Edmodo... the 'Secure Social Learning Network'. 'The Facebook for the classroom’. I have spoken to
two teachers in the last 10 days who use it — they were both animated.
But what can it do for my students’ learning?
Sure, it has the very obvious benefit of mimicking a social
tool that has most students enthralled… OK
class — we are going to ‘Facebook’
our English lessons… All hands on deck.
And, true, Edmodo does allow me to establish effective communication
channels. Teacher–student, student–student and teacher–parent. It also enables
an online point of exchange. I can provide students with resources, information
and feedback; students can submit assessment tasks and other materials.
But this is just effective housekeeping. What about quality
learning? And learning that is tangible, that I can measure and evaluate and
provide feedback on?
I can ask the class to participate in online discussions. But I can see this falling into two categories: 1) the
teacher leads discussion on a topic and the students obligingly bumble
along, wishing they were in the real Facebook, where they have greater agency;
or 2) the students respond but utilise the same quick-fire, three-word language
forms they use in Facebook.
How can I utilise the social, collaborative, ‘community of
learners’ quality of Edmodo while at the same time directly developing my
students’ language and meta-cognitive skills?
Here is my idea* (and I think this could work for any
student cohort; some would need a greater level of scaffolding than others,
naturally): student-led and moderated class discussions.
*(Actually, this idea came to me from a University of NSW
academic. See his excellent co-authored paper on student moderation for a more scholarly coverage.)
The logistics:
Throughout the year, students are assigned a week in which
they will moderate the class discussion on Edmodo. The moderator is expected to
post a discussion paper a few days before their week begins. This could be a
mere few hundred words or, for older or higher ability student cohorts, a
several page exploration. The discussion paper would require some degree of
research.
The moderator would post up the paper with a set of discussion
points and/or questions. The class would then read the paper and respond to the
points or questions. The moderator’s role is to develop the discussion.
The teacher’s role is simply to inject extra information or
direction if necessary. If the exercise is well scaffolded, the teacher’s role
would be largely invisible.
At the end of the week, the student moderator rewrites the
initial paper, this time incorporating the new ideas generated from the class
discussion. They would also write a briefer secondary report that reflected on
the moderation process.
Students would be assessed for the quality of their initial
paper, their ability to lead and develop the discussion, their ability to
incorporate the fresh ideas from the discussion into their paper and the extent
to which their reflective piece demonstrates a meta-cognitive understanding as
opposed to a simple retelling.
Students would also be assessed on the quality of their non-moderator
contributions to the class discussions across the year. They would be expected
to contribute something each week.
The challenge for the teacher is high quality scaffolding.
In particular, guiding students in developing that crucial initial discussion
paper and in being able to foster engagement during the discussion.
The benefits for the teacher are potentially great: it is
possible that within a few months students’ ability and willingness to engage
in the class discussions will be self-regulating.
The benefits for students: ownership, empowerment;
student-centred and directed learning; deeper, meta-cognitive learning and
skill development; more relevant and engaged discussion and thus learning.
This would be a highly inclusive learning environment. There
are students who never participate in face to face classroom discussions,
because they are shy, or they prefer to reflect before they comment, or they
are not proficient in English, or they have poor hearing. These students would find
they have a voice.
And the quality of the learning? The asynchronous nature of
the discussion provides students with the opportunity to reflect on their
thoughts before posting, resulting in a much more complex and valuable response
than would occur in a face to face classroom.
A word of warning. This is not a way to reduce your
workload. All those posts would still have to be read each week!
Cheers, M
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