by Darius Davila | Staff Writer
Social networks have allowed millions of people around the world to communicate with each other on a daily basis, where before such luxuries did not exist. This is not just evident in our daily home lives, but technology has also proved helpful and convenient at school.
“A lot of my teachers are now requiring us to create an Edmodo account for school use,” freshman Julia Ross said, “I think they want us to make an Edmodo account because it really helps students with knowing if you have assignments or have questions, it’s really helpful.”
It’s not just core classes that are using Edmodo to better communicate and connect with their students.
“I had to create an Edmodo account for JV soccer and it was pretty cool and informative,” sophomore Reagan Anders said.
Teachers have begun to use Edmodo as a means to communicate and better help their students.
“With Edmodo, kids have lots of access to calendars to help them prepare for classes, and there is a better communication between teachers and students because they can ask for help when they’re studying at home,” math teacher Kimberly Dwyer said, “However a con is that not everyone is using Edmodo, but it is better then having a webpage because there is that communication and there’s definitely a correlation between Edmodo and stress reduction.”
Although some teachers view Edmodo as a convenient valuable resource, others have a different perception.
“I used Edmodo last year, but I am no longer using it because I prefer a classroom without Edmodo. It eliminates excuses, because some students don’t have access to computers at home so they can’t do assignments, and some students would complain that they didn’t get an Edmodo reminder. I think Edmodo reduces student accountability, they are waiting to be fed as opposed to being proactive and coming in for tutoring,” freshman English teacher Lisa Knight said.
In fact, some feel that Edmodo is somewhat of an unneeded burden.
“Edmodo is more work for teachers, cause I already have to write lesson plans and it’s just extra work,” Knight said, “ I know some see it as valuable because of the communication between the teacher and students, but I don’t see any value in Edmodo other than it being fun and different for kids.”
Some teachers use other internet sites for school work such as Turnitin.com.
“I don’t use Edmodo but I use Turnitin.com as an alternative, because it gets rid of paper trails so you don’t have a stack of papers on your desk; and it also helps verify that students are not plagiarizing,” English teacher Daniel Farias said, “However, some students forget their passwords to log in and so they panic when it’s due that night, so I’ll have a lot of emails from students. Internet issues is a con, I just havent figured out a way to make Edmodo a part of the classroom. If I could find a way to make it useful I would.”
