1. Edmodo Summer Camp

“We are using Edmodo this summer for our incoming fifth graders. The only classes at our K-5 elementary with computers are the fifth grade. So we decided this year we would help speed up the learning curve and get students excited about 21st century learning by having an Edmodo Summer Camp. We have a book club, websites for them to learn how to use, apps from the Edmodo app store and just an area to help build community for our classes. So far we have almost half of our students signed up and we have only been out 3 days! The participation has been great so far! We will post tasks and challenges for fun twice a week and award badges to students who complete the assigned task or challenge. I think by using Edmodo over the summer we will see great results in our learning this next year!” - Wes Brownfield

2. Summer Reading Group 

“We are using Edmodo over the summer with rising 6th grade students at one of our middle schools. The group is for their summer reading program and will allow students to communicate what they are reading, share book recommendations, and turn in their summer reading book form. It is giving us a chance to play with Edmodo during the summer with teachers and students for a specific purpose and time frame.” – Eve Heaton

Looking for book recommendations? Search the Edmodo Communities for recommendations.

3. Concept Study (for teachers)

“Our English department has decided to do a ‘book study’ of sorts over the summer. We are actually going to do a “concept study.” Each teacher has a concept that they need to find good resources for and an engaging way to teach for 6, 7 and 8th graders.” – Candace Weathersby

4. Alumni Groups

“Teaching fifth grade, we end the year with our students moving on to several different middle schools. It has become a rite of passage for me to ceremonially add my leaving middle school students into my “MAX in Middle School” Group.

Here my leaving group can keep in touch with their friends who are now spread around different campuses. I have also found that my students of previous years welcome them with comments, tips, and suggestions about their upcoming new experience (advice about their new teachers, lunch choices, lockers, and strategies to get to that next class).

Edmodo makes for a smooth and exciting transition.” – Robert Miller

5. Science Projects

“Our science department created an Edmodo group for students to have a venue to discuss their science fair projects. Our summer assignment is for students to decide on a topic and research the topic to be able to design a testable question by the time school starts again in the fall. The group allows students to maintain dialogue with teachers and other students to help with approvals and proper paperwork required before starting experimentation in the fall. The dialogue allows teachers to offer feedback and suggestions when students need it most. At the time learning at its finest.” – Jane Beach

6. Engage New Students

“I plan on keeping in touch with my new students. They got the code for the courses at the end of school so they can join Edmodo. I give summer homework and this was I can answer any problems they might have.” – Marie Jump

7. Host your Professional Development sessions

“I intend to give a summer week-long course on web 2.0 tools and on Glogster. I’d like to use Edmodo as the platform to run the course.” - John Zoccola

“ I will be doing a training for the staffs of my two junior high school sites. The first half of the day will focus on Edmodo itself and how teachers can implement it, and the second half of the day will focus on other digital resources the library has available to teachers and how they can help teachers with planning lessons, doing research projects, etc.” – Amanda Sharpe

To learn more about how you can host your PD sessions in Edmodo, register for our Edmodo for Summer PD webinar.

8. New Teacher Group 

Create a group for teachers who are new to your school or are in their first year of teaching. This group can act as a support community to help these new teachers transition. You can use the group to provide support materials, discuss curriculum or answer any questions they may have as they are getting started.

How will you be using Edmodo this summer? Share with us in the comments.

Reserve your spot for EdmodoCon 2012!

It’s a great day to celebrate being a teacher – and an event not to be missed!  Check out the 2011 archives to learn more.

Spread the word
Last year, 2000 teachers from all 50 US states and 51 countries joined EdmodoCon. We had 2.5M users last August – but the Edmodo community is now more than 7M strong – so start spreading the word and let’s see if we can set new records in global collaboration!

Timing
The event is scheduled for 10:00 am – 9:00 pm EASTERN TIME (GMT -5:00). To find out the time for your specific location, view the World Time Zone map. Note that sessions will be running throughout the entire day and you may pick and choose the sessions you’d like to participate in.

Speakers
Speakers for the event have not yet been selected. In the coming weeks, we will be posting the finalized agenda along with all presenters here at blog.edmodo.com. If you are interested in presenting, please see our call for presenters.

Reserve your spot now

Don’t forget to Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for additional updates!

A dedicated stage will be set up featuring presentations and interactive exhibits focused on education (view the schedule of  events). The EdSurge team is also hosting a special pavilion dedicated to “DIY Learning: The New School” which celebrates how educators, students and entrepreneurs are using technology to put students at the center of learning. Here students will demonstrate projects they built and how they learned along the way; teachers will talk about how students gained technical prowess, perseverance and joy in their accomplishments.

Follow along in the fun by joining the Maker Faire: DIY Learning community on Edmodo where they’ll be posting photos and updates from the pavilion!

Edmodo team members will also be on site. If any local Edmodo users are planning to attend, look out for us…..we’ll be sporting our Edmodo t-shirts!

Create Folders
Folders are an excellent way to organize resources in your library. You can create folders for each group/course, project, unit of study or activity you hold in your classroom. Learn more about creating folders. 

Order Content
After you’ve added resources to your folders, you can re-order them by dragging and dropping the items into the order you prefer. Please note that this can only be done within folders. Your library is organized in reverse chronological order.

Rename Folders
Edit or rename a folder by selecting the folder from the left panel, then placing your cursor on the folder name located at the top of the page, just above the “Play View” button. Once you’ve made your changes, select the green checkmark to save them.

