Families and Technologies: Use of Edmodo

Families and Technologies: Use of Edmodo

Introduction

This essay aims at discussing the impacts of Edmodo technology as an innovation that can transform the learning process of students by offering a summary of the selected topic. It will also give an annotated bibliography of the peer-reviewed academic sources that will be used to address this concern and, lastly, provide a detailed research-based and bio-ecologically-based discussion about the chosen resource.

Summary of Selected Topic

Topic- the selected issue for the study is the use of Edmodo as a potential and reliable tool to enhance the learning process. In the modern educational setting, students, teachers, and educational administrators have realized the importance of integrating technology in education as a way of advancing the teaching and the learning process both inside and outside the classroom (Thongmak, 2013). Virtual learning environments, mainly social networking sites, have found to be excellent supplementary tools that are empowering and motivating innovative teaching and independent learning process (Thongmak, 2013). Edmodo is one of the most reliable social learning sites that are capable of promoting the learning process and enabling the students to overcome their learning challenges as well as to attain higher grades.

Target Audience- Parents, Students, and Teachers

Resource- Free Educational Website

Theoretical Lens- the effects of Edmodo in promoting the learning process have made most students and teachers affirm that this free educational website is the most effective supplementary tool for learning and has widely been accepted by most schools in the country and across the globe (Alshawi & Alhomoud, 2016). Edmodo has been found to have a positive impact on the microsystem of the students through creating excellent teacher-student, parent-student, and student-student relationships, which are relations that are vital for academic success to be attained within an educational setting (Alshawi & Alhomoud, 2016). Recent studies indicate that Edmodo is one of the most effective strategies that can be used in fostering better relationships between students and teachers through facilitating effective communication (Alshawi & Alhomoud, 2016). It also promotes personalized learning that is essential in meeting the individual educational needs of the students.

Annotated Bibliography

Below is a bibliography of at least five peer-reviewed and empirical articles that critically address the impacts of using Edmodo in the learning process as the selected topic.

Balasubramanian, K., Jaykumar, V., & Fukey, L. N. (2014). A study on “Student preference towards the use of Edmodo as a vplatform to create a responsive learning environment.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 144(1), 416-422.

The authors investigate the students’ preference towards Edmodo as a communication and information technology that promotes learning and student engagement. These authors conducted this study in a private university that is located in Malaysia, where they use 285-degree students as participants (Balasubramanian, Jaykumar & Fukey, 2014). One of the findings that were obtained from this study was that whenever Edmodo features are used in the learning process, both engaged learning and a high level of student engagement are attained.

Alshawi, S. T., & Alhomoud, F. A. (2016). The impact of using Edmodo on Saudi University EFL students’ motivation and teacher-student communication. International Journal of Education, 8(4), 105-121.

These authors focus on exploring the impact that the application of Edmodo in the educational context has on the ability of the students to learn and actively engage in learning English as the First Language. They also critically discuss how the use of Edmodo tends to motivate them to learn the EFL language. (Alshawi & Alhomoud, 2016). The authors found out that there existed statistically significant motivation amongst the students to learn the language using the Edmodo technology and that the level of interaction between students and teachers while using this innovation was substantially high.

Gushiken, B. (2013, April). Integrating Edmodo into a high school service club: to promote interactive online communication. TCC Worldwide Online Conference, pp.1-6.

The author tries to establish the possibility of applying Edmodo as a strategy for enhancing the organization of a service club in a high school (Gushiken, 2013). In this study, the author elaborates on how an instructional module that was web-based was created in the effort of determining how Edmodo, as an educational innovation supported the participation of students in the learning activities as well as increased communication between students.

Al-Kathiri, F. (2015). Beyond the Classroom Walls: Edmodo in Saudi Secondary School EFL Instruction, Attitudes, and Challenges. English Language Teaching, 8(1), 189-204.

In this study, the author aims at investigating the existing prospects that are associated with the integration of Edmodo technology in the learning process amongst female secondary school students in Saudi Arabia who are learning English as the First Language. The findings that were obtained by the author showed that highly positive perceptions towards Edmodo were exhibited by those participants who used this innovation (Al-Kathiri, 2015). According to this author, it appeared that Edmodo was capable of effectively generating more positive attitudes amongst the students towards EFL learning, although there were several considerable challenges to its integration.

Thongmak, M. (2013). The social network system in the classroom: Antecedents of edmodo© adoption. Journal of E-learning and Higher Education, 2013(1), 1-15.

The author points out that the use of Edmodo within educational settings is yet to become prevalent. For this reason, the author focuses on using this study to determine the existing antecedents of the adoption of Edmodo as a classroom collaboration tool (Thongmak, 2013). The author further uses Thailand as the case study to explore the views of university students about Edmodo as well as compares the effects of this innovation before and after its use within an educational setting.

Holland, C., & Muilenburg, L. (2011, March). Supporting student collaboration: Edmodo in the classroom. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), pp. 3232-3236.

The authors discuss the current application of online social networking sites within the educational setting where computer-mediated communication technologies such as Edmodo are on high use. The authors have extensively addressed the effectiveness of Edmodo innovation in enhancing student engagement and participation in the learning process (Holland & Muilenburg, 2011). In their study, the authors examine the impact of the use of Edmodo.com as a discussion platform for use in discussing literature and other educational subjects of interest.

