Comparing Blogs and Edmodo for Educational Usage

In the posts below, you will see a now-defunct blog that I created for the 2010-11 school year that was used regularly to keep students and parents updated regarding our 8th grade science class. This blog also served to provide download links for assignments. Students were able to ask questions and give feedback, but I think the concept was so new to them at the time, I didn't see as much interaction as I would have liked. Feel free to look through it, and let me know what you think, and yes: even what you would change. I think blogs work well as communication tools but tend to shed more light on the author rather than the audience. Lots of blogs are written as a series of op. ed. pieces or personal stories that can either become hotbeds of discussion or sleep reading depending on the subjects. Since students could not start conversations, I think that really stifled the initiative of some. Last year, one of our teachers discovered Edmodo, a lightweight LMS with far more security and functionality than a blog. Tests, grades, file sharing and a Facebook-inspired discussion interface are all positives. Negatives are few, with the lack of some key LMS features such as replying directly to a post within a thread, recorded lectures and live interaction being the main "issues". An Edmodo account is free, easy to start and just might push you or your administration over the edge to commit to a full LMS. Listen to my podcast regarding Edmodo below. Better yet, get on over there to www.edmodo.com, and sign up for an account, and see for yourself why I'm pretty high on it.