I've written about the mistakes I made in getting students on Edmodo and how I went about setting it up with my classes. This post is about how students initially used Edmodo to move forward their learning.
I found out quickly that my freshmen are NOT used to relying upon each other for information. They have been reluctant to ask each other for help or support and instead rely on me as the font of all knowledge. In a class of 35 (it's DOWN TO 35), I don't have much time to spend with each student nor do I have time to answer the same question 15 times.
In part because of its novelty, students are posting information and asking questions through Edmodo and are finding, at least to some extent, that their peers are able to answer their questions.
I've also had students out sick use Edmodo to find out what they missed in class. Sometimes the responses from classmates are a bit humorous. Remember to read from the bottom up. The most recent comments are at the top.
I've found that even when we aren't doing something that requires a back channel, many of the students still want to log on in case they have questions. I really like the idea that they are turning to each other to get answers.Next time we'll look at how I am using Edmodo to guide my students to new knowledge.
