Have you ever wished you could connect your students with students across the world? What about provide a once in a lifetime experience to your students without having to leave the classroom? Edmodo can do just that.
Edmodo is a social networking site designed specifically for use in education that has teamed up with Polar Bears International for their most recent initiative. Together they are sending five people to the Tundra to hold three webcasts while on location with the polar bears. The team will stream videos of the polar bears, send PowerPoint presentations with data they’ve collected, and answer questions from the students in real time. The first webcast took place last week for over 1,700 classrooms in 40 different countries.
“Using technology in the classroom isn’t just about having a video,” said Betsy Whalen, Edmodo’s vice president of community engagement. “It really does provide a window into the world.”
Another example of how Edmodo can be used in the classroom is in a foreign language class. Whalen says two schools used Edmodo to connect a level-two Spanish class in Iowa with a level-one English class in Madrid. Not only did students get to practice their new language skills with native speakers, they also gained peer mentors and tutors while studying in another country.
Have you used Edmodo in your classroom? Is there another tech tool you’ve used to provide a window into the world from your classroom? Please share in the comment box.
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Source:
“Polar bears visit the classroom with Edmodo’s digital technology (exclusive)” by Meghan Kelly. 15 November 2011. Media Beat. Accessed on 18 November 2011. http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/15/polar-bears-edmodo/
[…] to take a trip around the world. In November 2011, Edmodo, a social networking site, teamed up with Polar Bears International to send five people to the Tundra to film polar bears and stream webcasts straight to 1,700 […]