is class dojo free?

ClassDojo is a community-centered learning website and application that provides a platform for teachers, students, and parents to collaborate and build a community together. Having multiple uses, ClassDojo is “actively used in 95% of all K-8 schools in the U.S. and 180 countries” (Class Dojo Press, para. 2). While ClassDojo is most commonly known for its practical teacher/parent communication application (with text translation to over 35 languages), it can also be a useful tool to build classroom culture, practice positive classroom management, and let students showcase their work on their digital portfolio. Teachers can use ClassDojo to share classroom updates and announcements with parents privately or “publicly” (within their classroom). Additionally, students can display the work they are most proud of to their parents in their personal portfolios in ClassDojo.

*Always free for teachers; parents can subscribe to a Class Dojo Beyond School version for $7.99/month, with a one week free trial. The Beyond School version allows parents to use the “Dojo Point” behavior management system at home – however, using it as school communication is always free.

Class Dojo falls under the following categories of the ISTE standards:

Empowered Learner 1c: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Knowledge Constructor 3c: Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

Global Collaborator 7c: Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.

Class Dojo can be used across a variety of platforms. It works on iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and on any computer and browser. Tabs are clearly labeled – making navigation throughout the site easy. The website and the mobile app are set up similarly which gives the platform great continuity for ease of use across devices. The translation of 35+ languages also gives it an increased chance of usability by many families, especially families whose native language is not the same as the classroom teachers’ native language. There are a number of tutorials available as well as a detailed Helpdesk on the website for new users.

Class Dojo outlines their privacy terms in detail in the Privacy Center section of their website, which states that the website and app are both COPPA and FERPA compliant as well as GDPR compliant in Europe. The privacy statement declares that they obtain minimal information from the users (but users cannot choose which information to opt-in or opt-out from). It also states that they have a one-year deletion policy for inactive accounts. Furthermore, Class Dojo guarantees that it “does not (and will not) sell or rent your (or your child’s) personal information to any third-party for any purpose – including for advertising or marketing purposes” (Class Dojo Privacy Policy, para. 1)

While a specific accessibility statement is missing from Class Dojo’s website, the tool has good usability that allows a larger number of people with varying abilities to access its content (e.g., individuals with visual impairment can navigate the website with a screen reader). The colors and fonts of the website and app are not overwhelming. Video links open in youtube which provides the user with closed captions. A quick check for Class Dojo’s homepage accessibility on WebAccessibility.com yields 80% compliance .

Class Dojo is a very impactful tool when it comes to classroom behavior management. With the assortment of ways in which teachers can utilize the Dojo Points system, students can learn a great deal about collaboration, teamwork, responsibility, and more. Along with that, it will help motivate students to put in their best effort when engaging in learning. We give Class Dojo four stars for its impact on student learning.

Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model offers a lens for examining how technology is adopted in a classroom. As you strive to incorporate online tools into your classroom, we encourage you to use this model as an analytic tool.

Here is an example of how ClassDojo might fit within the SAMR model:

ClassDojo can help connect parents and teachers (you can add specialist teachers to your classroom as well) who may have previously had difficulty with day-to-day communication due to a language barrier or life and work schedules. There is also a school story feature where posts and announcements concerning the entire school can be posted by administration and teachers for parents to view and comment on. ClassDojo allows parents to respond quickly and see updates throughout the day. The ClassDojo reward system can also build a classroom community as students will be able to visually see how many points their class is earning as a whole and what their individual contribution is. We encourage you to consider ways the ClassDojo communication and reward system can be integrated positively into your classroom.

The Class Dojo website gives access to a series of themed activities that include videos and prompts to fuel thought-provoking, motivating, and self-reflecting discussions. Students can share their ideas on their portfolios to get feedback. Some of the themes are:

Students can be asked to record and upload a video book review/character analysis. They can be encouraged to dress up as their favorite character from the book too.

Students can be asked to draw a chronological timeline of the history of transportation using the drawing tool.

By making color-coded teams/groups, the teacher can play a mental math quiz with the students. Correct answers will get the entire group a reward – this would encourage students to collaborate with their group members to come up with the correct answer, thus promoting teamwork.

Teachers can create classroom tasks such as clean-up, helping a friend, perfect attendance, lunchtime manners, and making someone laugh or smile, to promote citizenship and a sense of classroom camaraderie.

