More than just about the tools.

I've often been asked a few times, when I show my photos to others, what camera am I using. Similarly, when I do a piece of digital work, some do want to know what is the app or softtware that I am working with. I would usually obliged, as more often than not, I do not really mind sharing with those that have asked me, some of the tools of my trade. Which is one of the good things about being an educator. You don't really have that feeling that you should be monetizing all the things that you have presented. Plus, you don't really feel the need to be keeping the tools of your trade a secret. But I do want to set the record straight that most people often fail to see...that it IS more than just about the tools or apps that one is using, that matters!

I remember the joke that was going around some popular photography websites, about how a photographer admonishes an audience who wrongly attributed the beautiful pictures that the former has taken, to the camera that he uses. But frankly, on a more realistic level, I do feel that the tools do play a small, albeit significant part to make something look good. Although what others often fail to see is this need for the ideas to be triggered and visualised mentally first....before being actualised. And this is the thing that matters more! 

While others are often so hooked-up on learning every single function of an app or software, or getting their hands on the latest iteration of a piece of hardware, what matters more in my opinion is the ability to be creative, and to then realise that creative spark into something more explicit and meaningful. And in fact, the limitations of not learning all the functions, nor having the latest hardware, can in fact be another trigger to ignite that creativity further. One is thus forced to think through how can things be realised based on the things or conditions that are already pre-existing. Now wouldn't that be itself a powerful creative force?

Whch brings us to this idea of affirmation. More often than not, societies in general, especially those from an Asian context, subscribe heavily to this notion of being certified to do something? So we have a case of experts of say, marriage (marriage counsellors), who themselves have never been married, or entrepreneurship experts or lecturers who have never had any experience setting up a start-up, let alone a booth! It is this pervasive yet warped notion that these certification are obtained in a theoretical context, and not earned through understanding and uncovering of the real nuances and ramifications of say, relationships and interplay of human elements beyond our control, in a marriage, or the difficulties of convergence of an idea and the monetary elements for any entrepreneur. I guess it is easier for one to be certified as an expert in say....a CAD software, but the truth be told, he is absolutely sucky at creating a (master?)piece on the tools that he is an expert in.

I would thus like to propose an evolutionary idea of sorts, on this thing about creativity and being an expert in a piece of hardware or software. Why not  let the eventual pieces of work on the hardware or software be the certifying piece, of the person's expertise? So for example, if a person wants so be a digital modelling expert, let him learn the basics, and let the final piece of work that he produces, based on his own exploration of the various functions, be the certifying piece. It might take a little longer, but it would allow for a greater degree of alignment between his creativity to 'wield the weapon', and more importanly, to be able to produce a creative deliverable with whatever 'weapon that he knows or has'.

So to those that continues to ask me what tools or hardware I am using, I will still answer you. 

But you might also want to add, what inspired me to do that?

Some tools of my trade, in my favourite #Ledr (from onehundred) piece

Uncovering the mystery of the reluctant sketcher

I have always been somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to getting my students to work on their initial ideas, regardless of the nature of the project. Nothing can beat the sense of having your ideas sketched out on a piece of paper, with a pencil/pen, and seeing them getting all rough and raw, like chicken scrawls on a flat piece of sanded space.

Over the years that I've been teaching a design-centric lesson, I can't help to notice the various stages of sketching competencies that my students are at. I have always feel that you have to start somewhere when it comes to being a good sketcher or doodler, but I guess, the problem for most of my colleagues is in getting the students to even start. Perhaps there's that sense of expectation, and worry, that our students are often being ascribed too...this sense of fearing to fail. A significant number have this unfounded fear that their first sketch, or first few sketches, must be of a quality that can wow their friends, and even their own teachers. Maybe because of the thinking of students that sketching is something akin to other subjects...that showing them an example, or a few examples, with worked solutions thrown in, will enable them to level up to that level of expertise.

But nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that not all of them can draw or sketch to save their lives, and worst still, some even have a deep sense of aversion to anything that is related to producing a sketch on a piece of paper.

