Good, free educational technology is a great thing. Create a private Facebook-like community for your specific class. It’s free to sign up and easy to use especially if you have used Facebook before.
Edmodo allows you to:
- Post Assignments
- Keep a class calendar
- Continue class discussions on the “wall”
- Contact parents & allow them to view the assignments
- Post reminders & alerts
- Create polls
- Give out reward badges
- Grade assignments
- Students can view the class Edmodo on their smart phones (Yes, there’s an APP)
- Students who are absent can keep up with missed work
Feel like you might need help setting it up? Sign up for an Edmodo webinar
Drawbacks
The only drawback I can see with a program like Edmodo is your school’s policy on using their online platform. I would be less likely to use Edmodo if I was required to post stuff to a place like Edline already. Posting things twice is double the work and we’ll we all don’t have that much time. Keeping kids engaged in yet one more program that is vying for their attentions also means you must be committed to using it or students will not check it.