ClassDojo App

ClassDojo has released an iOS app for use in the classroom.  The free app (ClassDojo App) is even easier to use than their mobile site.  It works seamlessly across all platforms and give you some great options like assigning points to multiple students at the same time, and picking a random student!  You can even have multiple devices giving points at the same time (great way to include aides in supporting large group activities).

Along with the iOS app launch, they have recently upgraded the site to fix some small bugs and make the interface cleaner.  It now allows you to download individual reports as a group.  As well as make it easier to get student codes so they can create their own login.

ClassDojo has quickly replaced my classroom behavior system (a token system), in almost all cases.  There are still a few features I would like to see implemented that would make it just soar for a special education classroom.  I would like more specific feedback about the occurrence of behaviors, specifically when they occur.  Along with that, the ability to create multiple classes and track the same student over the course of the day would be hugely beneficial, if this was included I could use it to track any behavior plan data I might need!

I continue to find ClassDojo extremely useful, and can't wait to see where it goes in the next year!

Patrick

Share this

Do you know somebody else who would find this post interesting or useful? Please forward it to them. Did somebody forward this post to you? Visit Teaching All Students and subscribe to receive posts for free. If you need a tutorial please visit this post: RSS Readers.

EdCeptional #036 - Getting Fired up with Jen Wagner

The latest episode of EdCeptional is posted and this week we talk with Jen Wagner, from Projects by Jen.  It was a great conversation where we discuss her projects, International Dot Day, Flat Stanley and ClassDojo.  Check it out!

EdCeptional #36 - Getting Fired up with Jen Wagner

Patrick

Share this

Do you know somebody else who would find this post interesting or useful? Please forward it to them. Did somebody forward this post to you? Visit Teaching All Students and subscribe to receive posts for free. If you need a tutorial please visit this post: RSS Readers.

ClassDojo - My Thoughts!

My experience in using ClassDojo has been limited by the fact that I didn't test it out with my students until the last week of summer school, but it was extremely positive.  On a whim, I set up the class and tried it one morning.  I got off to a slow start, but immediately saw my students engagement increase.  They were excited to see the points on the board, and really wanted to hear the audio notification!  One of my students tried harder at reading then I have ever seen while we were using ClassDojo!

I found the site easy to use, easy to set up classroom, and very easy to award points using the mobile log-in on an iPad or iPod Touch!  I even found myself giving more positive feedback to students, and avoiding negative comments.  This in an area that I think makes ClassDojo unique.  By having a list of positive reinforcers in front of me (or one of my instructional assistants), it forces you to go to the positive first.  I'm the first to admit that I have a tendency to focus on negative behaviors of students and this really helped me stay more positive.

I have chosen to turn off notifications (visual and audio) for negative behaviors, this a personal choice.  I still tracked those behaviors, but didn't want the students to get caught up in seeing negatives displayed for the entire classroom.  The students didn't seem to notice, they just liked seeing their number go up!

As of right now there is no way to track individual students across different classes, but in Twitter conversations they have mentioned this functionality is coming.  I think this is my biggest holdback with the site.  While students do have a place to access their data and customize their avatar, the data it shows is aggregated from different classes and the student has to enter several different codes to get it working.  I'm hoping that upcoming updates will help with this, because I think it is essential if multiple teachers what to track one student and get the most accurate data.

I also think the data keeping could have some improvements made.  It is a nice feature to have a classroom report emailed to you at the end of each class, with an overview of the points given.  This is wonderful in a general education setting.  In a special education setting it is not enough information.  As I stated in the previous post, you can email individual student reports to yourself or parents, but you have to enter an email address for each student, every time you end the class.  This can obviously become cumbersome very quickly!

With that being said, I think this is a very transformative tool for classroom management, and will be very seriously figuring out how to make it work for my classroom situation.  I think using the "percentage" as a way to gauge a students behavior, might be an extremely positive way to look at it.  Not just numbers (which is essentially what I'm doing now), but a more complete picture of their day.  In my head I think that showing students their "percentage" throughout the day may help them see how they can improve their day, if needed.  I haven't worked out all the details, but it's the direction I'm heading in.

This tool has a lot of potential and I'll be looking forward to the upcoming updates!

Patrick


Share this

Do you know somebody else who would find this post interesting or useful? Please forward it to them. Did somebody forward this post to you? Visit Teaching All Students and subscribe to receive posts for free. If you need a tutorial please visit this post: RSS Readers.

ClassDojo

I'm not sure where I first heard about ClassDojo, but I never took the time to do more than glance at it.  I knew it was a website for tracking behavior, but didn't give it a chance until I heard an interview with the creators on the EdGamer Podcast.  Liam and Sam (the co-creators) did an excellent job of explaining why they started ClassDojo that I realized I had to give it a try.

So what exactly is ClassDojo, a fun, easy, mobile way to track an entire classroom worth of behavior! The website is still in beta and free for teachers (and intends to stay free!) so first head on over and create an account.  Setting up a class is simple too, just type in your students names and you're set.  They have already pre-loaded 6 positive and 6 negative behaviors to track.  You are free to customize, add or delete these behaviors as you like!  Another fun aspect is each student is assigned a fun avatar that you can change or they can customize (more on that in another post!).

Once the class is set up it's time to start.  Click on Start Class and you can start taking data.  Click on a student and then click on the behavior they exhibit.  A running total of points is kept by each student, and their's a pop-up at the bottom that shows what they did and gives a small audio cue.  You can even choose to show notifications for both positive and negative, or you can turn off one or the other.  Same with the audio notification it can be set to only go off with positive notifications!  The last setting is to have combined points or you can separate the positive from the negative points, giving each student 2 numbers to watch.

The interface is designed to be displayed to the entire class while it's being used, so it works great with a SMARTBoard or Projector during class times.  The beauty is that you can then use a mobile device to assign points from anywhere in the classroom or school even.  Multiple devices can be logged in at one time and can all be giving points during a lesson!  You can even see the points on the mobile device if you want to show it to a student.  Just point you iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android phone or tablet to http://mobile.classdojo.com to sign into your account and get started!

When you are finished with a class and click end class you are presented with a graph that gives you the overall positive percentage.  While showing you the positive and negative points you awarded.  You can view this as a classroom or by individual student.  You can email yourself a copy of the report (PDF download is coming soon) and you can email each individual student report to yourself or parent by typing in their email address.

I have quite a bit more to say about ClassDojo.com, but think I'm going to save that for another post.  Please give it a try and let me know how it goes in your classroom!

Patrick

Share this

Do you know somebody else who would find this post interesting or useful? Please forward it to them. Did somebody forward this post to you? Visit Teaching All Students and subscribe to receive posts for free. If you need a tutorial please visit this post: RSS Readers.