I'd just like to highlight, based on my own observation, the few levels of sketching abilities that I always think my students are 'banded' into:

Level 0: 

At this level, students are merely tracing the shapes and outlines of the intended image. This is usually done either via tracing papers, or enlarging contraptions. 

Level 1: 

At this level, students are making copies of images either via a side-to-side comparison, or through viewing via a third party element, such as via a computer screen, photo from a book, etc.

Level 2: 

At this level, students start to portray some degree of creativity, and artistic flair, albeit at a very initial level. Final sketches are based on and inspired from some forms and shapes from Level 0 or 1, but are modified to include some additional details and elements from the artist.

Level 3: 

At this level, students are still inspired by works and forms from the previous levels, but the final sketches would probably have undergone a significant level of modification to warrant it as something that would probably be creative or/and innovative

Level 4: 

At this level, students are not only producing original pieces of sketches, but are sketching ideas and details based on their own interpretation of how and what their sketches are supposed to communicate. One would probably classify this as demonstrating the highest form of creativity, but I think I should reserve that judgement for a moment, as I also believe that attaining this level of ability, is not necessarily an affirmation that someone is creative.

So there you go, my interpretation of the different levels of sketching competencies, based on my own classroom observations.

Sketches done by students for a make-believe chair

Using swirls of blue in the Paper app by 53.

Designing for synergy....

So my students from Secondary 2/Grade 8 have finally submitted their architecture models and presentation boards, after a long semester of lessons, chasing them for their milestone deliverables, facilitating their discussions and ideation, and all the other things that a teacher has to do to make sure that they have learned something during my lessons. It has never been an easy thing when you have such multiplicty in your scheme of things, but this is also precisely why such things should be something that should be a more common sight in the classrooms. This idea that students are inherently different, and should thus partake in exploring  things that are well, more attuned to their cognitive levels of understanding, plus a level higher.

But a more important thing that I want to highlight is this very thought of having a unifying project that would compel and encourage and require them to adopt a multi-disciplinary mindset in their approaches. I am a firm believer in getting students to work on projects that would perhaps be their 'graduating' piece, their swan song school-centric project that would enable them to apply what they have learned, and make them question the applicability of concepts learned from hours sitting in the classroom, and listening to lecturers, and reading their texts. Much like how post-secondary institutions here in Singapore have their final-year projects (also affectionately called FYP's, for short), I think there should be this grand project, that would enable students to make sense of all their lessons, and  uncover their own knowledge.

For me, the architecture  module in the ADM subject area is such a project. Yes...it is still very much limited to the specific subject matter, but what I would like to continue to do is to see how some of these ideas can be transplanted and expanded into a larger superset, a larger context and domain, whilst still retaining the 'safety net' of it being a school-centric endeavour, because we also want to encourage discoveries of new knowledge, and sometimes failure will precede these discoveries. 

There are still tonnes of possibilities that I would like to explore within the module, some of course more applicable than others. Most of the 'low-hanging fruits are already taken, and I guess it's time for us now to go for the higher ones. Let us see how we can move on from here then.

Wish me luck. :D

The power of potential

My pioneer batch of students taking Design Studies (DS) as their Applied Subject (AS) for their O levels have just finished with their final component, which is their oral presentations, a few weeks ago. Though i can't reveal much in terms of their projects, nor how they fare generally at this juncture, what I want to reflect on is this thing called potential.

I remembered that certain sense of apprehension when i first had a talk on how the curriculum was supposed to look like when discussions were started way back in 2009. The idea was to offer a new subject area that will be almost mutually exclusive in terms of its content compared with current offerings like Art and Design and Technology (D&T). It must be significantly different enough to justify it as a new subject, and rigorous enough for it to be managed by 15 to 16-year olds.

The challenge was real as such content has never been 'brought down' to the upper secondary school level, nor watered-down to deem it to be of a lesser rigour than other subject offerings at the same level. The challenge for me was also real, in the context of how can a subject area that has an artsy- and design-slant 'survive' in an environment that is seemingly more STEM-centric, within the institution that I was teaching.

