Remember the sad feeling when Today’s Meet shut down? Today’s Meet was the first backchannel tool I utilized with students. It enabled students to participate in synchronous or asynchronous discussions in virtual classrooms. It was fabulous–it was free and easy to use. Unfortunately, I have not found something I like as well.
Until recently.
YoTeachApp is a great backchannel site to utilize with students and staff. It offers many benefits, including:
- It’s free.
- It’s easy to set up.
- Others can quickly join with a QR code or link.
- It provides a drawing feature with an auto draw feature.
- It features upload functionality.
- It includes an admin feature with the ability to mute students, delete chats, and more.
It appears there is not a mobile app available (yet).
I recently utilized YoTeachApp while discussing bias in sources. As students located articles, they included the material in the backchannel app. When we broke into groups, the groups entered information about their discussion in the backchannel as well. Other students commented and asked questions that we later referenced and answered as a class.
For a brief overiew on how to use YoTeachApp, check out the tutorial below:
Author: Becca Munson
Becca Munson, Librarian, is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 23 years of experience in education. She is currently a school librarian at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park, KS. Becca continues to find ways to positively impact student learning with literacy initiatives, technology integration, and building rapport with students and staff. Follow her on Twitter to view the library in action @bvwlibrary and @beccamunson .
Categories: Blog Topics, Student Engagement/ Teaching Models, Technology
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