Edmodo – Make your classroom a community Make your classroom a community, written by Demetri Lales, showcases the pros and cons of what Edmodo has. It discusses how Edmodo combines a secure social network platform with the functionality of a learning management system or LMS.
Some of the pros include the teacher being able to fully customize their own learning spaces, give students personalized badges for student accomplishments, directly connect with other teachers around the world, share online resources and hold online discussion about the specific subject they teach.
Some of the cons were the inability for adapt assignments beyond the simple quizzes and assignments. Teachers are not able to customize their content nor add visual engaging elements. If teachers were given more options on creating assignments it would allow for them to create the best possible lesson for their students. In the end, however, Edmodo has some of the basic features that are very similar to the social media outlets students use today so navigation will be easy to do. Edmodo also provides more functions then the regular LMS but in a social network package.
After reading the many different articles, some of which were research based, I think it’s safe to say that Edmodo is a great LMS for educators to use. It allows connections to be made with both colleagues and students and takes the learning environment beyond the four walls of a classroom. Being able to create assignments online, provide immediate feedback to students about those assignments or host discussions in a blog format are all great ways to develop a learning environment that provides students opportunities to work collaboratively and effectively.
(n.d.). Edmodo – Demetri Lales – Blog at EdLab, TC – Columbia University. Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/blog/14424-Edmodo
Mr. Kotansky's Blog 
Robert,
You mentioned the personalized badging component of Edmodo as a pro. No doubt students relate to the “gaming” and “leveling-up” aspects that earning badges brings to education. From recognizing achievements and accomplishments to demonstrating growth, to showing off skill sets, badging acknowledges students’ efforts both inside and outside of the classroom. Nonetheless, one of the greatest oppositions to incorporating badges is the lack of standardization. How do we even begin to compare Student A and Student B if the parameters for earning badge can be determined by anyone and everyone? Additionally, how do we evaluate the worth of badges if they are handed out for anything and everything? Personally, I believe there is value when it comes to incorporating badges into the classroom. Once the “system” is refined, we will have a better idea of how badging translates from the classroom to the corner office and everywhere in between. Check out the following articles that promote this same standpoint.
• With badges, colleges take a hard look at soft-skills. (https://www.educationdive.com/news/with-badges-colleges-take-a-hard-look-at-teaching-soft-skills/559657/)
• Why do we need badges? (•%09https:/www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/02/16/education-micro-credentials-101-why-do-we-need-badges/#4b077e612419)
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I used Edmodo as a teacher, and my students and I loved it! Truly, the classroom possibilities are endless. Teachers can work together on cross curricular activities via google docs, create activity related content badges (I LOVE this newer feature), share Quizlet activities, Nearpod links, Duolingo, translation sites, Flipgrid, Loom, create twitter chats, and more! It can also be used to work with special education teachers in order to differentiate instructions, AND everything can be saved in the Edmodo Library for future use. It truly is a wonderful tool. All I did was start small and build from there!
And I am a MAJOR fan of badging! I was going to share my blog post with you regarding badging with Edmodo, but I saw you already commented on the Blog:) Edmodo has my vote!
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