The journey was not without its challenges. How can the department prepare the students for this new subject, and how can the students be able to level up to the rigours of this new subject? On another note, how can resources be deployed effectively and optimally, without any adverse impact on others?

I'm happy to say that this past 2 years have started to bear fruit! Seeing how the students have managed to work on their projects, and the quality of their deliverables, gives me that rare sense of satisfaction towards something that have slowly developed to something that is more...concrete! That finally some things, if not all, starts to make more sense....that the subject matter finally have begun to produce students that can showcase their true potential towards something that is more STEAM-, than STEM-centric (the 'A' here refers to Art, or artistic elements).

What is ahead for the subject area? There's still lots more work to be done, and ironed out. Getting good students to want to take up this subject is one of them; ensuring that the mindset who undertakes this journey with me is correct, is another. the journey is still long and arduous, but it is one that would be good for all in the end.

A welfie during my final session with the pioneer/graduating batch of DS/AS

Telling your stories...

It has been a while since I last updated this blog, but I thought it is a good time for me to work on some of my posts right now.

It has been a good year so far, and one aspect that I am enjoying this year is the opportunities that have been given to me to present at various platforms. Let me start by sharing my experience at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) a few weeks ago.

It was one of those emails from a working associate, with warm emails (versus cold ones?), and loo and behold, one thing leads to another, and there I was presenting to an audience of about 20 to 30 students and faculty members from NAFA.

It was a good yet overwhelming experience for me, given my background and my current teaching experience to only the younger folks in my school. But I did give it my best, and added in contexts that I hope will enable my audience to see possibilities that the more mature students can achieve, given the possibilities that have been realised by my younger students.

More than that, I hope that this could also be a start, perhaps of something more. It made me realise the possibilities of mobile devices, and what they can create and do. I do hope to continue my work on realising some of the things and possibilities that I presented.

If you are interested in the iBook that I presented, you can download it HERE. (note that it is a rather large file...about 315 Mb)

A 'welfie' after my presentation

How devices are making us rethink our seating positions?

Who would have thought that something as simple as just sitting on a chair has evolved over the recent years due to the ubiquitous use of tablets and other similar devices. No longer are chairs being designed just for the desktop or laptop-centric workplace environment. With the recent convergence of other smaller form-factor devices being part of our daily routine, there is a need to rethink our ideas of what a chair should be. This is where I thought the rethinking of the design of the humble chair is a step in the right direction. It just reminded me of a blog post that I did once before, about the need to standardize finger and hand gesturing across all devices, something similar to what signing does for the hearing and/or speech-impaired.

Taken from: http://bit.ly/Z0Hk31

Have a look at a short video:

Video: Fast Sketch - Landscape Design

Love the landcape and architectural sketches done in this clip. Would love to try out some of his techniques, on a digital platform if possible:

The idea of faces on objects

Photo by: irfandarian, idphotography 2013

In recent months, I've started to notice faces in some of the objects that I used or passed by daily. No, it is not because I have gone nutty up there, but it seems strange to me that sometimes we can see things that we want to see in all these lifeless things around us.

Or perhaps this is just one of those skeuomorphic tendencies that I have as I delve a little deeper into the subject matter of design. Perhaps replicating a face-like design in some objects would lead to a greater acceptance by its users of the intended objects. Or perhaps, it is part of that grand plan, at the psychological or neural level, to make people happy about using the intended products! Or perhaps, it is just my mind playing face-recognising games on me, on those bored mornings/afternoons/evenings...the reasons I might never clearly know or find out, but one thing I do know is that not all things lends itself well to have a face implanted or imagined on it!

But then again...that's just my opinion.

When technology stupefies you!

