ClassDojo App Review: Connecting Kids, Parents, and Teachers

Almost all things are using new technologies not only for improvement but also to achieve better goals. This is also true in classroom settings. As many parents want their children to learn not only in school but also at their home, new technologies are being used. These make it possible to have communication among teachers, parents, and students. One of the apps that use such new technology is the ClassDojo app.

In this article, we will discuss what ClassDojo is, its features and benefits, and some of its competitors.

What Is the ClassDojo App?

ClassDojo app is an educational technology and classroom management app. It aims to connect with students and parents to provide amazing learning communities to children. Moreover, it is an awesome way to encourage student engagement and parent involvement. This app is of great help to keep track and improve student behavior. Also, it is a great way of keeping communication with their parents. Aside from this, it facilitates classroom activities and encourages collaboration with the parents so they will feel more engaged with the things that their children are into.

Using this app, teachers are assigning dojos to their students. They do this by doing the addition and subtraction of points on different categories. The points depend on the behavior of every student and on the choices that they make. Positive points encourage students to participate in every lesson and focus on learning. On the other hand, negative points are given to students who misbehave or do not perform well. The deduction of points makes the students realize their mistakes. Moreover, it is also done when the student is not active. With that, they will try to be better and will try to participate actively.

In addition to this, teachers can make families feel the experience in classrooms. They do this by sharing photos and videos from class. On the other hand, students, through digital portfolios, share their home learnings. Teachers can instantly message families and give feedback on the student’s skills in more than thirty-five languages. Parents can view their child’s feedback and also message the teachers involved in teaching their child.

If you’re looking for more learning apps, here is our list of the best learning apps and the best math apps.

How to Get the ClassDojo App?

The ClassDojo App can be downloaded at the App Store for iOS devices. This app is 100% free of charge. You can use this app on any device, including laptops, PC, iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets. It can also be used on smartboards.

For Android Users

For iOS Users

How Much Is ClassDojo?

ClassDojo is 100% free for parents, students, and teachers. It is available on iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad Also, you can have it on your Android devices. Moreover, you can also go to the ClassDojo website and use it for free. However, if you are a parent and you want to access its full features, you can subscribe to ClassDojo Beyond School and enjoy its extra features.

ClassDojo Beyond School provides different subscription options. The price depends on the subscription that you prefer. You can see the prices upon signing up. Moreover, you can pay monthly, bi-annually, and annually, and you can use your credit card, debit card, or PayPal to pay for your subscription.

ClassDojo App Features

Dojo Points

These are what the teachers give to their students. These points serve as a motivational tool to encourage the students to work hard and perform well. These also motivate students to participate in more in-class activities and do positive things when they are at home.

They serve as the reward system for classwork and classroom participation. In addition to this, teachers can use these points in different categories. Positive points can be given for positive behaviors and for the categories that need improvement. Students will receive negative points if they do not perform well. With that, they will be triggered to improve their performance and be more behave as well.

Customizable Icons

ClassDojo provides a wide range of icon packs. There are little monsters and critters icons. Also, there are festival themed icons from where the students can choose from. If the students are not satisfied with the icons that are pre-set, the teachers can upload their PNG files, which they think will suit the students’ interests.

Parent’s Involvement

It is quite challenging for teachers to have constant communication with their students’ parents. ClassDojo makes it easy for the teachers to make parents involved in the classrooms. They just need to download the app and enter their unique code. These give them access to their child’s account. Teachers will share class announcements, videos, and pictures with their parents. This way, the parents can see how their children perform and learn in the class. Moreover, teachers can always message the parents to give feedback about the students.

Student’s Digital Portfolio

ClassDojo allows students to create their digital portfolio where they can upload their classwork. Moreover, they can use it for future references. With this, students won’t need books and notes as their works are all saved on their devices. Also, the student’s digital portfolios make it easy for the teachers to grade their work. Teachers can also add notes, which can be their student’s guide for reviewing. With that, they can prepare well for the upcoming exams.

