Design Experiment 2: The Edmodo Experience

The aesthetics and organization of Edmodo are great because they resemble the popular social media platforms, making the unfamiliarity of the platform less of a barrier because the learner would find themselves in a familiar feeling environment and has an idea of how to navigate the platform without resorting to alternative sources to begin working on a course or, as a student, in the course. There are tabs to access quizzes, assignments, and notes from the instructor and/or other students in the course, making the navigation of the platform self-evident. For example, if the instructor informs the students there is a Week 2 quiz due on a set date, the students can simply click the “quizzes” tab to access the quiz.

However, the verbiage used on the platform needs to better accommodate and reflect the jargon of education. For example, I still don’t understand what a “group” is within the Edmodo platform. I would prefer the platform was set up as “Ms. Salem’s Online Classroom” with the “groups” being further specified into courses or classes i.e. “ANS 1319 Course/Class”. I would also enjoy the ability to further separate those courses or classes into sections.

So…to access Ms. Salem’s online material a student would log into Edmodo > Ms. Salem’s Online Classroom > ANS 1319 > ANS 1319.001, in order to access their course and/or section information.

In contrast, while the Pearson Learning platform we use for online learning at Texas A&M – Commerce University is familiar and effective; the platform is clumsy to operate and the appearance and usability is outdated.  

This technology supports the online teaching pedagogical approach in addition to open ended instruction, interdisciplinary learning, discovery learning, differentiated instruction, experiential learning, co-operative learning, peer teaching, case study, and locus of control, in addition to any pedagogical approach an instructor wanted to employ. I believe with a little ingenuity and thought most lessons that are effectively taught, with a specific learning outcome in mind, in a traditional classroom can also be effectively taught in an online course. The trick is that the pedagogical approach used in the classroom for a specified learning outcome might need to be altered or abandoned for a different approach in an online setting. For example, providing traditional lecture in conjunction with an experiential learning activity in a face-to-face course might need to be adjusted to a co-operative learning activity with a simulated experiential learning activity.

The affordances of Edmodo include the same affordances we have experienced with the Pearson Learning course platform. While authentic experience related to the lesson is the ideal learning activity, these experiential learning activities can also be experienced to a lesser degree through simulations and videos in many courses. However if the course required the experiential learning activity to include an online experience of some kind, say opening an account and developing a fictitious yet complete course, this experiential learning activity could be an authentic experiential learning experience for the learner.