Tech Tip Tuesday: Using EdTech to Create a Backchannel

Many educators today are doing their best to move away from the traditional lecture format in their classrooms.  This shift is a positive one in order to support student-centered learning.  However, there are still times when it is necessary to focus the attention back to the front of the room, whether for a video or a traditional lecture.  How do we make sure our students are still engaged even when they are asked to sit and listen?  You can create a backchannel in your classroom to ensure their engagement and regularly monitor their formative learning.

Creating a backchannel is easy using educational technology.  There are a number of tools you can use to create a backchannel, and I offer links to a handful below.

So, really, why use a backchannel?  Won't that just distract my students?  Well, no.  Your students are already using a backchannel in your classrooms, whether it is whispering, texting, passing notes, or even jumping on social media.  So why not offer them a structured backchannel to refocus the conversation on the content information and give them productive ways to collaborate?

Backchannels offer ways to have a more organic conversation with your students.  Instead of having students raise their hand and interrupt lecture, they can type their questions in the backchannel.  The conversation becomes more relevant and happens more organically.  The answers to the questions also become more relevant because you can encourage students to collaborate and help each other out by answering other students' questions.  This takes some of the work load off the instructor and puts the onus of learning back on the students, where it really should be anyway.  

You can use a backchannel on most devices that connect to the Internet, so you can encourage your students to bring their own devices or technology (BYOD/BYOT).  As a secondary form of classroom communication, the backchannel is a way for the instructor and other students to clarify and collaborate simultaneously with class instruction.  Students are constantly engaged and encouraged to take part in an active discussion.  It gives students different options for their voices to be heard.

Backchannels are a great use of formative assessment because the instructor is able to immediately see if students understand the content, or if it is necessary to go back over material that students don't seem to understand.  Students can also go back to the backchannel after class and use that conversation as part of their class notes, providing another way for them to review the content material.  

Finally, if you are flipping your classroom, you can create a backchannel that is used asynchronously by your students to continue the conversation.  Students are encouraged to challenge one another and answer each other's questions.  The instructor can jump in when necessary to clarify any misunderstandings, but the learning and active discussion really falls to the students.  

Below is a list of popular tools you can use to create a backchannel in your classroom.  Many of these tools allow the instructor to monitor and delete responses in real time, allow for class privacy, and can easily be shared as links for the students to access.  You can click on the links below and explore each tool individually to get an idea of what would work the best for you and your students.

• TodaysMeet is probably the most popular tool for creating backchannels in the classroom.  You can watch a tutorial video at the bottom of this post.
• Verso is a great way to create class-specific backchannels for your students.  Read more about Verso here.  
• Google slides is a way to present your content material while students type questions in the slide note area.  This captures the conversation, and students can use the backchannel within the slides as class notes for studying.
• Socrative is a great way to visualize student understanding.
• Padlet can be used to organize information around a specific concept.
• Poll Everywhere could be used to set up synchronous or asynchronous polls.  You could use the Q&A feature to find out what students are unsure about, and then students can upvote items they need clarified.  For a Poll Everywhere tutorial, go to this page and click on the logo.
• Twitter is another way to create a backchannel.  The one caution here is that your discussions can be seen by the public.  This is a great way to connect with others in your content area though.  So create a class hashtag and ask that students use the hashtag in their tweets.  Encourage students to tag other people outside of their class as well as organizations and institutions involved in what they are learning to broaden the scope of the discussion.  

So how do you use backchannels in your classroom?  Please leave a comment and let us know!