Background Discussion of Impacts of Edmodo in the Learning Process

Designed in 2008 by Nick Borg and Jeff O’ Hara, Edmodo is a web-based technology that provides a secure and free learning platform that can be used by parents, students, and teachers to facilitate an active learning process. Edmodo is readily available at www.edmodo.com, and it is increasingly similar to Facebook but has more security features that make it reliable for the learning process. In their study, Balasubramanian, Jaykumar, and Fukey (2014) state that Edmodo enables the teachers to create and manage accounts on behalf of their students in this online platform. Each learner is given a group code that enables him, or her register in the group created, thus limiting the ability of non-group members to participate nor spy the activities taking place in that particular group (Balasubramanian, Jaykumar & Fukey, 2014). The image below illustrates the Edmodo site being used by both teachers, students, and teachers for learning purposes in a virtual classroom where it is easy for them to communicate with another and track the student’s learning progress.

Image: Edmodo Platform

Source: (Holland & Muilenburg, 2011)

Through the help of this site, it is now easy and simple for teachers and students to connect and collaborate in this virtual classroom (Holland & Muilenburg, 2011). Moreover, it is now easy for parents to quickly login to these students’ accounts and assess the academic progress made by their children (Balasubramanian, Jaykumar & Fukey, 2014). Edmodo has made it possible for students to submit homework, assignment, and quizzes, share educational content and receive feedback from their instructors as well as alerts and notes.

Edmodo is the leading technology in positively supporting the microsystems and macro-systems of the students’ learning environment. For instance, Edmodo, as a free educational site, has facilitated the creation of an active classroom community through strengthening the relationship amongst students and between teachers and students, teachers and parents, and lastly, parents and students (Thongmak, 2013). Therefore, it is reasonable to state that the study of impacts of Edmodo on the learning process in this paper is increasingly based on bio-ecological theory. Thongmak (2013) argues that, according to the bio-ecological theory, continued interaction with people as well as with various spheres and aspects of one’s environment significantly influences the development of such as individual (Thongmak, 2013). The development and learning process of students in the modern educational context is widely being enhanced by Edmodo technology.

Past research indicates that students who use Edmodo in their learning process have shown to be highly motivated to engage in learning that is facilitated by this technology. For instance, in their study, Alshawi and Alhomoud (2016) suggest that the use of Edmodo as an educational networking site has encouraged many students to develop the urge and the willingness to learn subjects that they previously considered as extremely hard for them (Alshawi & Alhomoud, 2016). The intuitive features and unlimited storage of Edmodo make it an excellent social networking site that improves the learning process. According to Alshawi and Alhomoud (2016), the communication process between students and teachers has significantly been enhanced by Edmodo technology (Alshawi & Alhomoud, 2016). For instance, it now easy for teachers to send alerts and announcements to students, hold discussions, post assignments, lay out course calendar, assign grades, badges, create micro-groups for projects, and communicate with their students through public and private messages.

An excellent feature of Edmodo is its ability to support student-centric decisions via polling, thus enabling students to engage in competition, learn leadership skills, and gain the confidence to deal with issues as they emerge. Another feature of Edmodo is that it enables teachers to offer students who participate and complete their assignments using this online network some badges as a way of rewarding and motivating them to keep on using this application for learning purposes (Gushiken, 2013). Effective communication is a significant learning factor to put into consideration in the effort of promoting learning. Gushiken (2013) argues that Edmodo has managed to garner rave reviews from teachers and students for its significant contributions towards the learning process (Gushiken, 2013). Edmodo provides a learning environment that is free of games, advertisements, and any other distractors that can interfere with the learning process (Gushiken, 2013). Edmodo is currently being used to increase the participation of children in learning activities that are undertaken in service clubs that have been formed in most high schools in the country.

Al-Kathiri (2015) claims that the benefits that are associated with the use of Edmodo during teaching and learning cannot be underestimated. For instance, it offers the parents a grand opportunity to monitor the academic progress that is made by their children by enabling them to receive updates on class and school events as well as view their children’s homework together with the due dates (Al-Kathiri, 2015). Therefore, Edmodo offers the parents, teachers, and students to collaborate towards enhancing the learning process and enabling students to improve on their academic performance. Al-Kathiri (2015) argues that Edmodo is capable of transforming the learning attitude of students, especially those learning foreign languages (Al-Kathiri, 2015). For instance, Al-Kathiri, (2015) discovered that once integrated as an educational tool in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms, Edmodo managed to improve the Saudi Arabian students’ attitudes towards EFL learning.

Conclusion

Conclusively, Edmodo’s success in supporting the learning process of the students in the classroom has attracted the attention of most people who now are looking for new possibilities of using this technology in other school-related environments to help boost the learning activities associated with those settings. Moreover, as discussed above, the use of Edmodo as a learning platform has shown to have numerous and distinct advantages when compared to the traditional classroom environment. For instance, Edmodo facilitates the sharing of ideas beyond the classroom, thus making the learners more knowledgeable and helps create a collaboration between teachers, parents, and children, thus creating an online community whose primary focus is an improvement in the educational achievements of students. Implementation of Edmodo as a leaning platform for students has proven to be a significant medium that supports learning even outside the classroom.