© 2013 Alan Levine, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio
You may be aware of The New York Times article earlier this week about the classroom management tool ClassDojo — I wrote about it in my post, One Of The More Depressing Passages You’ll Read This Week.
You can also find other posts about the app at The Best Posts & Articles On “Motivating” Students.
Two posts have been written this week about the app that I think are important for educators to read:
6 reasons to reject ClassDojo is by Joe Bower, who lays-out the critiques of ClassDojo clearly and articulately.
Bill Ferriter, a teacher who I respect very much, has written a very thoughtful post about he uses ClassDojo. It sounds like he applies it in a very careful and effective way, and not just as a blunt extrinsic motivation weapon. Based on how I read other teachers are using it, however, it sounds like Bill is more the exception than the rule. I think the creators of an app need to take responsibility for how people use the products of their work in destructive ways, just as education researchers need to do the same for their studies,
What do you think?
I know that people are nay saying classdojo in terms of privacy, but who is talking about edmodo and its snapshot app which tracks common core mastery (supposedly). In its very functionality and application its potential for taking is more far reaching.
That teachers,or anyone, might be reductive is old news. I find the whole public shaming aspect of the discussion highly inauthentic given our cultural voyeurism.
Morrissey
Educator of high school students
Hi Larry. I appreciate your blog. This post seems a bit one sided, though. I, too, use ClassDojo and I use it in a similar way to Bill Ferriter.
Have you done a survey of teachers who use ClassDojo to learn how they use the app?
Has ClassDojo done a survey of the sort?
If not, then how can you extrapolate how most teachers use the application.
Again, I like your blog, but this one seems off and based on few facts.
Edward
Edward,
Glad to hear how you’re using ClassDojo. As I mentioned in my post, I based my perspective on the numerous blog posts I’ve read where teachers describe how they’re using the app. Admittedly, that’s not an scientifically done survey but I have no reason to believe it is not representative. I’m not aware of a survey done by ClassDojo. If you find they’ve done one, I’d love to see the results.
Larry