Five New Padlet Features to Try
Along with Google Workspace tools, Padlet is one of the educational technology tools that I’ve used the most consistently over the last fifteen years. I’ve used it for everything from hosting online brainstorming sessions to digital mapping to distraction-free YouTube viewing and a whole lot more. Padlet recently add five new features for the new […]
Ten Tools for Gathering Real-time Feedback From Students
I’m taking the week off to do a bunch of fun things with my kids. While I’m away the most popular posts of the year so far will reappear. Chat tools and polling services provide good ways to hear from all of the students in a classroom. These kinds of tools, often referred to as […]
How to Create a Backchannel on Padlet
Padlet is one of the most versatile tech tools that a teacher can have in his or her toolbox. From making KWL charts to exit tickets to simply posting ideas in a shared online space, Padlet can be used in nearly every grade level and subject area. And your notes aren’t limited to just text […]
Plickers Brings Back Individual Student Reports!
Back in September the folks at Plickers, a popular student-response service, released a bunch of updates to their mobile apps and website. Some of those updates, like easier display of questions have been popular. Some of those updates were panned by teachers. Fortunately, the Plickers team has been responsive to the voices of their users […]
7 Reasons to Try Using Backchannels in Your Classroom
A couple of the most popular posts that I have published lately were about creating backchannel chats to use in your classroom. In response to those posts some readers have sent questions asking for more explanation of why they should try tools like Backchannel Chat or Yo Teach. Here are some reasons to try using […]
Yo Teach! – A Great Alternative to TodaysMeet
Since TodaysMeet was shuttered in June I have fielded lots of emails and Tweets from teachers looking for alternatives to it. I have been suggesting Backchannel Chat and GoSoapBox, but as of this morning I have a new alternative to TodaysMeet that I really like. That tool is called Yo Teach! Yo Teach! was developed […]
How to Create a Backchannel Chat
For most of the last decade I recommended using TodaysMeet to create backchannel chats. In June TodaysMeet shut down. Since then I have been using Backchannel Chat to create backchannel chat rooms. While it isn’t exactly like TodaysMeet, it is probably best alternative that I have used in the last two months. On Backchannel Chat […]
Vynchronize – Watch Videos and Discuss Them in the Same Window
Vynchronize is a new video discussion platform that I learned about through Larry Ferlazzo’s recent This Week in Web 2.0 post. Vynchronize lets you create an online room in which you can watch a video while chatting about it with other viewers at the same time. To use Vynchronize just go to the site, enter […]
Reminder – The End is Near for TodaysMeet
In case you missed the news at the end of April, one of my all-time favorite services is shutting down on June 16th. On that day TodaysMeet will go offline. For almost a decade TodaysMeet was the go-to tool for teachers who wanted to create a backchannel discussion forum for their students. I used in […]
TodaysMeet Is Shutting Down – Six Alternatives to Try
TodaysMeet is shutting down. James Socol, the creator and only developer of TodaysMeet, has announced that he’s shutting it down on June 16th. I’m going to miss it and I know that a lot of you will too. I encourage you to read the announcement that James posted because it will give you a good […]
Providing Every Student in Your Class With a Voice
I was the quiet student who always sought out the back row. I never willingly participated in class discussions, not because I didn’t have anything to contribute, but because I preferred to communicate my thoughts in writing. Many of our students sit in class quietly as their peers dominate the discussions, wishing they could add […]