A few days ago on Twitter, Chris Webb, @cwebbtech, provided an example of a sanctioned use of back-channeling in a middle school social studies classroom. Students used back-channeling to exchange information and answer questions while watching a video. He concludes,
- the students were engaged in 50 minutes of this video,
- they were collaborating in real time with one another in a mode that did not overtly bother any other student (or teacher),
- the "playing field was leveled" because each student was sitting at a single computer (mixture of desktops and laptops - old and new), and finally,
- the teacher was able to produce a "transcript" (of 20 pages in length!), which accurately shows what each student was thinking during the experience.
- Share knowledge: If the speaker does not define each term or phrase used, the audience may not understand the content. In one example of back-channeling, a participant defined the term "necromass" to increase understanding. Without this definition, the remaining portion of the presentation might have been lost to some participants.
- Clarify content through research: The speaker used the term "pioneer species". Some of the participants didn't know what the phrase meant, so a participant found the definition online and sent it to other participants.
- Share Resources: In another situation, a link to an online video related to the topic was shared with everyone in the chat.
- Summary of topic: The text messages provided a running summary of the presentation from several participants' perspectives. Not everyone "heard" the same thing, so the summaries from more than one person added to the overall understanding of the presentation.
- Emotional "Aha" responses: Personal reflections let others know when something made an emotional impact, especially when a new connection was made to prior knowledge or understanding. These "aha" statements might provide "aha" connections for others.
Yammer works well as a back-channel tool since it focuses the chat within a specific organization. Twitter is another obvious choice, although on Twitter it is more difficult to follow specific discussion threads. Moodle has a chat function also. Has anyone tried using it to back-channel with students?
Posts
4 comments:
When I attended the Learn2.0 conference in Shanghai 2008, it was my first experience with backchanneling. We used chatzy. Again I experienced it in January, at Qatar, for the flatclassroom conference. Students took to it, like ducks to water and many fantastic comments were made. I have used it back in my classroom, with mixed success but will perservere as I feel this is a valuable reflective and learning tool.
Learn2.0 was my first use of backchanneling also. (Athough, I didn't know the term yet!) Reading comments from people in the same workshop I was attending, helped my understanding of several topics. I think that presenters will soon expect that everyone in the audience will actively participate during presentations.
Rhonda,
I am following the conversation on using backchannels and chatting in the classroom closely. I am experimenting with its use with my elementary school students and also during professional development workshops. See my blog posts here and here. There seems to be an "Aha" moment for many teachers when they are using it for themselves. Just then they are able to make a connection to the value a backchannel could bring to their own classroom.
Looking forward to hearing more about the experiences of others.
Silvia
aka Langwitches
Glad to see that Learning2.0 was a place that you first used/experience the power of back channeling...evening if you didn't know the official name of it at the time.
It is a powerful tool that can be used in many different areas. Personally I'm waiting for the day when a non tech person uses it in a keynote/presentation as a way to gather content/refelct on their own presentation.
Post a Comment