I am always looking for new tools to use in my computer classes with Middle School students. Tools that will engage them while I accomplish lesson objectives. With Middle School students you need to provide a variety of tools. Students will soon disengage if you overuse an app.
My goal was to guide my eighth grade students through a series of discussion questions about Digital Citizenship. I considered using the new Google Classroom discussion feature, but wanted more control to monitor a real-time discussion. I decided to try todaysmeet.com and upgraded to the Teacher version. The upgrade would allow me to mute students without their knowledge, pause a room, and allow for entry via my school's domain rather than an open discussion room. Five dollars for a month-that I could do. It sounded great.
I did not find the upgrade teacher friendly. Students had to create accounts which took time and provided a real distraction. How about a join code to keep it private? Not available. The class went off task, real-time discussions made muting difficult, and todaysmeet turned out to be that day's disaster. My one month subscription was easy enough to cancel and they actually provided a credit for the remaining month I did not use. A lesson learned. Not an app that I plan to retain in my teacher toolbox.
My goal was to guide my eighth grade students through a series of discussion questions about Digital Citizenship. I considered using the new Google Classroom discussion feature, but wanted more control to monitor a real-time discussion. I decided to try todaysmeet.com and upgraded to the Teacher version. The upgrade would allow me to mute students without their knowledge, pause a room, and allow for entry via my school's domain rather than an open discussion room. Five dollars for a month-that I could do. It sounded great.
I did not find the upgrade teacher friendly. Students had to create accounts which took time and provided a real distraction. How about a join code to keep it private? Not available. The class went off task, real-time discussions made muting difficult, and todaysmeet turned out to be that day's disaster. My one month subscription was easy enough to cancel and they actually provided a credit for the remaining month I did not use. A lesson learned. Not an app that I plan to retain in my teacher toolbox.