BELIEVE IN THE BACKCHANNEL: Backchannels can give every student a voice in a blended learning classroom, argues Edutopia this week. The articles explains that a backchannel (or “a digital conversation that runs concurrently with a face-to-face activity”) can offer students an outlet when they need an alternative means to participate. Check out the suggestions for backchannel tools, including TodaysMeet. High school social studies teacher Cynthia Treichler praises TodaysMeet as a “microblogging backchannel that empowers classroom teachers to generate a discussion without the interference of raised hands or student disruptions.” TodaysMeet is easy to use, requires no accounts or passwords, and is accessible on any device.
