The Edvocate and The Tech Edvocate are proud to announce the launch of our new site, Pedagogue, a social media network where educators can learn and grow. It’s a safe space where they can share advice, strategies, tools, hacks, resources, etc., and work together to improve their teaching skills and the academic performance of the students in their charge.

We envision Pedagogue as being a way to continually question, reevaluate, refine, and sharpen the pedagogical and leadership skills of educators all over the world. Think of it as an action research project that never ends. At Pedagogue, we use the wisdom of the crowd to help everyone grow, without the distractions of general social media sites.

All you have to do is register for a free account and start participating in the community. Our platform is intuitive, and it only takes most people a couple of minutes to learn how to navigate it. You will find most of the features and functions comparable to other social media sites, which makes using Pedagogue a breeze. Also, it has features that can be used to facilitate virtual classrooms and educator collaboration.

So how do we define the term educator? An educator is anyone responsible for the education of another. This includes PreK-12 teachers, college professors, education administrators, corporate trainers, parents, mentors, athletic coaches, etc. Again, anyone who is responsible for the education of another. By this definition, everyone will be an educator at some point in their lives, and this is the place where you can come to hone your skills.

Are you ready to begin your journey? Visit Pedagogue to sign up for a free account. Here is a short introduction video, that discusses Pedagogue’s major features.

How to Start Participating

After you have signed up, here are some things you can do to get your feet wet and become familiar with the site.

Start by completing your profile. It only takes about 5 minutes to do.

Make your first status update. Go ahead and get your first status update out of the way.

Connect with other users. Search our member’s section to find educators with similar interests. Send friend requests to at least ten people.

Invite your colleagues to join. Tell your colleagues friends about our site and invite them to join.

Start a group or classroom. It only takes a few moments to create your group devoted to an education-related topic or area. Groups are great for team collaboration and discussion. Use this section to collaborate with colleagues, as class space for assignment distribution or discussion, or as a space for small group assignments and collaboration. Watch the demo video above to learn how to quickly develop your own stream-based or virtual classroom.

Start your own virtual classroom. Our virtual classroom feature allows educators to Livestream, make audio or video conference calls, share their screen, files or a virtual whiteboard, and much more. Watch the video above to find out more about this robust feature. It can be used to tutor individuals, facilitate a remote learning class or professional development session. Its only limit is your imagination. Start your virtual classroom today.

Create interactive learning experiences for your students. When we started building the lesson delivery portion of Pedagogue, we knew that we wanted to allow educators to create interactive learning experiences, instead of the status quo. I am proud to say we were able to make this happen. Pedagogue gives educators the power to create, share, and reuse interactive learning experiences and assessments while leveraging over 30 learning content templates. Watch the demo video above to find out how to create, share, and reuse interactive learning experiences on Pedagogue. Visit the following page to find descriptions of the learning content templates that we offer.

Send messages. It’s easy for educators to send messages to each other through Pedagogue. Like other social media sites, you can use it as another layer of communication

Share educational resources. Post about apps, tools, and resources that will help other educators better serve the students they teach.

Share research studies. Are you an education researcher that just published a new research study? Why not disseminate it via the largest social media network for educators?

Share multimedia. With the ability to post videos, photos, and more, you can share multimedia content easily.

Publish an op ed or article. Educators can publish op eds or articles on our site at anytime. Click here for a demo video. Our blog features the latest news, advice, strategies, tools, hacks, and resources for educators, students, and parents.

Stay active. Try to participate on our site as much as possible. This keeps the conversation going, 24/7.

Ask for feedback on assignments and activities. If you’re not sure of a new assignment or activity that you’d like to introduce in your classroom, ask your colleagues on Pedagogue for advice.