We are all looking for ways to connect with our students in and out of the classroom. And, here is an easy-to-use tool that we can use for different purposes.
TodaysMeet is a backchannel which means to have an online and real time conversation. It is like an online chat room where everyone can send messages and interact with each other.
You don’t need to sign up to use this tool. Simply, name your room and decide on how long the data will be saved. Then, share the link of your room with others so that they can participate.
Each participant follows the link, write their names or nicknames and start talking. You don’t need to register or download a software to use this tool. The tool is also ad free which makes it more powerful.
A few ideas to use this tool in class:
As the students are presenting a project or a topic to each other, they can post their questions on TodaysMeet so that when the presentation is over, the questions can be answered.
Students can write their feedback or their reflections about lesson/ presentation/ activity or a story that they have read.
In groups, they can write a dialogue.
Students can brainstorm about a topic.
You can hold a debate using this tool.
I think this simple tool can be a nice and an easy step to mobile learning in the classroom!
Özge Karaoğlu is an English teacher and educational consultant in teaching young learners and teaching with web-based technologies. She is the author of Minigon ELT book series which aims to teach English to young learners through stories. Read more of her ideas about teaching English through technology and Web based tools at http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org.