Taken from: http://www.citroenchat.com/showthread.php?t=2816

I was driving home the other day and a thought just struck me. If I was caught in a traffic jam but am in a very familiar road situation, would I still need a GPS system to guide me out of the jam? Would I be able to make that dynamic decision to perhaps change my route, that could perhaps save me from being stuck unnecessarily in an avoidable jam?

Perhaps when one talks about such a technology as the GPS system, one can't help but be thankful that such a technology exists, but I do feel that the convenience of having one does stupefies the user a little.  Now let me qualify my statement that no, it doesn't mean that using GPS confines one to a state of stupidity. It is just that the very fact that one knows that one has it, and can depend on it, would lead to a tendency of its users from moving away from thinking through their decisions, and solely based their directional judgements on a machine, which might not be able to perhaps see the jam 200 m ahead of you!

But on the other hand, I do feel that the GPS is a godsend in certain contexts and situations, more so in a situation where you are in an unfamiliar road condition or routes, or you are simply driving through a location that you have been a long while back, but have somewhat changed over the years. I do think that GPS is a good 'friend' to have by your side in such situations, but having them to make that judgements for you when you are on familiar ground, just seems a little 'not using your brain and letting it to rot' kinda of moment for me.

But then again, this is just my personal opinion.

Video: The 3 ways that good design makes you happy #designology

I concur about his idea of how good design makes you happy. But the pragmatist in me would also like to see design that makes the experience of the user using it happy too, rather than just be having that feeling at the visceral levels. On another note, I would love to have that teapot at my place!

Video: Design is in the Details #designology

"Design doesn't have to be about grand gestures, but can solve small, universal and overlooked problems." Paul Bennett, Chief Creative Officer, IDEO

I love the reframing of a storage system for children.

Hingeless bendable speaker: #MadeWithPaper

A visual of the proposed hingeless, bendable speaker.

Inspired by the need to be simple, the hingeless, bendable speaker idea sketched above works on the idea of simplifying the practise of customising the users' experiences with their current portable speakers. Allowing the speakers to bend at almost all angles for customisability, whilst at the same time, leveraging on a flexible material type that one would use to clip excess wires of extension cords, I thought these ideas could converge to form the above design quite simple. The speaker itself is envisioned to be curved for added acoustics, and aesthetics.

ForkSpoon+Knife: #MadeWithPaper

Version 1: ForkSpoon combination

Version 2: ForkSpoon+Knife combination

Inspired from my own personal experiences with my children, I think that there is a lot of potential for a combined Fork+Spoon+Knife utility product. With the advent of magnets in a lot more product uses, I thought the use of such adhesive-able element in the above combi would play nicely with making the combination more useful and utilitarian, but at the same time, without sacrificing the simplicity of its function!

A-Sketch-a-Day 2013: The Paper app project #MadeWithPaper

Screen grab of my Design(ology) page on Facebook,
for my A-Sketch-a-Day (aSkaD2013) project

The screen grab above is taken from my design(ology) Facebook Page as part of my personal+Professional project for 2013, to sketch something...anything, at least once a day. I might have failed on certain days to sketch anything at all, but definitely I've made up for these 'dry' days by sketching things out on my more inspired days.

It has been quite a journey to be disciplined enough to allocate some time to work on these, but I realise that a certain degree of change of mindset would need to happen before I even work on these. It helps that I don't find sketching a chore, in fact I do find sketching these ideas, some random, and some intentional, therapeutic. Strange...yes, but that's how I feel for these sketches.

It would be good to get some comments from people out there regarding what more could I sketch..perhaps a theme, an object....or something that comes to your mind. Would love to hear something from you dear readers.

Google Glass in the classroom...some ideas

I thought it's really cool that Google is working on an experimental project with lots of potential like the  Google Glass, and I am sure it would just be a matter of time, perhaps really soon, before its initial potential could be seen in the classrooms. And perhaps to get the ball rolling, here are my 5 initial thoughts on how it can be used in the classrooms.

