Evaluation of Communication Tool:  Edmodo

CRITERION	SCORE (1-3)	NOTES
Learning Effectiveness	3	- Does not assess; teacher can post assessments - Provides real world experiences - When combined with teaching, the application extends the student’s learning
Reliability & Support	3	- Most students will be able to access the program with no or little support - Efficiency in speed and design - Easily fixes human error
Ease of Use	3	- Students at all levels are able to learn the tool somewhat easily - Student can use several applications within one tool (video, communication, presentation, audio)
Safety	3	- Ad free - Academic links - Individual login - Secure environment - Class roster or connections to share work & interact with other users
Technology Requirements	3	- Unlimited & free for student & staff - Simultaneous collaboration on projects, documents - Web-based - Use on multiple platforms:  laptops iPads, iPods, Kindles
Curriculum	1	- Almost any content areas can use

I haven’t yet used Edmodo, but it is an education social network tool I am interested in trying.  From what I’ve read, although Edmodo is similar to Facebook in appearance, it vastly differs in safety.  According to Let’s Get Social:  The Educator’s Guide to Edmodo, “It provides students a safe, protected educational experience, a place to safely practice the digital-age social networking and learning skills they will need in their increasingly connected personal, academic, and later professional lives.”  

Teachers create groups for students to participate in or become members of.  The groups are managed by the teacher so if any inappropriate materials are posted by a student, the teacher has the ability to remove it.  Students respond to questions and participate in discussions.  Polls can also be posted for data retrieval.  When the teacher posts an assignment, students engage in the tasks electronically.  Edmodo has the ability to turn the regular classroom into a global virtual classroom.