Capturing the backchannel in the classroom can be very beneficial. It can give you insights into what your students are really thinking during class and it can also help your students synthesis information and report it in a concise way. This is a comparison of all the different tools we discussed that can help capture the backchannel. Are there other questions you would like answered about these tools? Let us know.
| EDMODO | TODAYSMEET | ||
| What is the main purpose of this site? | A private microblogging platform designed specifically for use in education. | A very simple microblogging platform for groups. requiring no registration but just a room for participants to comment. | A public microblogging platform. |
| How many characters can each post be? | No limit. | 140 characters. | 140 characters. |
| Can I post links? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can I upload files? | Yes | No | No |
| Can I create a poll? | Yes | No | No |
| Can I create private groups in which to interact? | Yes | Yes, sort of. To use TodaysMeet you need to create a room and that is how users interact. | No |
| Is there a calendar function? | Yes | No | No |
| Can I save posts? | Yes | No, the longest a room can remain is 1 year. | Yes |
| What are the privacy settings like? | Users need to log into Edmodo and posts only go to people or groups you choose. | Users do not log in and just visit a link, so not as secure since anyone could technically find the link, but it's pretty rare for a random person to find and enter the room. Posts only go to those visiting the room via the link. | Tweets (what they call posts) can be shown to everyone or just to those you allow to follow you. |