Teacher Toolkit

ClassDojo is such a handy app for the teachers. Moreover, it provides different innovative tools for the teachers to use. The following are some of the essential tools available in the toolkit;

• Think-Pair-Share – this is a collaborative activity where students are assigned to work together and answer a problem or question. This tool helps students to be more comfortable in sharing their ideas.
• Noise Meter – this keeps track of all the students and helps students to self-manage.
• Group Maker – makes it easy to assigned students to the group.
• Timer – this is readily available to be used when students are doing activities. It keeps all things in the classroom moving.
• Random – this tool makes it easy to make all students engaged and involved in-class participation.
• Music – this provides the perfect soundtrack when the class is doing a game or activity.
• Today – you can post welcome messages and announcements.

Classroom

Teachers can use this to deal with students. This is where they can put up the wonderful culture in the classroom with their students and provide feedback on their chosen skills and values. Teachers have their ways of inviting the parents to join the “Classroom.” They can send an invitation and send a text message or email to the parents. The email contains a unique code for the student’s profile. Given the access, the parents can now view the classroom moments of their child. Also, they can easily message the teacher and receive class updates.

Additionally, the “Classroom” makes it easy for the teacher to track class points and individual points. Moreover, it helps in generating reports and viewing the student’s attendance. Not only can the individual student’s behavior data be viewed in this tab, but also that of the whole class.

Messages

With the ClassDojo app, teachers, parents, students, and administrators can send messages to each other without having to know each person’s mobile number or contact details. The app can translate the messages into up to more than 35 languages. Moreover, users can see the real-time availability of each other. Also, there’s the “Quiet Hours” for the teachers that can be set. This lets parents know when the teacher is not available.

This feature makes it easy for parents and teachers to exchange information. This also helps parents to track their children’s progress regularly. Teachers send their messages either by e-mail form or in-app text message. When the parents read the message, the teacher will then get a receipt. The receipt indicates when the parent read it. Furthermore, teachers will receive notifications if they receive messages from the parents and if a parent signs up to be part of the classroom.

Stories

There are the School Story, Class Story, and the Student Stories that can be shared. These are updated streams of videos for the day. The School Stories helps the school administrators to share with all families connected and involved in their school. The Class Stories help teachers to share with all families connected and involved in the class. While the Student Stories help the students create their own stories, which they are free to choose what they prefer.

Stories make the parents aware of what their children are up to in the classroom and what makes them busy. This is because the teachers post photos and videos of what the kids are doing in the classroom. With that, parents will still be updated on what is happening with their children. It is an easy way to make families connected to the classroom. Also, it builds parent involvement. As the parent views the story when the teacher is explaining, it will help them to teach their children the lessons being discussed.

How to Use ClassDojo

Signing Up

On the Web

1. Go to www.classdojo.com and create an account.
2. On the homepage, you will see “Teacher.” You have to click on it to sign up as a teacher.
3. Enter your personal information. After that, click on “Sign Up.”
4. Enter the name of your school.
5. Finally, click the “Join this School” option.

On iOS & Android Devices

1. After downloading the app, open it.
2. If you are a teacher, tap on “I’m a teacher.” Otherwise, choose from the given choices.
3. Click on “Create Teacher Account.”
4. Enter the email address you wish to use.
5. Then, you’ll have to create a password.
6. After that, press the “Create Account” feature.
7. Use the search feature to input the name of your school. Tap on the school listings and then, tap on “Join this School.”
8. If you don’t work in school or not part of any school, you can tap on “I don’t teach in a school.”
9. After that, you can now add your class. You can also explore the demo.

Getting Started

1. After setting up your account, you can now get started with ClassDojo.
2. Click on the “Get started” button.
3. You will be brought to the basics of the ClassDojo. Here, you will use the “Demo Class.”
4. When you are set to add your class, click on the “Create a Class” button.
5. Choose the information that will suit your class.
6. You can now give your class a name. After that, click the blue “Create Class” button.
7. On the “Full Name” box, enter your student’s name. After that, click on “Enter.” This will automatically create an avatar for the student.
8. You can copy/paste the names of students if you want to quickly add more students. To do that, you need to click on the “Copy/Paste a list” button.
9. Click the “Behaviors” tab to edit the behaviors that you are expecting in your classroom. The “Behaviors” can be “Positive” or “Negative.” You can add your preferred “Behaviors.” After that, click on the “Save & Close” button.

