Websites for uploading homework

chippers

I'm trying to incorporate the use of computers more with my class groups this year. I'll be teaching geography and history.

Have any teachers here created a website with which your students can upload their homework and which you can put up material for the students to read and look at? If so was it well received / successful?

Do you know of any sites that would be useful to help me set up such a website? I'm not particularly great with computers so any user friendly websites would be best.

bdoo

chippers wrote: »

I'm trying to incorporate the use of computers more with my class groups this year. I'll be teaching geography and history.

Have any teachers here created a website with which your students can upload their homework and which you can put up material for the students to read and look at? If so was it well received / successful?

Do you know of any sites that would be useful to help me set up such a website? I'm not particularly great with computers so any user friendly websites would be best.

Something like skydive on windows live allows you to upload files easily which kids can view. They can email you work.

I use it to monitor progress of project work and send feedback directly. Saves printing too

TheBody

chippers wrote: »

I'm trying to incorporate the use of computers more with my class groups this year. I'll be teaching geography and history.

Have any teachers here created a website with which your students can upload their homework and which you can put up material for the students to read and look at? If so was it well received / successful?

Do you know of any sites that would be useful to help me set up such a website? I'm not particularly great with computers so any user friendly websites would be best.

I made a google sites website for each of my classes. I just watched a youtube video on how to create one. VERY easy to do. I used it to post homework and posted links to relevent videos and website. The kids LOVED it. The sixth years gave me great feedback. They used it all the time for revision. Was a much greater success than I was expecting.

thefasteriwalk

Yeah, you can open an Edmodo account easily too.

chippers

This is great guys,thanks. It's exactly what I was looking for.

I'm already well on my way to setting a google site!

TheBody

chippers wrote: »

This is great guys,thanks. It's exactly what I was looking for.

I'm already well on my way to setting a google site!

Glad to help. google sites has some limitations but it's a good place to start.

happywithlife

think i'll taking this great advice on board too
thanks !!

spurious

We use Moodle for this. It's fantastic.

TheBody

spurious wrote: »

We use Moodle for this. It's fantastic.

Agreed. Moodle is the best system I've used. Unfortunatly the school I work in doesn't have anybody with enough IT skills to maintain it. There are companies that will look after it for you but there doesn't seem to be the appetite for it in my school.

Bobsammy

I've used Edmodo for this and find it good! It's very simple to use for both the teacher and the student.

TheDriver

moodle all the way and easy to maintain (i.e. no maintenance)

Perrin aybara

I use google apps and set up a calendar for each class. I add the homework to the calendar and the calendar is then embedded on my website so the students can check what homework they have at home.

trihead

Moodle is the best option but understand where you are coming from getting more staff involved. Have a look at http://icsgrid.ie which is trying to get moodle expanded in schools. I have no experience with them but seems like the way forward where schools don't have someone to install moodle and 'run the show' as such. They have some info sessions coming up which could be useful. Could you try and get management in your school involved?

bdoo

trihead wrote: »

Moodle is the best option but understand where you are coming from getting more staff involved. Have a look at http://icsgrid.ie which is trying to get moodle expanded in schools. I have no experience with them but seems like the way forward where schools don't have someone to install moodle and 'run the show' as such. They have some info sessions coming up which could be useful. Could you try and get management in your school involved?

I looked at that a few years back and found it expensive st the time, it may have changed.

We have live@edu all kids have email so for folders in skydrive access can ne limited using these I find it good and no maintenance at all each teacher can look after their own. Uploading is drag and drop.

spurious

Moodle itself is free. You just have to find a host that understands how it works and will host it for you.

The only real maintenance is setting up new accounts in September and removing old accounts, old student work etc..

bdoo

spurious wrote: »

Moodle itself is free. You just have to find a host that understands how it works and will host it for you.

The only real maintenance is setting up new accounts in September and removing old accounts, old student work etc..

Do you know the cost of hosting off hand? When I enquired a few years ago the principal wouldn't part with the cash!

We have a new boss now! Might see for next sept

dahamsta

Pardon the interjection, noticed this in New Posts and was going to recommend Moodle as I had to show the wife how to use it when she was teaching in Griffith or the School of Comm a couple of years ago.

Anyway, I'm in tech and I'd be recommending a mid-level hosting account for Moodle, as it's quite complex and you can use a lot of space with course materials, student uploads,etc. I won't get into recommendations, conflict of interest.

It's a nice platform, have fun with it.

HTH,
Adam

TheDriver

we let the students set up their own accounts and self enrol.
Hosting could be about 30 euro per year, maybe more depending on where you use. We always use hosting365.

Chris68

Edmondo has no costs, no hosting costs, no admin hassles, and no upload limits. Why bother with moodle?

trihead

Edmondo seems like a good/better choice for collecting homework. But does Moodle not have more features and is probably the better option for a LMS/VLE to be set up across a school or college? Are you also in more control over the content with moodle which is an huge issue for teachers? I haven't used Edmondo myself but have seen presentations etc so could be wrong?

dahamsta

Is Edmodo operated by Facebook? It's a total ripoff of their design.

darlett

Any more thoughts on these?

