acquisition target for someone like Kaplan or McGraw-Hill. Online test prep and tutoring services could be improved with this, but you probably want someone providing content tools to aid the educational value.
This might work if the teachers actually gave a damn.
Most teachers, such as myself, DO give a damn; that’s why I am in my classroom, a week after school dismissed for summer break, on my computer, trying to learn more about how to use Twitter effectively in my classroom. Why does it seem every writer of articles I read by the technology set has to insult teachers? Those outside our profession have no idea how demanding and stressful our jobs are; most of us want to be on the cutting edge of technology, but are extremely pressed for time. Learning and implementing new uses of technology in our classrooms is one more thing to try to squeeze in to an already unreasonable schedule. I have found that students are more motivated to follow our suggestions when we are enthusiastic about what we are presenting and encourage the children, rather than by sarcasm and belittling. Adults usually respond in a similar fashion.
Lol what? No one will acquire edmodo. This isn’t an educational product and schools tend not to use things in-school integrated services that are free if they don’t have educational value.
For a large publishing company, it would be far cheaper to establish an online collaboration presence by acquiring a pre-revenue company like Edmodo.
I don’t accept the premise that there is no educational value. Like all software, it will be as valuable as the users determined.
If Kaplan or Princeton Review were to attach it to any online test prep, and it can maintain its free features as well, they’ll be creating a forum of interested parties to which they can advertiser their wares, and improve the quality and results of their services.
Mike, thank you for the nod on techcrunch.
Trace, you are correct that the value is determined by the users. We hope our future users will find value in edmodo.
-Jeff O’Hara
http://edmodo.com
i’ve personally been waiting for the day when the school district will start to use twitter (or clone) to instafy disseminating alert information to parents (such as school closures, early release reminders, holliday reminders, etc…) as a very busy fater of 3 kids, believe me… this space need attention and needs to think of all aspects of educational institutions’ communication needs.
Matt,
You have nailed exactly what we are trying to do for the parent alerts on edmodo.
-Jeff
http://edmodo.com
Our district has just started doing this this year. Not many parents are following, but we’re hoping it will catch on next year. Same is true for our activities director. And I’ve had great success using Twitter with my students! Sounds like lots of skeptics out there, but my students love it, I’m getting great feedback, and it’s opened up another door for communication. I love it.
This looks like a great idea! As hooked as kids are on myspace, IM, and general computer stuff, getting a tool like this might help to keep the student’s attention.
The Blackboard tool has had success in the universities but is not well suited for the lower grades. I think a tool like this might help get, otherwise dis-interested, kids organized and open new channels of communication with their teachers and classmates that does not currently exist.
Good Work Edmodo!
I’m going to be keeping an eye on this endeavor. I look forward to the possible contributions it can make to education.
Good idea. Best of luck. One of the first long-term practical possibilities for the tweeting.
Twitter needs to get a CTO employed that knows how to keep their services up first. All these extra’s are diluting their purpose whilst their underlying platform fails to support demand and current usage. Who wants to use a service that is flawed and has debate around its possible uptime.
Should go the wordpress route – opensource it , let schools DL & install locally if they wish on their intranets.
Looks interesting and I wish these guys luck. Always interesting to see other people who are trying to shake up the education industry in a meaningful way. I can’t think of another industry that has seen less true innovation in the last 50 years.
Silly app, silly niche.
Pageflakes for teachers and students – http://teacher.pageflakes.com
Droping by to say Hi, Twitter needs to get demonstrator for each program or what?
Twitter works great for me, but I’m always up for new things.
I prefer the real twitter for my classes. I can ask a whole mob of highly qualified tech people questions about real life applications of technology. That’s much more valuable than the few not so technical students in my classes.
I sure am tired of seeing this conversation unfold:
1. TechCrunch publishes a story about something uses a technique or idea that’s been seen already.
2. TechCrunch describes it as the “[Insert existing site name] for [insert new audience]“, as a way to avoid doing real research into what the product actually does.
3. Commenters jump into the fold saying either:
- “[Insert existing site name] is fine as it is!”
- “A [Insert existing site name] for [insert new audience] is stupid, since I’m not part of that audience!”
This is so damn tiresome.
There a technology ideas (such as short burst micro-blogging) that can be implemented in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes for a variety of audiences and that’s a good thing. Blogging is an idea. Forums are an idea. Photo sharing is an idea. Thank god we didn’t say “OK, a blog exists, now no more!”
So they trying to go up against Blackboard?
Mystery CEO
In a recent survey of one of my year 7 class, all but 2 had a mobile phone. It is hard to keep up with all the new stuff coming out but I love the fact that there are start-ups out there targetting the educational market. It makes a change from otherwise useful services rendered unuseable by advertising that is inappropriate.
I was actually given a chance to view edmodo alpha last night, you can read my thoughts here: http://googtwee...n-alpha-invite/
My system seriously frowns on programs that frequently “ping” – thus tying up network resources and slowing down the pipelines. Would this be a problem with Twitter?
Thanks for this very good article. Can I translate this with all comments and insert on my site? Thanks
Here’s a great example of Edmodo in use in an actual class (in Minnesota):
http://www.yout...h?v=4OxIz_3o3O0
It seems that many of you have missed the boat. Edmodo does much more than Twitter. Yes it does provide micro-blogging, much to the dismay of some teachers (deal with it!), but in reality it is a light-weight virtual learning environment. Take a minute to try it out, it is extremely powerful. See a more thorough review here: http://edbuzz.o...ation-edmodo-20 Also, remember that it was in beta earlier and anytime you rely on a product in beta for your classroom, you’re taking a risk. Great job Edmodo!