Setting and Editing Quiet Hours

For Android

1. On the Dashboard, scroll down to the bottom.
2. Tap on “Account Settings.”
3. After that, tap on “Notification Settings.”
4. Turning on the “Quiet Hours” will make the button turn blue. Otherwise, the button becomes gray.
5. After turning on the “Quiet Hours,” you can set the start and end times that you prefer.
6. To turn your “Quiet Hours” on weekend, tap on “Mute on Weekends.” Make sure that the button becomes blue.

For iOS

1. On the Dashboard, scroll down to the bottom.
2. Tap on “Account Settings.”
3. Tap on “Push Notifications.”
4. Turning on the “Quiet Hours” will make the button turn green. Otherwise, the button becomes white.
5. After turning on the “Quiet Hours,” you can set the start and end times that you prefer.
6. After setting your “Quiet Hours,” tap on “Save.”
7. To turn your “Quiet Hours” on weekend, tap on “Mute on Weekends.” Make sure that the button becomes green.

Posting to School Story

1. Log in to your ClassDojo account.
2. On the dashboard, choose the name of your school. You can see it under “School.”
3. Then, you’ll see the “What’s going on in your school today?” feature, you need to tap on it.
4. A camera window will open. You can use it to take a picture of what you want to post.
5. Swiping to the left will let you add text. Otherwise, swiping to the right will let you add a video.
6. You can also add a photo from your gallery. To do this, click on the “Photo Gallery” icon. You will see it near the bottom left corner of the “Photo” tab.
7. After choosing your preferred pictures. Tap on “Post.” Tap on “Share it Now” to confirm your post.

Deleting a Student

1. Open your class.
2. Tap on the three-dot button that you will find at the upper right corner of your class screen.
3. After that, tap on “Edit Students.”
4. Tap on the pencil that you will see at the right of the student’s name whom you want to delete then, tap on “Remove Student.”
5. After that, tap on “OK” to confirm your removal of the student.

Pros and Cons of Using ClassDojo

ClassDojo Competitors

Remind

This is a safe and classroom-friendly communication platform. It allows schools and administrators to engage with their communities. Moreover, it allows educators to stay connected with parents. Teachers can send messages to the parents, individuals, or groups without knowing their personal contact information. Also, they can share text, audio, and videos with anyone involved in the class.

Bloomz App

This free mobile and web app provides secure, private, and easy communication between teachers and parents. It makes it easy for teachers to schedule classroom volunteers, provide classroom updates, and share pictures of students with their parents. It also helps teachers save time in communicating and coordinating with parents. With that, parents will surely get involved in their children’s classroom activities and school events.

SchoolStatus

This communication tool uses the student’s data to facilitate communication among educators, administrators, and parents. It provides useful communication tools to keep connected with the student’s parents. Teachers can communicate with the parents through text, call, and e-mail. Moreover, as they use the student’s data, they can decide what approaches they can use. This will help them to make the biggest difference for their students.

Let Your Kids Learn With the ClassDojo App

ClassDojo App is an awesome tool that can be used to track the student’s behavior. It is a great app to start and have open communication between parents and teachers. This program is an ideal place for parents to keep track of their children’s activities in a classroom. Its helpful tools are of great help for busy teachers and working parents.

The ClassDojo app makes it possible for the parents to see the realities of what their children are doing in school. Furthermore, open communication between parents and teachers will help the students to improve. This is because all the activities in the classroom can be communicated with the parents. Parents can also take part in teaching their children when they watch the videos of the teachers discussing in the classroom. The ClassDojo app may not be a great app for the teachers, students, and parents, but it deserves a try.