{"id":7323,"date":"2018-09-11T09:30:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T08:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=7323"},"modified":"2018-09-08T13:10:55","modified_gmt":"2018-09-08T12:10:55","slug":"facilitating-discussion-and-collaborative-note-making-in-lectures-through-a-backchannel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/09\/11\/facilitating-discussion-and-collaborative-note-making-in-lectures-through-a-backchannel\/","title":{"rendered":"Facilitating discussion and collaborative note-making in lectures through a backchannel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What is a backchannel?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The \u2018backchannel\u2019 is a term coined by Victor Yngve, Professor of Linguistics (1970) to acknowledge subtle and informal responses from a person actively listening to someone else speaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

This term has since been adapted to fit various other contexts. An example of this would be the conversations taking place between the audience during a presentation or lecture. You may have come across a \u2018hashtag\u2019 being used by attendees at a conference to discuss and share their thoughts through social media. This helps to disseminate ideas and extend conversation to other conference attendees, who may otherwise not interact with each other due to the sheer volume of people at an event, and colleagues (not in attendance) who are following the conversations online.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past few years, both intentionally and unintentionally, online backchannels have found their place in classrooms and lecture theatres.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some ways to use a backchannel in teaching<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are many different uses for backchannel communication and often a mix of different approaches will be used or develop organically during a lesson. Here are a few examples for how you may wish to use it.<\/span><\/p>\n