September 17th: TodaysMeet Follow-up

As promised, we'll answer a few of the questions about TodaysMeet in today's post. WhoKnows asked if there was a way to keep a meeting room private. Unlike Edmodo or a wiki, TodaysMeet is completely public. In situations where a large variety of people are listening, collaborating and learning together, this works exceedingly well. For instance, many participants at technology conferences avidly follow and contribute to back channel conversations. In do so, they learn together, network and help to speaker to gauge effectiveness, without the hassle of user names and passwords. Another post asked how the website supported itself. James Socol is a web programmer and designer who created TodaysMeet. While this product is free, it is also a vehicle for Socol to network and drum up business for his web development business.

If you're thinking of using this in a classroom situation, you need to be aware of the faculty override function, since TodaysMeet is currently blocked for students. Some best practices you may wish to consider are:

• Ask students to use their real names so that you know who is contributing. At least one question went unanswered yesterday because the person who knew the answer, didn't know the person asking it, and so was uncomfortable answering the question publicly.
• Set parameters for the discussion. Consider a rubric for the online meeting place.
• Decide if the speaker would add value to the back channel. In today's case, our guidance and dean's departments were the point people, since they had the answers to our questions.
• Determine if the back channel will enrich or detract from the experience.

On a side note, although I insist that I'm petite, not short, The Long and Petite of Educational Technology just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Thanks to all for taking part. We're having so much fun sharing ideas with you!