Have a classroom behavior system of redeemable rewards, which can be received in exchange for predetermined amounts of Dojo Points.

At its most basic this is a platform for sharing class photos and videos between parents, teachers, and students. But that's not unique -- what makes this special is the ability to add messages too. With more than 35 languages supported with translation smarts, this really aims to open up lines of communication between home and class.

The fact ClassDojo is totally free also adds appeal to everyone who may be considering using it. Teachers can more easily share student progress with guardians and communicate to monitor and plan progress and interventions as needed, live.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about ClassDojo for teachers, students, and families.

ClassDojo (opens in new tab) is digital sharing platform that allows teachers to document the day in class and share that with families via a web browser so that nearly any device can access the content – from a simple smartphone to a laptop computer. As long as it has a browser, photos and videos can be viewed.

ClassDojo's messaging service is another big draw since it allows parents and teachers to communicate through commenting on photos and videos and messaging directly. The translation service that offers more than 35 languages is a great tool since it allows teachers to enter text in their native language and have all parents and guardians read it in theirs.

ClassDojo allows teachers to work with the class remotely too, including to provide activities for students, deal out classwork, and share lessons. Students can earn Dojo Points based on their conduct, letting teachers use the app to foster positive student behavior.

Teachers are able to use their smartphone or tablets to take pictures and videos in the classroom to share using ClassDojo. This could be a photo of a completed piece of work with grades, a video of a student explaining a task, or perhaps a hypothesis written for a science lab.

Teachers can assign activities to students in the form of videos, test, images, or drawings. When students submit the work, it is then approved by the teacher before being published on the profile, which can then be seen by the family. These tasks are then saved and logged, following the student from grade to grade, to provide a broad overview of progress.

ClassDojo is also for use in the classroom, assigning positive values to the class and as areas that need work. For example, a student might get a positive, such as "good teamwork," but then may also be given a needs-work notice for no homework, say.

Behavior is rated with a number that the teacher can pick, from one to five points. Negative behavior is also weighted on a scale of minus one to minus five points. Students then are left with a score on which they can work to improve. It also provides an at-a-glance score for both teacher and parents to track student progress.

Teachers can populate their class roster in the app manually or by pulling in names from Word or Excel documents, for example. Each student profile then gets a unique monster cartoon character – these can be assigned randomly, for ease. Teachers can then invite parents by printing and sending invites, or via email or text, requiring a unique joining code.

ClassDojo is a very easy-to-use platform, with the teacher page divided into three sections : Classroom, Class Story, and Messages.

The first, Classroom, lets teachers track class points and individual student points, and to generate reports. Teachers are able to dive into the analytics here, viewing the attendance report or whole-class behavior metrics. They can then filter results by time and view any in a data donut or spreadsheet.

Class Story allows teachers to post images, videos, and messages for parents and guardians to see what's happening in class.

Messages lets the teacher directly communicate with the entire class, individual students, and parents. These are sent either as an email or an in-app message, and parents can decide how they wish to be contacted.

The family's access is possible via the website or the iOS and Android app. They can also view the data donut with child behavior metrics shown over time, as well as the Class Story, plus engage through Messages. They can also view multiple student accounts, ideal for families with more than one child at the same school.

For students, access is possible through the website where they can view their monster profile and see the score based on points they earned or lost. While they can view their own progress over time, there is no access to other students as this is not about being competitive with others, but rather with themselves.

ClassDojo is free. Totally free, to download and use. Seems hard to believe but the company was founded with the vision to give every child on the planet better access to education. This is something the company is committed to offering forever.

So how is ClassDojo free? Part of the company structure includes staff dedicated specifically to fund-raising so that the service can be offered for free.

ClassDojo Beyond School is another option, which is paid for by families. This offers additional experiences and does support the costs of basic free service. Paying for this gives families the chance to use the service outside of school, creating feedback points for working on habit-building and skills development. It is available as a seven-day free trial and can be cancelled any time.

ClassDojo has no third-party advertising. All class, teacher, student, and parent information is kept private and not shared.

ClassDojo is completely free for parents, teachers, and students! Optional: parents may subscribe to ClassDojo Plus for extra features for at-home use.