1. Have the Glass networked with one another and the teacher's, and students would then be able to  see a virtual board on their screens, or see the Google Docs that the teacher has opened from his/her shared Google Drive. Very useful when used out of the classrooms, say during field-trips or school outings to locations out of the school premises
2. Conference calls, hangouts, Skyping using the Glass would be an even better experience with the Glass. Students and teachers could work from different locations, even different countries, and lessons could be done via the video tool. In fact, recording the lessons would be a natural thing to do, followed up by perhaps a review of the lesson/s.
3. Alternatively, the concept of a Flipped Classroom could be greatly enhanced here. Students would be able to learn content before their lessons, from other sources, and then present them to their classmates during lessons. In fact, why not enable multiple screens to appear on the Glass, so that there could be one-to-many interactions.
4. Allow the teacher to form groups within the class through linking the Glasses together, and get students to then collaborate on working on a project whilst leveraging on it. It could be a small group of students working on a media coverage of a school event, but being in different locations and reporting in ala a news network, at different times of the event.
5. Link up the Glass with sketching elements like a stylus, or why not enable the finger/s of the Glass wearer to be the stylus. Students would then work on sketching their ideas, on say, a subject area on coming out with designs to solve a physical problem. If networked, small groups of students would be able to work on these set of sketches concurrently! In fact, if computing power permits, why just work on 2D....let's have 3-dimensionality in these Glasses as well. SketchUp on Glass anyone?

These are just my initial thoughts of the potentials of Glass in classrooms, that I can think of at the moment. There's definitely more ideas out there, on top and above what I've read about in some of the comments and articles. Perhaps the above might work in the first versions...or not. But whatever it is, the Glass would definitely open up newer unimaginable possibilities to the teachers in the classrooms.

Teaching concepts: Eliciting the 4 concepts in 1-point perspective

As part of the professional development (PD) exercise in my current institution, I recently volunteered to be a participant in a PD sharing session on Conceptual Teaching. It definitely is an elucidating session for me, and what I took away from that session is a clearer idea of what concepts are, and how a teacher can deepen the students' learning through the idea of teaching concepts.

Well, certainly teaching concepts in the classrooms is not an easy exercise on its own, as it does require a certain significant degree of preparation and set of examples, and counter-examples, of what concepts are. But what I do appreciate most is the idea that for learning to be really deep and significant, the ability to deepen the students' conceptual understanding, and then perhaps being able to get students to apply and transfer these concepts into other contexts, is THAT thing that would be the epitome of what effective LEARNING is all about. If students do not just merely regurgitate nor memorise, but more importantly, being able to have a deep understanding of the materials being taught, and then, being able to apply them into other contexts, that is perhaps the ideal model of what learning is all about.

I was initially a bit skeptical about how to apply Conceptual Teaching into a topic or into content areas that is primarily skills-centric, but nonetheless, being the adventurous me, I decided to give it a shot! Loo and behold, I did manage to work on developing concepts on what 1-point perspective is all about, or not. Here are the 4 concepts that I've managed to elicit from my interactions from my 2 classes of Year 1's (12-13 year olds). Here are the 4-concepts, taken from the white board.

4 key concepts to define a 1-point perspective drawing, plus an optional
working concept, for my students

What do you think of these 4 concepts? Are these enough to define that a perspective sketch is 1-point, versus one that is not? Let me hear your thoughts.

iPadifying my classroom: Explain Everything...Part 1

I am currently very actively looking at a model of flipped teaching, and the likes, and am exploring the use of the Explain Everything app on the iPad as a tool that would help me to get to that eventuality in certain aspects or content areas of my lessons.

Screen grab from their web site

It has been a mix of both good and trying experience in using the app so far, but more good has so far come out of my experimentation, rather than the bad. In fact I have just managed to finish working on my second clip in class earlier today, and am definitely looking at a model whereby these recordings could be used again, and even retrieved by the students during their practise or revision sessions later on, or when I am not present for lessons.

In case any of the readers reading this blog have any experience using the app, or are also using the app for their own teaching and learning, please do share with me on some of your thoughts or ideas. We could perhaps learn from each other too. I'm contactable at the usual links that you read off the side of this blog page.

