Collaboration/Technology Recommended Apps

I spent a long while sifting through various apps found a very interesting and controversial app for classroom management called ClassDojo. ClassDojo allowed teachers to take notes of student’s behavior and catalogue it immediately. ClassDojo also lets teachers grant or take away points from students based on behavior. These points are catalogued on a website that can be accessed by students, parents and other teachers. This app is useful because it maps out students behavior and provides a running track record for behavior problems. ClassDojo allows teachers to share this data concerning behavior with other teachers, parents thus allowing teachers to collaborate and discuss successful methods for managing students with behavior problems. It also provides teachers examples to use in parent teacher conferences. Further, a school psychologist/counselor can assess patterns and make an action plan to help teachers manage students. ClassDojo encourages students to stay on task and positively reinforces behavior with a point system.  Teacher reviews of this application stated that students felt more accountable for their behavior because they (and their parents) could see their behavior in class each day. Finally, ClassDojo saves teachers time. Teachers do not need to spend time out side of class trying to remember and record information about behavior problems. The set back I can see from this system is that teachers could use it as a weapon. This weapon can create a culture of fear in the classroom and serves as a barrier for communication meaning teachers do not need to talk to students about problems they can simply catalogue them online; and once information is written down it is there forever. Students are not able to discuss with the teacher why they are struggling to behave in class. I feel that conversations concerning behavior changes can help students grow and learn from mistakes. Further, some students might suffer from abuse if their parents see that their students did not receive full remarks.