Backchannel chat is something I have been aware of for a while but I do not have a great deal of experience suing it. Ccontemplating the implications of what potential it might have is new territory.
Classroom applications offer an opportunity to reach students in real time with multiple intelligences being engages. The static nature of the traditional teacher as sole deliverer of information model could be supplanted with an more engaged audience of students not only tuning in to what the teacher is providing but also interacting with the teacher and or fellow students. I would like to attempt this in a lab setting using a tool like Chatzy. Presenting to students about databases often starts out with me standing in front of the lab demonstrating the use of database portals and the necessary search techniques. The students are either zoned out or itching to jump in and search -without really mastering some of the basics. If there was an opportunity to set up a backchannel chat where by the students could interact they could use each other as a guide once the basics are delivered. When they hit road blocks they could seek out help through the backchannel chat. The hurdle that some students face in asking for help in front of a classroom of their peers and potentially being reluctant to ask questions to a teacher in that setting might be alieved. Also the natural inclination for students to carry on communication with each other regardless of the situation could be steered into this format and monitored. This chat could go on in another room when I am not physically present (running the library can take me quickly back to my desk) but I could keep a chat window open with the students and their teacher and be available for troubleshooting and some level of intervention when the topics wander.
The experience I had with the 21 Things backchannel during the online class session provided fodder for a great deal of speculation on my part independent of the material covered. Participation of members of the class was certainly heightened. The fact that people were typing messages to each other was at first a distraction but then once I got into the rhythm it seemed to be less so. I could sense that class members were tuned into the instructor. And for my part I soon was able to listen to the instructor, follow the presentation and monitor what the class attendees were typing. With this a s a model I can foresee using some format of backchannel communication in staff professional development and in the dissemination of information with staff located at several locations in a building or district. Towards that end I will do a test run of backchannel chat with a handful of teachers in one of the departments at RHS. Maybe we can even use this to alleviate the burden of contractual mandates for PLC and staff development .
Upon investigating Chatzy I was a bit frustrated with the fact that as I sit here on the first Friday of spring break most of the people I would like to test drive this with are off to some place warm (darn them). However, my wife is working at home today and in her job she manages 15 people who are working in medical billing facilities across MI. I gave a quick demo to her and she is intrigued with it's potential. Much of what she does is fielding questions from staff and troubleshooting issues they may be having. Often she has to answer the same question many times a day. She often comments on how she wished her field reps were more independent and self reliant. She could curtail her hand holding and individual butt kicking if there was an ongoing backchannel chat going on while she monitored. She could be in Detroit and carry on a chat with workers in facilities across the state as though they were in the same room. Cheering them on when necessary and occasional tweaking their nose when they stumble. And more importantly they could be doing that for each other. The field reps see each other less than five times a year. There is a disconnect with corporate on both the state and national level because they fly solo nearly every day with weekly or by weekly visits form their supervisor (my wife). If through a tool like this they could daily contact with each other in real time it would foster collegiality and head of trouble in production before major snags trip them up. More experienced field reps could be on call to help newbies. Collective brainstorming would be fostered. Cheerful competition related to production could be daily occurrence rather than periodically. Basically all the camaraderie that makes working a cohesive office could be maintained even though they are hundreds of miles apart.
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