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Back Channels

Page history last edited by Mrs. Train 8 years, 10 months ago

A backchannel is a digital discussion tool that is being used at conferences and in classrooms. It is used to increase participation in classroom discussion and can act as a diagnostic or formative assessment tool.

How does it work?

Students can use computers or their smartphones to log in and add comments and questions to an online discussion. They can post at the same time as an in-class lecture or discussion. The discussion can be displayed on a screen or students can follow on their device.

Here are some of the programs that you can use:

* Note: some of these sites are meant for business. Backchannelchat and TodaysMeet are best suited for classroom use.

Backchannelchat.com - developed for classroom use. Teachers can moderate discussions and print transcripts.
Backchan.nl is an MIT-developed open-source tool for backchanneling. You indicate a name, date and time and then give the link to the class. Participants can vote comments up or down and comments can be deleted.
Chatzy - a free, private chat area. You can specify privacy settings, then invite participants or post the link to your chat area.
TodaysMeet is free. Name your room, then indicate how long you would like it to exist. You can also specify a Twitter hashtag (a name that starts with @ for use on Twitter). Safe for school use.
Edmodo is a classroom environment that includes micro blogging, which can be used as a back channel.
HootSuite - a social media site that makes it easy to use Twitter as a back channel.
HotSeat - Purdue University developed this service, which can be accessed through Facebook, Twitter web or mobile device.
Padlet.com and Linoit.com can be used for discussions; they have a sticky note format.

Benefits

Best Practices

Students can contribute to a discussion as it is taking place in real-time;
Discourages interruptions during lectures;
Students can ask questions and you can choose when to answer them;
Shy students can add their voice to the discussion;
The web-based discussion can continue after class;
Teacher can moderate or lock the room;
The chat happens in a private, safe environment;
Students’ personal information is not required;
Use to gauge your students’ prior knowledge of a topic (diagnostic or For Learning);
Download a transcript to document conversation.

Students may use smartphones for non-class use; keep them engaged so they keep on task;
Students may post silly comments – give guidelines and use first names for accountability;
Give guidelines so students don’t post personal information (even if it’s a secure chat);
Not all students may have smartphones (consider pairing students);
Don’t let it distract from other activities -- specify when they can post;