More on the backchannel

I have been asked by readers recently what I actually use for a backchannel. In the spirit of keeping it simple, I have found that todaysmeet is probably the simplest tool of its kind at present, although no doubt there is room for improvement. The beauty of todaysmeet is you can set it up in as many seconds as it takes you to type the name you want to give to the "room" where your students will "meet". You do not have to signup or login, nor do they. The room will self-destruct at the time you decide (which can be quite long). All you need to do in class (or before) is communicate the URL to your students. You can also embed todaysmeet in a powerpoint presentation, for example by downloading this little app.

I know that Twitter has fast emerged as a favorite for backchannelling. The only problem I see with using Twitter is that you do make the content of the backchannel accessible to the whole world (potentially, not that it would make much sense to outsiders, or be of much interest). I'm not in principle against knocking down the class walls, but this is not necessarily something everyone wants to do. Let's say that todaysmeet provides you with a modicum of virtual privacy...