TodaysMeet

TodaysMeet is a virtual, backchannel chat room which allows students to speak, give comments and ask questions at the same time and for teachers to conduct discussion in realtime without interference of raised hands or students disruption. It is free and  requires no account or passwords, only the url for anyone to join the room.Once there, students login to Todays Meet simply by typing their name and clicking Join.

  Application in language teaching:

• Online discussion
• Brainstorming
• Revision
• Language assessment

 

Advantages:

• Easy to use interface
• Allows every students to participate actively in the discussion at the same time.
• Previous points or ideas can be retraced and acts as notes.
• Can decide how long the room is active-no need for hassle to deactivate it.

 

Disadvantages and limitations:

•  Need for every students to have resources to the Internet or mobile devices.
•  Responses are limited to 140 words or less. There is no development to the points given.
• Minimize real face to face interaction between teacher to students and students to students. This could hinder development of  students' communicative competence.