Copy Shared Folders
If you find great resources from other educators within a shared folder, you easily copy that folder. To do this:

1. Create a new folder.
2. Select the “Shared with me” link located below the “New” folder icon.
3. Select the group where the shared folder was located, then select the folder that has the content you want to copy.
4. Select each piece of content you want to copy.
5. On the right panel, select folder and choose the folder where you want to copy the info to.

Don’t forget that you can find great content for your folders through Edmodo Communities! Visit the subject area communities to see what valuable resources other educators are sharing. Visit the Publisher Communities to find digital content and resources offered by education publishers. (Select the “Collection” link on the left panel of any Publisher community to view the content.)

• Archive groups – Classroom teachers should archive their groups if their students will be moving on to other grades or teachers. This effectively locks the communication stream while maintaining access to grades and other important information. Please note that administrators who would like to access teachers’ gradebooks should export them before the groups are archived.
• Do not create a new account – Edmodo accounts are not tied to a specific school year. In order to continue to have access to past data, both teachers and students should simply continue to use their existing accounts.
• Stay connected over the summer – Edmodo can be a great tool to stay engaged while you enjoy a much deserved break. Some suggestions include starting a book club, holding planning meetings or creating networks for new teachers on Edmodo.

How do you plan to use Edmodo to stay engaged over the summer? Let us know in the comments below!

EdmodoCon is an online gathering of educators from across the globe for a day of professional development. We’re looking for dynamic presenters who are inspiring and passionate about teaching with technology in the classroom. We welcome proposals from all educators, administrators, technologists and media specialists. Please note this is a virtual event and all presentations will be done via WebEx. 

To apply, please send an email with the following information to ideas@edmodo.com. All information must be included to be considered.

• Name
• Title
• School/District
• Location (City/Country)
• Presentation category (see options below)
• Target audience
• If you have any prior experience presenting, please let us know what event(s) you’ve presented at and the topic you presented on.
• Session description. Please be descriptive about what you will present and how this will benefit educators across the globe.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 8th. 

Presentation categories (All presentations should be approximately 20-30 minutes)

• Edmodo in the Classroom:  Unique and interesting examples of how you’ve used Edmodo to reinvigorate learning in your classroom. All grade levels and subject areas considered. Example topics may include course delivery, global classrooms, differentiated instruction, project based learning and blended learning.
  
• Edmodo Apps: For anyone with early access to Edmodo Apps, we’d love to have you showcase the apps you’ve installed and how you are using them to increase student engagement. If selected to present, be prepared to demo the apps and how it was used in the classroom.
• Going Mobile: Is your classroom, school or district using Edmodo on iPads or other mobile devices? Stories about 1:1 implementations, BYOD initiatives or creative examples of using Edmodo on mobile devices inside or outside the classroom.
• Digital Integrations: What digital tools do you integrate with Edmodo? We want to hear about the tools you can’t live without and the  exceptional ways you’ve integrated them with Edmodo to create highly engaging experiences for your students.
• Professional Learning Networks (PLN’s): How are teachers and administrators within your school or district using Edmodo for PLN’s? Do you have a PLN group outside of your school? Share unique stories and best practices about PLN’s you’ve been involved with. Topics may include professional development, best practices, global communities, leadership PLN’s, district rollouts, etc.
• Pot Luck: Have a great idea, but it doesn’t exactly fit into one of these categories — we want to hear it!

With Spring testing happening in many schools across the U.S., we’ve seen an increase in the number of badges being awarded so we thought we’d provide some tips to help you get the most of badges:

Award multiple badges
You can award a badge to multiple students from your group manage page. Simply visit the manage section, select all the students to whom you want to award the badge and select “award badge”.

Create your own badges
Get creative with badges! Find an image you’d like to turn into a badge and resize the image to 114 x 114 pixels. When you select the award badge button, you will see the “New Badge” option on the left panel. From there you can provide the badge title and description, then upload your image. Select create badge to complete the process. Your new badge will be stored in your student badge library so you can award it at anytime.

Add badges from other teachers
If you need a little inspiration before you start creating your own badges, you can easily view and add other teacher’s badges to your collection. To do this, visit the profile page of any teacher and select the “Shared badges” link located below their profile statistics on the right side of the page. (Note: this link will only appear if they have badges they want to share). Choose any badge from their collection and select the “Add to my student badges” button. That’s all there is to it! You can go back to your badge page and award that badge to any student, or, edit the badge title/description.

Do you have any great badges you want to share with the Edmodo Community? Leave a note in the comments and include your profile URL so others can access the badge.

Today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve selected a date for this year’s event. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, August 8th, 2012!

On this day, Edmodo educators across the globe will gather online and in person for a one-day professional development extravaganza.  Throughout the day, teachers will share, inspire and showcase the creative ways they are using Edmodo and other digital tools in the classroom. It’s a great day to celebrate being a teacher – and an event not to be missed!  Check out the 2011 archives to learn more and stay tuned in the coming weeks for further details.

Last year, 2000 teachers from all 50 US states and 51 countries joined EdmodoCon. We had 2.5M users last August – but the Edmodo community is now more than 7M strong – so start spreading the word and let’s see if we can set new records in global collaboration!

As technology becomes more of an integral part of our society, it’s important to help students understand appropriate use of social media tools and other digital citizenship skills. Edmodo offers various resources to help you get started, including security best practices, sample guidelines and a sample code of conduct for your students.

To help you relay the importance of digital citizenship, we’ve also created a Best Practices for Digital Citizenship poster which you can print and display in your classroom, or share with your students.

Download the poster:

8 1/2 x 11 version

11 x 17 version

How do you teach students about digital citizenship? Share your ideas in the comments.