{"id":8783,"date":"2021-09-21T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=8783"},"modified":"2022-01-18T15:43:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T15:43:21","slug":"adding-a-chat-backchannel-to-in-person-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2021\/09\/21\/adding-a-chat-backchannel-to-in-person-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding a ‘chat’ backchannel to in-person classes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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During the pandemic most lectures have been online – either as recordings or as live Zoom sessions. Academics noticed that the \u2018chat\u2019 facility in the latter encouraged more questions and discussion than they had experienced during in-person lectures on campus. The ability to ask questions without holding up the progress of the lecture for everyone, allowed more students to engage with lectures and students could help each other. This post will look at some possible ways to retain this aspect of online learning as we move back to lecture theatres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some options for a lecture backchannel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are a few tools that could be used to facilitate questions and discussion online during in-person lectures. Which you choose will depend on the types of engagement you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poll Everywhere<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Poll Everywhere<\/a> is popular across campus for asking students questions during a lecture, to check understanding or gauge opinions, but it could also be used to elicit questions from students. The Vice-Chancellor has used Poll Everywhere like this in his open forums, with an \u2018open-ended\u2019 question<\/a> that participants can post their questions or comments to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results can be displayed in the session, or viewed privately by the lecturer and questions that cannot be answered in the lecture could be addressed in a Canvas Discussion later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Padlet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This versatile tool could be used to collect questions and\/or comments during a lecture. It has the advantage of allowing everyone to see all the posts and can be saved as a PDF and\/or embedded in Canvas. A simple \u2018stream\u2019 layout would most closely mimic a Zoom \u2018chat\u2019 but with options to reply to each post and\/or use \u2018reactions\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Padlet using the stream layout.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Alternatively, you could use the \u2018shelf\u2019 layout if you wanted to split up posts into categories. Students\u2019 posts to a Padlet will be anonymous so they should feel comfortable asking questions in this format. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Padlet using the shelf layout<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You can read more about Padlet on the TEL website<\/a>. The university has a Padlet Backpack licence and teaching staff can be added by emailing tel@sussex.ac.uk<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other whiteboard tools that work in a similar way, with free and\/or education plans, such as Miro<\/a>, Mural<\/a> and Google Jamboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canvas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want a backchannel that uses the basic tools in Canvas you could try using a\u00a0 Canvas Discussion<\/a> or Module Chat<\/a>. The former has more functionality and the latter is simpler. Either could work for a lecture backchannel.\u00a0Canvas has the advantage that students should be familiar with it and it meets accessibility standards, but Discussions don\u2019t update automatically so require \u2018refreshing\u2019 to see the latest posts. Chat is much more like a messaging app.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considerations, resources and support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whatever tools you choose, remember that not everything will always be accessible to all your students, in which case alternatives will need to be considered. You can learn more about accessibility in the TEL Digital Accessibility Toolkit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read more about some of the tools mentioned here in Communicating with students in Canvas<\/a> and 4 fantastic uses for Padlet in online teaching<\/a>. Other tools are listed in the A-Z of Apps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you would like to discuss options, what might suit you and your students and how you can get started please contact tel@sussex.ac.uk<\/a> <\/p>\n

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