Educational Technology Theoretical Description
19 this case, the teachers can see who has logged in and what activities that the
students have done, or what documents and forums they have accessed. Berking and Gallagher 2013, p. 6 state
that, “A Learning Management System LMS is a software package used to administer one or more courses to
one or more learners”. In other words, Learning Management System LMS is used by some learners to learn some courses in the same place.
Besides, according to Gallagher 2007 describes a Learning Management System LMS as typically web-based system that allows learners to authenticate
themselves, register for courses, complete courses and take assessment as cited in Berking Gallagher, 2013, p. 6. It means that, by using this web the learners are
allowed to register and join themselves in order to get the material or complete some tasks here.
Learning Management System LMS is an enterprise level, a server-based software system used to manage and deliver learning of many types through a
web browser, particularly asynchronous e-learning. They also generally include the capability of tracking and managing many kinds of learner
s‟ data, especially for the learner
s‟ performance. Many training organizations rely on their Learning Management System LMS as a single point of access for all their e-learning
contents and student records. They are the keys for enabling technology for- anytime, anywhere access to learning content and administration Berking
Gallagher, 2013, p. 6. According to Cobb and Steele 2013, Learning Management System
LMS is a software for delivering, tracking and managing training and education.
20 It means that, this software provides some facilities for delivering, tracking and
managing some materials to the learners. In addition, Learning Management System LMS is an application that provides a comprehensive set of tools for
educators to manage learning resources, administrative functions, assessments, and grading Richard, 2010, p. 2. In this application, there are some tools which
help the educators to manage the learning process easily, to give some materials and tasks, and also to assess the learners‟ tasks. The category of Learning
Management System LMS includes applications which consist of a variety of names, including virtual learning environments, course management systems, and
collaborative learning environments. According to Richard 2010, the different commercial and open-source platforms also vary in terms of capabilities and
features p. 2. Based on those definitions about Learning Management System LMS, it
could be concluded that learning management system LMS is an application that provides some facilities to support the learning process and it is designed to help
teachers manage online educational courses. In this case, students do not only see course content, such as documents, audio and video, but also do activities such as
quizzes, questionnaires, and tests, or use communication tools like discussion forums or text and audio chat. One of the applications that provides those facilities
is Edmodo. According to Duncan and Chandler 2011; Halm et al. 2012, state that
Edmodo is a private social platform which provides a secure space for teachers and students to connect and collaborate as cited in Mathupayas, 2013, p. 2. In
21 this case, students and teacher are linked together in private room and teacher can
easily monitor their students‟ interaction. Moreover, according to Cauley “A guide to explain it a
ll,” n.d., Edmodo is an educational website that takes the ideas of a social network and refines them and makes it appropriate for a
classroom p. 1. On the other hand, Edmodo is a social media platform often described as a Facebook for schools. Edmodo enables exceptionally secure cloud-
based collaboration. A teacher, school, or district can manage a system that provides the best features of the cloud while practically eliminating the anxiety
that teachers associate with students on the internet easily. Based on those definitions, it can be concluded that Edmodo is a private
social network which is designed in a secure learning platform for students and teachers. Edmodo is primarily a tool for within class communication, but it also
provides several ways for teachers to communicate with other teachers. In addition, Edmodo is used by the students to share their ideas freely and the
teacher can monitor them easily. In this research, Edmodo is used to help the first grade of junior high school students in developing their writing skills through
writing descriptive text. The teacher used Edmodo as a teaching medium to learn writing descriptive text because the teacher realized that the students consider
writing as difficult skills. Usually, most of the students used Google translate in making English writing assignment. Therefore, the teacher should have an
appropriate medium to teach writing and Edmodo is one of the teaching media which is suggested to be used in English teaching. According to Campos and
Garaizar 2010; Galan 2011, state that social networks dedicated to education
22 such as Yammer, Edmodo or Ning are suggested to be used in order to support the
learning process as cited in Mathupayas, 2013, p. 2. Since Edmodo is still new for the students, the teacher should explain the functions and the procedure of the
use of Edmodo in writing descriptive text clearly at the beginning. Remembering that the students are growing up with digital media in this
globalization era, most of them are familiar with Internet. Therefore, the teacher has decided to use Edmodo in teaching writing because the design of Edmodo is
similar to Facebook where the students are already familiar with. However, Edmodo is more secure for teaching and learning because there are no other
websites which are not related to education offered in Edmodo and the students can only enter the room in Edmodo by entering the code which is given by the
teacher so that the students can focus in learning. The use of Edmodo is aimed to connect between the teacher and the students even they do not meet directly.
Since they are connected to each other, it helps the teacher to help the students in developing the students‟ writing skills because the teacher can give some
feedbacks to them directly. Moreover, the students also can communicate to their friends in order to give some comments and suggestions in order to make their
writing better.