Class dojo – Imagine Columbus Primary Academy. (n.d.). https://www.imaginecolumbusprimaryacademy.org/class-dojo/
Xue, L. (2024, March 16). Loom Classroom Management Tool: ClassDojo [Video].
Check out this fun video that talks about Class Dojo!
ClassDojo is a web tool that helps teachers with classroom management. The quality of classroom management directly impacts students' learning and the establishment of class order. I remember when I was a first-year teacher, teaching wasn't very difficult for me, but classroom management was very challenging. Several students didn't listen no matter what I said. When I expressed my frustration to another first grade teacher, she recommended ClassDojo to me and told me how to use it. The effect was immediately apparent!
Firstly, ClassDojo advocates positive reinforcement. Students need to demonstrate the behavior expected by the teacher to earn points. This is very effective for young students. When they hear the sound of earning points, they continue positive behavior and immediately improve negative behavior.
Secondly, giving points is not its real purpose. Its goal is to give students a sense of achievement, to facilitate smooth teaching, and to reduce the pressure on teachers in classroom management. Self-regulation is part of ill-structured problems. “Ill-structured problems require the simultaneous consideration of multiple variables, many of which change or evolve. Solving ill-structured problems requires flexibility and understandings based on contexts (Mishra & Koehler, 2007). This is an important reminder for teachers: the goal of using reward systems like ClassDojo is to teach students to regulate themselves. Teachers should consider the individual differences among students, as students are variables. The points should enable each student to experience a sense of achievement and progress.
Although teachers can better manage classrooms through ClassDojo, and students also like it, this technology is not a long-term solution. Gradually, students need to understand that earning points is not the goal; becoming good students is. It can be linked to families to strengthen home-school communication, but student privacy becomes a major issue.
References:
Class dojo – Imagine Columbus Primary Academy. (n.d.). https://www.imaginecolumbusprimaryacademy.org/class-dojo/
DiGiacomo, D. K., Greenhalgh, S., & Barriage, S. (2022). How Students and Principals Understand ClassDojo: Emerging Insights. TechTrends : for leaders in education & training, 66(2), 172–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-021-00640-6
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2007, March). Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK): Confronting the wicked problems of teaching with technology. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 2214-2226). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Xue, L. (2024, March 16). Loom Classroom Management Tool: ClassDojo [Video].