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Edmodo as learning platform, Mediating tool and its affordances

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Edmodo as learning platform, Mediating tool and its affordances

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With the invention of Web based classroom tools, a throng of new possibilities on how to use online technologies such as social networking sites for blended learning has gotten researchers finding the best possible way to capitalize on these tools, Edmodo is an upcoming social networking site for teaching and learning. It’s  is a free and secure educational learning network used to provide a simple way for teachers to create and manage an online classroom community as well as enabling students to connect and work with their classmates, teachers anywhere and anytime.

In terms of affordances, Edmodo can be easily accessed by the learners,  the learners, especially in Universities have internet enabled mobile phones and personal laptops were they can easily install it and open up an account at no cost, the learning platform accommodates a flexible learning environment from anywhere and this  enables learners voice their opinions, collaborate within and outside the university, students are actively engaged and practice views of responsible learning, they employ a variety of learning styles, repeat and reinforce learning.  It’s an authentic teaching strategy that should be employed by more Educators hoping to encourage student-centered technology driven learning environment. Therefore incorporating Edmodo in the teaching learning process encourages both student engagement and responsible learning when particular Edmodo features are employed. The learners find Edmodo a wonderful and user-friendly social learning platform.

According to Vygotsky (1999) mental processes can be understood only if we understand the tools and signs that mediate them. Edmodo as a mediating tool plays a central role in mental development of the 21st Century learners in high institutions of learning, it’s the means by which peers and the more knowledgeable peers transmit information, and the learning platform is a powerful tool of Cognitive development. The use of Edmodo as a mediation tool in high institutions of learning helps learners move into and through their Zone of proximate development (ZPD). Mediation provides insight in the learner’s future cognitive development in understanding artifacts, Vygotsky stated that consciousness is constructed through a subject's interactions with the world. We can only understand mental processes if we understand the social interaction and tools and signs that mediate them.

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ePortfolios as mediating artefacts for learning  in High Institutions of learning

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ePortfolios as mediating artefacts for learning  in High Institutions of learning

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An ePortfolio is a compilation of ones work over a period of time. These ePortfolios may be in the form of physical artefacts that shows the owners expertise. The use of ePortfolios has provided people with a more systematic way of documenting their work in various field of study such as architecture, nursing, and education. ePortfolios are made up of audio, video files, blogs and presentations. These elements are often compiled systematically in the form of a personal website. These websites are then used to serve several purpose and helps in sharpening technology skills by the creators giving them a heightened sense of accomplishment.

The introduction of ePortfolios in education provides students with the opportunity to use authentic evidence to document their achievement and skills that can be used for multiple purposes. The objective or potential audience of the ePortfolio will determine how it will be designed. In some universities and countries, they have created storage capacity to accommodate student’s ePortfolios. These ePortfolios are retained in the university system as a personal space for learning and personal development for the students over a period of time.

It is worth noting that ePortfolios are not just a documentary evidence of the student’s competence but can be compiled as assessment and as learning. They potentially act as mediators in teaching and learning, they can be used to capture an individual’s perception based on the learning experiences in a particular course overtime. Furthermore, they help students to actively reflect on their learning and they are able to trace their development in the course over time. As a visual media, it provides an avenue to display and share a person’s competency with their educators, peers and others in and out of their activity system of education.  The use of ePortfolios in as a mediating tool in high Institutions of learning provides an alternative of digitizing student’s works for better performance.

The ePortfolios process starts with students first collecting the needed images from their visual records. They then reflect upon their work and organize it in presentable formats using the Google Site App. They obtain feedback from their instructors which helps them in revising their ePortfolio as learning and for assessment. They complete the design of their portfolios to be submitted later in the virtual classroom space. This process encourages socialization with other peers in the virtual classroom environment.

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Collaborative learning supported by mobile applications in High Institutions of learning

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Collaborative learning supported by mobile applications in High Institutions of learning

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Learning theory shifted from cognitivist and behaviorist individualistic perspectives to social perspectives that emphasized learning as a collaborative endeavor. Educators can design collaborative and participatory tasks using different tools hence the emphasis of teaching with technology. Mobile collaboration affords people to interplay e.g. sharing documents, recording and documentation, communication with each other in multiple contexts with the help of personal, wireless, Audio-visual resources, such as podcasts, screencasts and lecture recordings  assist lecturers to cater for the diverse needs of their students.   Laptops, internet enabled phones, I pads  are very instrumental in enhancing online teaching and learning. The technological tools promote flexibility and innovation in the learning environment as well as increasing collaboration between high education institutions. The learners can study from class within the university and at their homes. The emergence of mobility as an essential aspect of everyday life underlines a need to rethink the conceptualization of how we learn . To a greater extent collaborative learning can be supported through mobile applications, opportunities for mobility have undergone major technological leaps during recent decades and support collaboration in many ways.

This development seems to relate to mobility in terms of contextual aspects of conceptual space, physical space, social space, technology, and time. In the University setting students’ use of mobile devices and cloud-based technologies while working together on an assignment. Mobile collaboration in this call includes physical co-locations as well as collaborators being separated in time and place. High institutions of learning need  to avail suchopportunities to Use, observe, evaluate and support collaborative learning activities in everyday informal and formal educational settings  by effectively utilizing the emerging Technological tools and devices for effective teaching and learning

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Google apps for innovative Teaching and Learning    

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Google apps for innovative Teaching and Learning    

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Google apps such as Google docs, google forms and google slides are appropriate tools for online learning. Google docs is mainly  used in online learning due to its  high degree of affordances like accessibility,  edit ability, share ability, integrate- ability, speed, efficiency is high, read-ability, link-ability, usability, reliability, browse- ability among others The  technological tools match the requirement of the teaching and learning activities/ tasks in order to meet learning outcomes. The tools are appropriate for social constructivism pedagogical strategies. Google docs as my major tool is simple to use, encourages collaboration between students and students and between teachers and students hence enhancing collaborative learning. it’s benefits  include sharing divergent views among the learners, encouraging critical thinking, collective knowledge sharing, students can learn on their own through self-direction learning and express their views on learning platform.

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Personal Mobile Devices and Laptops as Learning Tools

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Personal Mobile Devices and Laptops as Learning Tools

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Personal mobile devices (PMDs) such as smart phones and tablets are an important part of students’ devices in teaching and learning. PMDs share some similarities with laptops. Beyond the classroom learning spaces within the context of higher education now extend beyond traditional, physical environments, such as computer laboratories, lecture theatres and libraries. Such traditional spaces are increasingly mediated by new technologies. Current research on learning spaces tends to prioritize the design of physical places. View online and offline spaces – that is, physical places and electronic spaces.

Such devices are making a profound impact in university settings worldwide, both inside and outside of the classroom. Despite this, laptop and tablet initiatives are still relatively novel across a range of higher education institutions. Using laptops in the lecture theatre increases engagement between the lecturer and the class, using laptop in class enhances student centered and critical thinking through accessing then e- resources. Laptops follow students through various learning spaces and could be considered a learning space themselves, not only because of the flexibility they offer, but also because they carry with them all students’ digital learning content. Laptops are recreational spaces, they are mobile device that facilitate interactions they challenge traditional learning spaces and influences educational practice.