5 things I like about the Paper app

Screen-grab of the Paper app

I have been using the Paper app by FiftyThree for almost a year now, and I must say it is still one of my favourite sketching tool, no...make it my MOST favourite sketching tool in my iPad. And with my recent upgrade to the Retina display version of the iPad, it has been a godsend too.

Let me just state why it has been my app of choice for most of my sketches:

1. The look-and-feel: The look-and-feel of the app is just...how shall I say it...just right aesthetically. The team at fiftythree has spent a lot of effort, and indeed being voted as a winner in 2012's Apple Design Award is, I think, one of the more deserving accolade that they should win, perhaps of many more to come. The clean and simple interface just smacks of simplicity and zen-ness, whilst still maintaining a certain level of functionality in giving the users options and choices, to pursue and peruse the app in their own desired way.
2. Undo: I find the undo concept, akin to the rewinding of a turntable, a very innovative one. Viewing the interview video done with the design team, I can now understand the background behind this unique design. It is indeed an efficient tool for me as a user.
3. Colour palette: The updated versions launched recently includes a colour palette that enables users to have better and more control over the colour. I thought this is a neat idea, given the fact that I usually use several tones of some hues for some of my sketches.
4. Sketchbooks: The idea of incorporating 'sketchbooking' elements rather than loose sheets, like some other sketching apps, is also a step in the right direction for me. It helps me to organise my sketches, and allows me to clarify my ideas and thoughts better too. With the added functionality of copying from one page of a book, to another, it makes the experience even better!
5. Pay for what you use/need: Yes, although the basic edition is free, you can still upgrade, but just pay only for those that you use or need. But if you are like me, just get everything!

I guess there are several more reasons that I can quote, but the above are perhaps the major reasons, not in any particular order, that have made me really love this app.

But I do admit it is not perfect! There are some nice-to-have functions that I wish they could have added on, but alas, that in itself could be one post that I might be doing at another time then. In the meantime, I am just enjoying what they have to offer, and perhaps doing a little more sketching too!

For a look at some of my works, you can Like my id.design(ology) page on Facebook, or view my 'A Sketch A Day Project 2013' (Twitter hashtag: #aSkaD2013) HERE, plus my other sketches and contributions. You can also see my works specifically on the Paper app on my Behance page HERE.

5 ideas to improve Edmodo

As I've said in my previous post, I have only been using Edmodo for 4 weeks. These are 5 ideas that I thought would help to make the platform more effective, but then again, these are only ideas from me as a very early adopter, and my teaching and learning workflow could be different from others...or not. So here are my 5 ideas to improve Edmodo:

1. Show more preview of the attached files: I thought having the ability to show a little more of the attached files is a good idea to have, akin to how one can browse through the pages of a .pdf document in the Finder window on a Mac-based system.
2. Being able to simultaneously dictate posts: Currently I have to rework on another assignment post if I were to assign the same assignment to different classes, at different times of release. I know that we could just edit the original post, and add in the target groups or classes later on, but I thought being able to do these staggered timings at one go early on, and once only, would be a better and more efficient way of working.
3. Reorganising small groups: Currently the small groups are pretty much fixed, and when one needs to regroup the class into other variations for a new assignment, the old group would not stay, unless one takes the effort to create a new cluster of small groups! This might make the organisation of the small groups function a little unwieldly, especally over time. I thought it is good to have some form of a memory-system in place, so that for each of the assignment assigned to a batch of smaller groups, the teacher/user can make references to which students are in the particular small groups, for a particular specific assignment. This could also be extended to the Turned-In submissions, as only the particular student who submitted on behalf of the group would have the Turned-In status on. I thought having the status for the rest of the group members at the same time would be a bette means of indication.
4. Editable grading for students: Something small, but I thought it would be good for teacher/users to be able to edit the listing descriptors whenever they are marking the students' turned in assignments. Descriptors like 'A Rockstar' might be helpful in certain contexts...but might also not be helpful in others. Best if this could be linked to some sort of a user-defined rubrics too.
5. A much better in-built chatting/private messaging tool: I thought having this tool built in into Edmodo would be helpful, akin to Facebook's Chat and Google+'s Hangout concepts. It would help students to make connections and give feedback more quickly, within the system, rather than having to alternate to another tool to do so.

