I had the pleasure of attending a webinar from Caitlin at Class Dojo yesterday which turned out be extremely informative and fun. It was so nice to get to 'meet' a real-life (awesome) human being from the team behind the site that I use every day.
I have checked and my post from last month about Class Dojo is still accurate and will serve as a good overview or introduction if you aren't already a Class Dojo user. I'm going to be building on that today by telling you about some of the values that Class Dojo believe in and how these values shine through in the service that they provide.
Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Class Dojo supports more than just your child’s learning. Your child can stay connected with teachers and friends socially with posts and also with messaging. This is especially important if your child is not currently at school and is missing out on the social contact that they usually enjoy in the classroom.
Class Dojo 's Big Ideas (developed in partnership with top US colleges/universities) is a bank of content that teachers can share with their classes that support children's social and emotional wellbeing through stories and discussion. To me, the amount of work that has obviously gone into this area and the fact that it's free is evidence of how much Class Dojo value our children. Children don't care about access codes or saving as a draft or even whose posts are visible from whose accounts! They care about little cartoon monsters who have some of the same struggles as they do and how they overcome them.
Consistency
We all know that consistency is important in our children’s lives and that’s why teachers might share a daily or weekly agenda with students. This is particularly good for the more independent learners and for promoting self-directed learning. Agendas or timetables could be daily or weekly and may be written or visual for younger children.
Personalised Learning
The great thing about remote learning is that learners can be flexible in how and when they learn and learn at their own pace. Your child's teacher may share a ‘choice board’ with the class. Choice boards are almost like activity menus where children can choose from a number of activities. I think this is such a great idea because as we know children are more motivated to engage with an activity by being able to make their own choices. It also means that learning doesn't have to stop because you don’t have the resources, the space or the time for an activity - there are plenty of other options.
I also love the fact that children always have the option of how they want to respond. From drawings, drawing on photos, recording video clips to adding voice-overs and text captions to their work - there are plenty of choices.
Creativity
Children’s work is initially only visible to themselves and the teacher. Once the teacher approves it, teacher, parent and student can see it. This gives children confidence in coming up with their own interpretations of tasks without worrying about being 'wrong' or their work looking the same as the child next to them's. When children have the confidence to generate their own ideas and interpretations, creativity blooms.
Stickers!
Who doesn’t love stickers! Class Dojo have their own little monster stickers that children can add to their work.
If you are brand new to Class Dojo then have a look at my first post about Class Dojo from last month. Based on my own experience as a teacher using Class Dojo and what I learned from yesterday's session, I have made a list of things that are helpful to know whether you're a parent, teacher or a student.
Things you should know...
90% of answers to the questions you have are in the helpdesk
Students can’t post until they connect
The app and the web versions are currently different and have different features/options
Work isn’t meant to be sent via messaging
You can toggle between parent and student accounts using the toggle in the top left
Class Dojo have a dedicated section of their website for home learning
You can subscribe to the Class Dojo Youtube channel for helpful videos for parents, teachers and students
Class Dojo are constantly working to improve their service so watch out for new features!
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If you have anything to add or would like to let me know about your child's experience with using Class Dojo please email me here. I'd love to hear from you and answer your questions :)
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