Backchannel in the Classroom

I've done it a million times, "Here are the questions, they go along with the video, and yes they are in order."   What do I end up with?  Most students complete the questions, but it's just repeated back from the video or copied off of their neighbor with little to no thought at all.

Last year I used CoverItLive as a way for students that weren't participating in our skype debates with other classes to contribute their part to the debate as well.  This year I decided rather than passing out question sheets with every video I would backchannel discuss instead. 

The first day it did not go so well.  To be honest most students did not remember their Edmodo password and could not get to the backchannel.  Once everyone was in however things seemed to go well.  There was lively discussion and for the most part everyone was able to contribute something to the conversation.  Some students did have issues following the chat and the video at the same time. 

Overall it went pretty well.  I was able to monitor the students and moderate the discussion while walking around with my iPod touch using the FREE CoveritLive app.  Being able to approve comments made keeping people on task much easier.  The useless comments almost vanished day two.  I would highly suggest any 1:1 class try this out!