Social—Edmodo
I have heard of this website before, but I’ve never used it, nor have I known how well it works. From my research, it seems that it’s similar to Schoology, in that teachers can communicate with parents and students and vice/versa. Students are also able to do work and submit it through Edmodo. I think this is incredibly useful for everyone involved in a student’s learning to be as informed as possible about what is happening inside and outside the classroom.
One of the reviews I read was that the educator really appreciated how often Edmodo updated their service so that it made it very user-friendly for the educator. (Link)
When looking at how teachers are using Edmodo the best, I found many examples of how people are using the basics withing the site--posting announcements and assignments to students and parents, but I also found a few clever ideas. One idea was creating a "Current Event" group within the classroom online and students would post interesting news articles and their reflections once a week. I do a current event with my students weekly, but I have them fill out a worksheet that asks about an article they read. It would be much easier if they could do it online.
I also found a way that Edmodo classes could speak with other classes around the world and create an inter-cultural study. Some students chose to do a book study with a class in another country, and I think this is a great idea! It teaches empathy, communication skills, and shows students different viewpoints from different cultures. (Link)
Creative--WeVideo
I had never heard of WeVideo before this class. Apparently, it's a video creation/editing website that anyone can use. What makes me a little cautious of this is that is can be used by anyone, and it isn't targeted for school use and/or children. However, engaging students with creating video is a great tool to use in the classroom, and I can understand why some teachers might want to incorporate WeVideo.
One review that I found said that he appreciated that it was a one-stop shop cloud experience. Once you were done editing your footage, it would automatically upload to YouTube and it was quite fast because you were doing everything on the cloud.
Another pro of this site was that it is collaborative, so students can work together on projects.
One major downfall of the entire thing, that I read, was that it can get pretty pricey to use once you reach a certain point in the whole process. Some teachers were also pretty wary of the privacy issue with students being able to post videos of themselves to the open Web.
Curation--Symbaloo
I have seen teachers use this before, specifically my technology resource teacher, and I think it's a great tool for everyone to use. Teachers would be able to compile resources on their homepage to use for each subject, class, or unit.
Teachers can share their Symbaloo with students and parents, and every time the teachers add a new resource to their Symbaloo, those who have subscribed to it are notified that something has changed. Teachers can create their sections of Symbaloo based on the unit of study or subject they are studying in class.
While it seems like a really good resource to keep a teacher organized with his/her resources, I think that having sites available on a Google Classroom or Schoology would be easier and more streamlined for students. I don't necessarily send students to specific websites unless we are working on a unit that I need them to find something, and this would easily be done through linking resources on their Google Classroom along with the assignment for that day or unit.
Some classrooms, or even libraries, however, have used Symbaloo in interesting ways, and you can find that here.
It's always interesting to find new resources that teachers and/or students can use, and I look forward to finding many more in the future!
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