ClassDojo is a new, real-time behaviour management software developed for free teacher use. A five minute You Tube video demonstrates how to use the software. Teachers create an account and students create avatars of themselves. Throughout the day, teachers can award points for positive behaviors or take them away for bad ones; teachers can edit the behaviors to suit their needs. Individual student and entire class reports are available to download or email. Statistics can be reset at any given point. The ClassDojo platform can be projected on a screen or displayed on an electronic whiteboard.
A Huffington Post article on the software from February, 2012 includes perspectives from the softwares’ creators, Liam Don and Sam Chaudray. They name several pros of the software from accessibility for teachers of all ages, the choice of teachers within the software to display good or bad behavior instead of just one, and a focus on pupil’s personal development.
A post in Mark Cunningham’s education blog from January of this year agrees with the creator’s viewpoints. Not only does he name and agree with the points made by the creators in the Huffington Post article from February, but goes on to say that the software encourages interactive, peer-to-peer feedback, specifically when incorporated with an electronic whiteboard. When ClassDojo and electronic whiteboards are used together, students can award points to their peers for success in a task or being helpful, for instance.
Süleyman Nihat Sad’s and Ugur Özhan’s May, 2012 article “Honeymoon with IWBs: A qualitative insight in primary students’ views on instruction with interactive whiteboard” examines how students perceived whiteboard use in primary classrooms in Turkey. Their findings reveal both positive and negative perspectives from students. They enjoyed the practical, interactive, and novel aspects, but disliked the disruptions which arise from power outage, poor color settings, and viruses (2012). The researchers further found in their study that projects and electronic whiteboards rated equally in the metric of interactivity, which they concluded implied electronic whiteboards were not used to their fullest potential (2012).
Besides the possibility that electronic whiteboards are not being used to their fullest potential, another downside of this software is that it requires a device, whether it be a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. No problem for teachers in technology-supporting areas, but this is not a viable tool for those without technology in their classrooms. An October article in Mind/Shift remarks that one teacher consulted about the software had not been able to use it since it requires a device, which is unavailable in his classroom.
References
Sad, S.N., & Özhan, S. (2012). Honeymoon with IWBs: A qualitative insight in primary students’ views on instruction with interactive whiteboard. Computers and Education, 59(4), 1184-1191.
Source links:
http://www.classdojo.com/
http://youtu.be/b5uihmPlbvA
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/16/class-dojo-teachers-answer-making-pupils-behave_n_1281462.html
http://www.cunniman.net/?p=1120
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/10/what-works-in-tech-tools-spotlight-on-classdojo/
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ReplyDeleteHey Cathryn,in general I think that the Dojo program can be a very interesting tool for some teachers and caregivers. But I have some doubts about the realization of the software, in a class with 35 students. For me the idea of a teacher, who is walking around and continously (in a full high school class) adding 'plus and minus student behavioral points' into the smartphone, seems quiet funny. In my opinion the program is rather useful in a small group of students. I guess that especially in an environment of students with problematic behaviour the software should be considered. For those children it is important to notice and reflect their behaviour more in detail, the Dojo would help with that. So maybe not only in class, but also in daily cares/ group homework help, etc.the Dojo can be used. It can also make the teacher- parent- chid communcation easier. Because a clear record about the child behaviour is given. Finally I think that in small groups the ClassDojo could be a great support for teacher, children and parents.
ReplyDeleteHi Paula. It is a funny image you paint of the teacher in a high school setting! Further, I think the necessity of addressing adolescents' behavior issues privately makes this kind of software less practical for older learners. Also, you touch on a good point about the realization. Certainly any behavior software will fail without tangible connections to shared, non-virtual reality. Maybe for some teachers that could be where rewards and punishments come in, or possibly even parents could be involved in that regard. It may also be possible that peers can positively pressure each other to behave well when the entire class is aware of the teacher's awareness of behaviors. I agree that these tools may be most readily implemented well in smaller venues. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
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