Multimodal Literacies MOOC’s Updates
Class Dojo
The website that I use the most in my class in Class Dojo, and is a very multimodal website, essentially because the students are able to interact as much as they can in these times of COVID-19. Young learners are really eager to use it since they can create these monsters (as shown in the picture) to serve as their avatar.
Besides that, students enjoy Class Dojo because I can assign them points for participation, creativity, effort, and a series of other behavioral/interactive skills. Also, I can remove these points, but this an action I only take after I have talked to the student and tried to solve it in a different way. Another option (which is very interesting) is that parents can also access Class Dojo, and I can send them a message if there is anything they need to know, while they can follow the progress of their children.
Class Dojo allows my students to interact with each other and with me through posts and messages. Also, I can assign homework, pair and group work, thinking time. This website helps me promote agency, as the students can explore a suggested topic the way they prefer, and share their thoughts or their findings with messages, drawings, videos, audio, as they prefer. So they can explore multimodality as they are learning about different subjects.
I really like Class Dojo because of this interaction in different ways. Also, meaning-making changes from kid to kid and this same meaning-making carries family values and beliefs with them. For example, students whose parents let them use the computer more are usually comfortable with recording videos, they are highly communicative and interested in audio and image. On the other hand, kids whose parents are more careful with digital media tend to avoid it, writing their message,
I really enjoy using Class Dojo and I think it can be a wonderful asset in dark times such as COVID-19, in which Brazil is currently #1 country on death count every day...
@Fabielle Cruz, This is a wonderful tool for teaching. One query out of curiosity - do you use this website to teach children, adolescents or adults? I guess children would love this kind of website to learn by playing. Since I teach adult learners, I am just wondering how my learners would react to a website like this if I try teaching them using it.