I'm a NQT and want a website that I can use to unleash my notes and resources to classes where ever my latest subbing role might be. Following a PDST workshop I spent a massive amount of time building a weebly.com website. And I've achieved a site of some beauty. But beyond that there's no control on material and no real interaction and I don't really intend to pay annually to get the pro version. So maybe its back to square one.

I'm caught between Edmodo, Schoology (for which I have accounts setup but totally unexplored) or maybe Moodle. Be interested to hear thoughts on usability. I have absolutely loads of files to upload so stuff like swift batch uploads is no small thing.

Inspector Coptoor

Moodle is very outdated and I wouldn't be a fan.

All my notes are now on Edmodo.

I don't really use it in an interactive way, more or a database for my students where I can put up notes and then home works/revisions sheets and some reminders

Web Graphic Designer

There is also MoodleCloud for smaller users, they do the hosting. A good starting point perhaps.

Along with 'paid for full services' such as what Blackboard offer, the only thing that separates them all (if not fully exploiting their capabilities) is the quality and presentation of your own material.

There are so many offerings in terms of content creation & delivery e.g. Lectora Online, Canvas LMS, Articulate Storyline/Presenter, Camtasia, Connect etc. It just depends on how much you want a LMS to do for you.

If taking in a proper educational technologist (95% of places may be doing so <5yrs), they'll want to transfer their skill-set into a recognisable industry standard system, rather than some bespoke or unproven system.

Amoureux

Schoology is actually a great site/app. A few of us in school were using Edmodo and we have all switched to Schoology. It's much more interactive and a lot more features.

Beaulieu

Googleclassroom anyone?

darlett

Still sitting on the fence a bit with regards to Edmodo/Schoology in terms of my leaving cert cycle classes. Much of a muchness but I think I'm drawn to the latter due to the ease of making use of other teachers resources. And it just looks a bit more fluid than the quite blocky graphics of Edmodo.

But I'm having something of a U-turn with regards to the Junior Cert classes for a couple of reasons. I don't really see my JC students going to a website and downloading notes in the form of powerpoints etc. Note taking for the junior cert cycle isn't particularly intensive in the first place, and I'm starting to feel what little there is, is better taken down by the students own hand into their own notes copy. A large number of younger students would I feel struggle with demands of organising and maintaining notes in folders or any other way. So without actually laying and supplying the course and its notes on line it takes the issue over lack of control over student access to the material out of the equation. Which brings me back to my weebly page. There's a somewhat lazy line trotted out IMO, 'kids love technology'. I don't think they do. They love COD or football manager. Or Youtube or snapchat. They won't necessarily be drawn to coursework because it's provided online.

Well when I described it as "site of some beauty", the tongue was secured firmly in cheek but here she is for your professional critique. sciencejc.weebly.com Be gentle. It's a light-hearted, maybe even a bit of 'childish' effort but I hoped for something more welcoming for the eyes of the younger students. I'm not sure how it works from a student navigation point of view. It's intuitive enough for a science teacher the sections arranged as they are by the syllabus but thats actually missing the point from the students end. I will have to do a revamp on it anyway for the new syllabus, but perhaps I ought to arrange it into more a Biology Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Chemistry Year 1 etc, format?
Site function? A fair question...limited! In a school where my classes currently don't have any access at the moment to computer rooms, nevermind ipads etc so er... differentiation? I know the majority of students will have access either at home, or via phones, or their own ipads, or possibly even via libraries but I'll always have some (not to be cynical but its never the hardest workers) who will deny it...and their reasons are largely plausible. Allow higher order students access more resources such as relevant videos, quizzes, simulations etc. I can use the website in-class as a convenient source of files too, but it doesn't warrant the site itself as I can supply my resources by other means; in saying all that, I like that I have it! Its still light content-wise, and I'd hope to build on that, and have the students themselves providing content would I feel get their interest piqued.

Sorry I've babbled, and this is probably TLDR for most. Needs editing much like my site.

jimmytwotimes 2013

I started using edmodo this yr. However, I have big issues with uploads not opening. Anyone else find this?

mirrorwall14

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

I started using edmodo this yr. However, I have big issues with uploads not opening. Anyone else find this?

Yes. I gave up and now use google classroom and Google drive

deiseindublin

We use Edmodo, very easy to use.

mirrorwall14

deiseindublin wrote: »

We use Edmodo, very easy to use.

Maybe it's the iPads but the app was unstable for students. Gave it til last June but gave up then

deiseindublin

Could be that, my groups using PCs.

implausible

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Yes. I gave up and now use google classroom and Google drive

I did the same, too awkward to upload files and there was always someone who couldn't view them. I use Classroom now and it's very handy, click one button to share with students, there's also an option to send a copy of a file to each student (so they can't mess up your original). Our VEC is big on Google apps, so Classroom works well as all of my files are in Google Drive, plus there's no child protection issue as all the students have school gmail accounts. There's an app too.

For building your own basic website, I played around with Google sites a few years ago. I wonder has it improved?