On the subject of: Edmodo and Microsoft Live

After last Friday's  PD sessions I heard a lot of postive feedback but I also heard several people say

"I think I am going to use Edmodo instead of Live" and

"Why do we have to use all of these different things?"

I thought I would take a moment to explain a bit further. There is no choosing of one or the other,the tools are meant to be used collaboratively. They both have different purposes but they also have some commonalities.Though neither may be a tool you choose to use in your class you may find that there are great benefits from using one or both.  I created this Venn diagram to help explain the differences betweenthe two services and where they overlap:

The collaboration  that both of these resources offer is vast and as creative as you make it:

The main note I want you to take away from this message is this: Live is orignally deisgned to be another tool for the student to use for creation, file storage, and ease of  accessiblity (vs our server). Edmodo offers a user friendly interface that allows for the managment of files, live interactions in the class, and creates a space for you to allow your students to submit work as well as recieve digital feedback on the work.Though some of these options can be found it Live it may not be the tool for you to carry this out, so choose the tool that works best for you, ask loads of questions, and collaborate.

A SMART request

We currently have one SMART board on wheels available for classroom use. If ever you want a SMART board in your room here is the check out procedure:

 

Send in a Technology Request . Please be as specific as you can for the date you would like the SMART board in your classroom.

The SMART board will then be collected on the following Monday from what ever classroom it is residing in. Your request will guarantee that you have it in your classroom for one week. If no requests for the board come in, then it will stay in your classroom for another week. When the next request for the SMART board comes in we will notify the person who has the SMART board of the request and the date in which we will collect it. (This date will always be a Monday unless school is not in session on particular Monday.)

Before the Board is delivered a member of the Tech Team will install the SMART software on your computer (this can take upwards of 2 hours or more to fully install).

 

Requests for the SMART board are on a “first come first serve” basis.