Disclaimer: Although these are ideas/suggestions from me that I deemed to be non-existent yet, I might be wrong in certain areas, and there might just be turnarounds to the challenges that I face above, that I have not discovered just yet. I would definitely love to hear from any Edmodo users out there, for some of these turnarounds, if any. Or perhaps I might have been doing some aspects wrongly, hence the shortcomings above. But whatever it is, I do hope that some of these improvements are things that could be in the pipeline, and who knows, the list above might just get a little shorter once I am done with it by the end of the year!

10 things why I like Edmodo

Screenshot of the homepage

I have been using Edmodo.com for about 4 weeks now, and I must say it has been a good experience thus far. Here's my 10 reasons why I like to use it for my lessons:

1. It is similar to Facebook: The fact that the interface and the way it works is similar to Facebook, perhaps the #1 social media tool used by my students, is already a plus point in itself. Students would have a very short learning curve to work their way around the interfaces and being able to 'recognise' the similarities between Facebook and Edmodo.
2. No ads: At least not now. The fact that there are no ads help teachers like me to focus more on what is the main intent of using Edmodo, that is for teaching and learning. Having no distractions like advertisements, however appropriate (or worse still, inappropriate ones!) is a godsend, as it just looks a little cleaner to me, for my intended tasks.
3. Closed system: The fact that you can control the level of privacy of your group/class is another tool that is useful. Whilst this is also possible in tools like Facebook and Google+, I thought the fact that the focus of Edmodo, being a tool more for educators, than the former two, just helps to redefine and make the system more exclusive, and thus enhance the closeness (or openness), of it.
4. Assignments: The ability for the teacher-user to define the assignments and immediately upload the posts, or having them posted in a delayed manner, is a good tool for me, especially when I can key in all the assignments to my classes at one go, but then stagger their uploads/posts onto the main public board, according to the timings that I dictate
5. Linkage to G-drive: Having the Library function linked to you selected Gmail account, and consequently, the corresponding Google Drive is a good step, as it helps me to just keep track of the single folder or G-drive account that I would need to monitor, for all my lesson materials, that I would want to upload, or refer to.
6. Ability to monitor students submissions: One of the shortcomings of using other social media tools, is their inability to monitor closely the submissions by students. Hence the ability of Edmodo to give the teacher an overall view of students' submissions, is indeed useful. More so too if you have more than one class/group to teach.
7. Ability to differentiate instructions through small-grouping: Being able to form smaller groups within the class is another useful tool...in my opinion. Teachers like me can better manage their assignments, and shall there be a need to, use differentiated instructions methods to targeted groups, for a more effective learning environment. 
8. Polls and Quizes: The use of polls and short quizzes, with time limits, is a good tool for one to use, as it helps to complete Edmodo, as a tool for teaching and learning. As of now, I have not use this tools yet, but I thought having them as part of the suite of tools made available to the teacher-user, is indeed something worth exploring, and using, later on.
9. Commenting on students' submissions: This must be one of the tool that I have been using the most thus far. Especially when one talks about submissions of digital artefacts that are subjective or aesthetics-based in nature. The ability of the teachers to include personalised comments, and suggestions, is really a wonderful one!
10. Badges as rewards: I guess students are also motivated by some form of rewards, and having this small, but useful feature, is a step in the right direction, towards affirming students works and/or efforts.

And there you go, the 10 things that I like about Edmodo.com, not in any particular order. There are still a few more that I might have missed over here, but it is definitely one tool that educators should try to have a go at, even if its not on a 1-to-1 computing classroom model.

Do give me a tinker if you have ideas, or would like to share with me your thoughts on this.