Edmodo – a Twitter for education

via Phil Bradley's weblog by philipbradley on 19 September


One of the things that I often hear is that people really can't figure out a use for Twitter, and it leaves them completely cold. I can understand this, because until you really get into Twitter it IS a very odd thing, with apparently little value. However, if you choose your friends wisely it's an excellent way of keeping up to date with what's happening in the world, as well as strengthening bonds, promoting weblogs and so on.


However, the varied uses of Twitter isn't what concerns me in this post – it's a resource called Edmodo, which has been described as Twitter for education. You can use it if you're a teacher or a student – the registration asks you which you are, though it doesn't check at all. Once you're logged in you can use it very much like any other microblogging system. However, it does more than you might expect – it provides teachers and students the ability to share notes, links, and files to foster communication inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers also have the ability to post alerts, assignments, and events to share with their students. You can also embed video presentations for example quickly and easily. I've included a basic screenshot below which isn't very exciting because I don't have any students, but it should give you an idea of what it looks like.
To be honest, if I was a teacher in a school I'd be leaping headfirst into this because it does look really useful.

And if I was a guidance practitioner or school careers adviser I would be looking to see whether I could use this to maintain contact with my clients.

Grateful thanks to Phil for highlighting this.

PS. And I'm still running 13 days behind my drafts! I can see what Sunday will be spent doing, can't I?

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