Almost two weeks ago I presented at the NASPA conference on Infusing Technology into Student Affairs. While the presentation focused on developing strategic partnerships to utilize your Learning Management System (LMS), we also discussed tapping into free technology solutions such as big huge labs, creating word art, and googledocs to create learner centered classrooms. I love big huge labs in particular as they allow you to make successories style posters, among other cool things. It is a great tool to engage your students around copyright, creative commons and other ethical/legal issues.
In any case, I was reading Wesley Fryer’s Speed of Creativity blog the other day and he featured edmodo.com, a social network for the classroom. You can check out his great instructive blog post here: http://tinyurl.com/ykfbr4f
This fit in well with what we discussed during the NASPA presentation. Edmodo.com can make your First Year Seminar class paperless and develop some online community, almost like a cross between Ning.com and a Learning Management System. Because I use Blackboard, my institution’s Learning Management System, I haven’t tried out Edmodo.com yet, but I am intrigued by the possibility and may be using it for some upcoming Orientation staff training.
At my institution, we decided to move the First Year Seminar to our Learning Management System for a variety of reasons. The largest reason was philosophical. Many of our major classes use Blackboard in the first semester to post lecture notes, syllabi and tests or quizzes. Therefore, it made sense that the First Year Seminar acclimate students to using our LMS. We built one of the first seminars around accessing and gaining familiarity with the most commonly used tools Blackboard. The rest of the seminar then used Blackboard as a supplement to the face to face classes, allowing students to gain a tremendous comfort level with the platform before they took their first test or quiz.
The other main benefit is that the LMS, like edmodo.com, is web-based. This allows both instructors and students to access the course from anywhere. For students, we posted a helpful resources folder that contained a guide to Boston as well as links to time management tools and other helpful items. Students could access this folder from anywhere they had an internet connection. Instructors could prep their classes at home without lugging binders around. Using an LMS facilitated an easier connection to the course as well as allowed us to go “paperless” and live up to the commitment to be more environmentally responsible.
The best part about moving to an LMS was that it was free. We ended up with a more environmentally friendly class that gave students the opportunity to practice a vital skill needed for success at our institution. To boot, we ended up with easier facilitation of the class for instructors and a more mobile version for the students. It was a win-win for us.
Chances are very good that you already have an LMS on your campus. Find the instructional designers or academic technology people in the phone directory and call them up (or email them). Find out what they have and whether or not you can tap into it. Start collaborating across the digital divide. If you run into roadblocks, trying checking out edmodo.com as an option.
