Evaluating technology tools for classroom use is an important new function of the 21st Century teacher.

Each student in the EDIM 514 Internet Tools for Teaching course I’m taking created his or her own rubric for evaluating Web2.0 sites. These rubrics were combined to create a super rubric. Click here to see that rubric.

In addition to the rubric, I’m consulting three “human filters”: discussions on Classroom2.0, comments on delicious.com, and discussion with my school’s Classrooms for the Future coach.

Before practicing using this rubric on five Web2.0 applications, I’ve researched and recorded the following data on the five sites that interest me. The sites are edmodo, wikispaces, googledocs, glogsterEDU, and zoho.

Here are my evaluations of these web tools, based on the class super rubric.

Edmodo.com

Edmodo.com is an education-specific, password-protected, teacher-moderated microblogging and course management application. Its strengths are in the categories of usefulness, content protection, ease/cost, kid friendly, engaging, teacher control, Internet safety, and cooperative. It takes hits in the following categories: student work display, school support, load time, and compatibility (sometimes doesn’t work in Safari).

My human filters provided the following feedback about edmodo. Classroom2.0: comparisons are made to Twitter, with praise for edmodo’s educational-only content and teacher controls. Jeff O’Hara, edmodo founder, even pipes in with some QandA. Delicious: highlights the app’s privacy features and abilities to assign and collect work to/from students. CFF Coach: had only recently heard of edmodo and had not used it in the classroom. She did a short investigation and was intrigued.

Verdict: edmodo is appropriate for my classroom. It is easier to set up and use than moodle. I like that my students are engaged by it, and its basic privacy settings are a deal maker.

Wikispaces.com

Wikispaces certainly has a following in education. Some of my colleagues have used it as an easy way to publish their own websites with resources for their students. It is a very easy-to-use application, although its privacy settings are not as flexible or tight as other wikis (unless you pay for the higher level of privacy). According to the rubric, its strengths are in adherence to COPPA, ease of use, kid-friendly, student work display, load time, compatibility, and cooperative. It scores “good” marks for educational usefulness (not necessarily designed exclusively for education) and teacher control (greater controls require investment). It gets low marks in engaging (somewhat plain interface) and school support.

My human filters provided the following feedback on wikispaces. Classroom2.0: compares Wikispaces with PBWorks, Zoho Wiki, and moodle. Seems to be a hit among the newer web2.0 users. Delicious: Many wikis are bookmarked, but wikispaces itself is only bookmarked five times. One person praised the site’s service. CFF Coach: She LOVES wikispaces and uses it for a few wikis, including a tech training tips wiki. She recommends it for teachers, but admits she has not used it as an interactive tool with students.

Verdict: I’m not one to pay for something I can get somewhere else free, and I’d only use wikispaces in the classroom with more privacy than its basic accounts provide.

Googledocs

My school recently made googledocs available with student logins automatically provided. It has some limits, compared to traditional software applications, but it allows sharing, publishing, and forms. According to the rubric, it scores well in usefulness, content protection, ease of use/cost, kid friendly, engaging, student work display, school support, load time, teacher control, Internet safety, and cooperative. The only category in which googledocs does not score in the highest possible column is compatibility, as googledocs sometimes falters with Safari.

My human filters provided the following feedback on googledocs. Classroom2.0: members offered the following uses for googledocs: as wiki, blog, word processing, surveys, spreadsheets. Delicious: commenters laud its collaborative abilities. CFF Coach: recommends googledocs for collaboration, allowing teacher to leave comments and oversee group members’ contributions.

Glogster EDU

I tried glogster once for a previous course, but I was underwhelmed by the social networking features – way too much access to my posted content by way too many people. Enough educators spoke up and encouraged the folks behind the glogs to create an EDU version. According to our rubric, the EDU version would score well in usefulness, content protection, ease/cost, kid friendly, engaging +++, student work display, teacher control, safety, compatibility, and cooperative ++ (integrates video from teachertube). This app lags behind in the areas of load time and school support.

My human filters provided the following feedback on glogster edu. Classroom2.0: it’s simple to use, very appealing to girls, and kinda like scrapbooking. Delicious: 188 bookmarks already since July 17! “Creative,” “Dynamic,” “Interactive,” “Fun,” and “Great site!” CFF Coach: likes the premise, worried about the privacy. Happy about the new EDU version.

Zoho

Zoho offers so many different apps, some free, some limited, some new, some well-developed already. I’ll evaluate it based on the big picture of what Zoho can do/be. It scores well in usefulness, protection, ease/cost, kid friendly, engaging, student work display, safety, compatibility, and cooperative. It does not fare as well in school support, load time, and teacher control.

My human filters provided the following feedback on Zoho. Classroom2.0: It came up in similar discussions with googledocs and wikispaces. Users praise its database program (Creator) and its low cost options. Some recommend googledocs ahead of zoho. Delicious: commenters seem enamored with its variety of offerings. CFF Coach: heard of it through trainings, not experienced with it.

Making a Change

I recently participated in a webcast/discussion with the aforementioned Jeff O’Hara of edmodo fame. I had just discovered edmodo and started playing around with it a bit, and I saw the webcast going on. I broached the idea of adding a student blog feature to compliment the microblogging, assignment submission, and basic comment-reply note sending features that the site already had. I explained that what edmodo provides, as far as security and easy access go, is a gem, and that a simple blog for each student user would make it such a full-featured tool.

Mr. O’Hara explained that one of the main goals of edmodo is to keep it simple. A full-featured blog was never one of the foci, and it was unlikely that it would ever be added, since they have no interest in competing with programs that do that well.

I respect his answer, although I was disappointed that edmodo couldn’t offer such a tool, but I appreciate that he wants his program to do what it does really well. Perhaps if edmodo ever were to become open source, I could develop an add-on blog module. Until then, I’ll enjoy its simplicity.