3 Excellent Tools for Backchanneling in The Classroom

Hosting backchannel discussions with your students in the classroom has several advantages for their learning. Backchanneling allows those shy and reluctant students to participate and share their thoughts. This is particularly the case with those students who are verbally incapable of engaging in open discussions. Backchanneling will also let you address specific learning issues that might raise in your lessons. For instance , some students  do not feel confident enough to talk about their learning problems in front of their peers for fear of being  stigmatized and mocked on, creating a private chat room might help these students  share with you  their learning setbacks.

To help you implement this concept of backchanneling in your classroom, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has handpicked some great tools for this purpose. Check them out below and share with us your suggestions or additions.



1- TodaysMeet

TodaysMeet helps you embrace the backchannel and connect with your audience in realtime.
Encourage the room to use the live stream to make comments, ask questions, and use that feedback to tailor your presentation, sharpen your points, and address audience needs.




2-  Chatzy

Chatzy is another great tool that enables you to create a free virtual chat room. It also offers the following features :

·         Custom welcome message

·         Access control by password or email

·         Options for long messages, read-only mode, etc.

·         Permissions: Who can invite, see who is online, etc.

3- GoSoapBox

GoSoapBox is used by educators around the world to break down participation barriers, keep students engaged, and gain insight into student comprehension.