TodaysMeet: A simple tool to share ideas in realtime!

          

What is TodaysMeet?

TodaysMeet is a backchannel tool through which people can exchange ideas about any topic in immediate time. As a backchannel tool, it enables to engage everything that may happen in any room or classroom but that it is not provided from a 'presenter' or a teacher. It is a simple tool to be used by teachers and students in the classroom, and it allows them to ask and answer questions, share ideas or notes and give feedback in 'realtime'. 

You can find TodaysMeet in the following link:  

 TodaysMeet

How to use TodaysMeet?

         You can watch this video to learn how to use TodaysMeet:

Why is TodaysMeet relevant to language learning?

• It is a useful tool for language learning because students can use it to work collaboratively by leaving some comments about a certain topic.

• It is motivating and interesting for students, because it breaks with the traditional method based on the behaivourist view of teaching-learning.

• Students can work in groups, share ideas and get to agreements.

• Students can practice and develop the writing skill of the English language.

• It favors some other higher cognitive skills such as critical thinking because they are required to reason, argue, question and give their opinions immediately about some topics they are discussing during the class. 

• There are also some approaches to language learning that support the use of TodaysMeet such as the Socio-Cognitive view of the language which establishes that students learn better through social interaction with their peers.

• It is also based on the constructivism view of the language which states that students have their own knowledge about language, and from there, they can construct some new ones in collaboration with others classmates.

• The chats or conversations can be saved, therefore any students in the classroom can revise them whenever they want to.

  How might you use TodaysMeet in class/outside the class?

1. Within the classroom

• Teachers can propose a subject of relevance to the class, for instance, current and controversial issues such as, the abortion, racism, the use of drugs, etc., ask them to discuss with their group of classmates, be able to support their answers and then share with the class as a whole in the TodaysMeet chat room. This also allow other students to add some comments on it, and get everyone involved in the subject, as well as in the classroom, and the discussion flow will be fast.

• Teachers can see and listen what the students are expressing by writing and speaking about different subjects. Therefore, they have the chance to praise them by using the correct vocabulary and grammar, help them when they might have a problem on how to express themselves or correct their mistakes immediately.

2.  Outside the classroom

• Students would have the opportunity to revise the different discussions after the class because the conversations can be saved, they are organised as the form of a transcript, very clearly, so students can have access to them in the future.

• Teachers can also choose for how long the room will exist, therefore, it  is not only limited to class time.

What limitations can you see with the use of TodaysMeet? 

• The users can not send or receive files while chatting. This can be a barrier when students are working together online because they can not share documents, pictures, power points, links of webpages, etc. Whilst other softwares such as Skype allows them to do it. Therefore, the efficiency of the online communication can be disrupted and students can end up using another virtual tool.